Losing streaks

[wrto4556 0]

Jesus Jones this ones lasting a while. Havn't had a rush of cards in what seems like forever, and my last winning session only lasted one day! Er, it may just seem that way. Feels like losing streaks last alot longer than the winning ones. Or is it just me?

[jonnyz 0]

yup, it makes you feel sick. You feel like you are not as good as you thought you were etc. Don't worry about it if you play well it will turn around. You just have to expect the losing streak/bad nights to come, they are part of the game. How long has the streak been?

[wrto4556 0]

Well, this particular one has been a little over a week. I've been playing full-time with a sufficiant bankroll for about 5 months. This streak has lasted almost two weeks and is testing the hell out of my patience. I used to play $1/2 but I just recently built up $1,000 and decided to move up to $2/4. Right when I get my feet wet and start raking some big pots I get in on a bad losing streak. I only have about $500 left! But I know it wont last forever...they never do. Just feels like they last longer."Time flies when you're having fun." type deal.

[tekn0wledg 0]

Yah it's a horrible feeling, we all know how it goes.My adice is to stick tight and play solid wrto.... it'll come back around. Everyone knows the worst thing you can do when you are in a rut is to loosen up and play more hands.... just be smart and play the hands the way you should and you'll be out before you know it! Best of luck!

[Suited_Up 2]

I know how you feel. I'm having a tough run of cards recently. It's not a long long streak... a few days worth... but I also don't get to play every day. But I haven't won since my last deposit. Granted, I play the .50/1.00 rooms at PP... but I feel like right now i'm playing the best poker I've played ever. And for some reason, I just can't get any cards... and when I get something at least playable... I miss the flop totally and have to toss it. It's brutal, cause I don't have much $$ to play with. Luckily, I know i'm playing well... Even online i'm starting to make reads I never figured I could online, and it's just a case of bad cards... so hopefully it ends soon... and stays away.

[bdluss 0]

A word of advice, moving up to 2/4 and playing out of a 1k bankroll everyday really is not a big enough bankroll to handle the natural swings. Look at it this way, you have lost $500 over 2 weeks, which is about 125 large bets. Figure in one given session (8 hours online which is equal to about a days worth of live play) you lose 30 large bets (which is a typical session loss and nothing all that large). I would suggest this move down the limits till you build your stack till at least 1500-2k so that you can handle the swings more and not feel like you are crippling your bankroll.

[ddudley 0]

I too have had the worst run of cards since I started playing. It's lasted about 3 1/2 weeks and I'm down about $1300 playing 5/10. It's gotten so bad I'm afraid to play... taken 2 days off this week, doh.

[mk 11]

I agree with bdluss. You should have a bankroll of about 500x the big bet. You need about $2K to play 2/4. So many friends of mine play $2/4 and even $3/6 with bankrolls of like $200!! You cannot withstand the swings. Think of it like investing. Would you invest a lot of money in a volatile stock if you didn't have a large risk tolerance?

[Jubba 0]

The last two weeks I haven't been able to put anything together. I finally started getting some hands, only to be gunned down by a full-house on the river. Thats happens about 12 times in the past three days. I have the nut flush, and the board pairs on the river, turning my friends bottom two-pair into a boat. I had about $60 invested in the pot when the board pairs and I just check out of the hand because I know he has it. Sure enough, every time...Another thing is when my draws never seem to hit... I have almost half the deck for outs, and nothing comes... Maybe its just because I'm stressed out from finals and such at school.

[tekn0wledg 0]

I agree as well wrto, I didn't see your post about your bankroll earlier. You definitely need to move back down and build your bankroll up. I know it'll be very tempting to stay at 2/4 since there is more money to be had and you think you can build your roll quicker there, but I don't recommend this. Stay at a level you can sustain the swings at and until you feel comfortable there don't move up.I'd suggest about 500BB as well which would put you at a $2k bankroll. This would also mean you'd need to jump down to the .5/1.00 game to build up your bankroll to $1k before you can begin playing the $1/2 game and be ok withint he swings.These are just recommendations though.... you will do as you wish obviously.

[tekn0wledg 0]

wrto, to quote you in another thread based on bankroll for limit games, you said:

Playing where you are comfortable is important, but you have to have sufficient bankroll wherever you're at. It's too important.

I think you should heed your own advice here buddy you'll come out of the swing, but I'd build some confidence back at the $1/2 table first.

[techlava 0]

I agree with everything except playing in the .50 / 1 game. These games are way to loose, and I find it very frustrating to play in for any length of time. Everyone calls to the river and more then not A's and K's get cracked. If you are serious about building a bankroll then I would invest 600 and start at the 1 / 2 game. This will give you 300X the big bet and should be enough to sustain you. Then once you reach 1200 you can move up to the 2 / 4 and so on.

[jogsxyz 0]

I agree with bdluss.  You should have a bankroll of about 500x the big bet.  You need about $2K to play 2/4.  So many friends of mine play $2/4 and even $3/6 with bankrolls of like $200!!  You cannot withstand the swings.  Think of it like investing.  Would you invest a lot of money in a volatile stock if you didn't have a large risk tolerance?

Finally some posters who agree with me on sufficient bankroll. 500x big bet and ready access to more if necessary. Losing streaks can last for months, not just weeks. The game is very streaky. Until you have a play history of over 5000 hours, you have no clue how well you play relative to the field.The reason 2/4 and 3/6 players can play with small bankrolls is they can replenish their bankroll when they cash their next paycheck. Big limit players with insufficient bankrolls get knocked out of action and disappear from the poker scene.

[jayboogie 0]

I'm on a losing streak as well. It's just been a string of cold cards. I'll flop top pair w/ top kicker and somebody will have trips. I'll flop 2 pair and somebody raises to the river and catches their flush. My AK gets constantly outdrawn by AQ. I'll get the nut flush draw and miss it everytime. OK, I'm just going to stop right there because nobody likes to hear a whiner. But anyways, it's really tough and I'm trying to deal with it better. It's just extremely frustrating when your monster hands get slayed by somebody calling/raising with an inside straight draw. It just feels like your helpless sometimes. Last night 3 times I had rockets in my big blind and everybody folded and I picked up the measely small blinds.

[jibmums 0]

Talk about bad streaks...how about getting beat on the river...after playing hands like a flopped Broadway...every time, every Friday night for six months! You figure it's over, the laws of logic or physics or whatever have to eventually turn in your fzvor, only to be crushed again.Thankfully, it's over, after dropping several grand since May. Hit 4 tourneys within the last two weeks for 2nd, 1st, 1st and a chopped-up 1st. I'm only about halfway back but the boost to the self-esteem is what's really helping my game....don't feel like such a loser anymore.Just ride it out guys, eventually things WILL turn around. Good luck!

[adamkadmon 0]

I toohave endured some unusually long droughts and it truely can be exasperating. I believe poker to be a game of life and sometimes if areas of your life are not balanced it can overflow into your game, how? I don't know but from my experience there is a connection.last december i was at bellagio for the five diamonds tourney, I was feeling pretty down as a result of the shell shock I had been experiencing in the 30-60 game, I had come with 8,000 and was down toabout 1300 afterjust a few short days. So there I was hangin with my two other loser friendswhen lo and behold my hero approaches ( ya daniel), I call him my hero because every time we would see him my friend would motion to me and say "hey mark, theres your hero" it must of had something to do with the fact that for the past three years I had become somewhat enamoured with anything I could find that he had written, always making refrences to daniel. Anyhow there he was right in front of me, he wanted to ask my friend minh a question regarding the englisk only rule. my big opportunity, I think i possibly uttered something like "hey" but only the H came out and he was gone. later that evening I was going into the bar and lo and behold mr. bob stupak is just sitiing there. Well I wasn't going to blw this opportunity to rub shoulders with pokers elite, played it cool and sat down, after a while he said something like I knew he would and we started talking, he told me he was waiting for his "date" and couldn't believe she was late after about an hour of listening to all his problems I figured it was my turn to tell some of my stories, he ask me something to the effect of "so how's it been goin for you" there it was, he wanted to know so I told him about the horrible shell shock I had been experiencing and was about to take a breath and he responded before I had a chance to say my next word. " learn how to play" I was sure i had not heard him correctly, "what" i said , and sure as shit he repeated himself. to say I was a little taken abackis an understatement. I mean who does this jackass think he is, does he even realize who I am? I immediatly felt like challinging him with my last remaining 1300 but couldn't figure out a game we could play. So that was his Big advise, I was kinda expecting some secret essoteric bit of knowledge and I get "learn to play" now I was really down and ordered another drink as did he, let me get it I said as i pulled my monster bankroll from my front pocket, as I pull my wad he looks at it and says "looks like an elephant stepped on that" referring to my "sacred bankroll". that was it, I had had enough, we had been shooting the shit for about four hours and this conversation was doing nothing for my confidense muck less my self esteem, maybe some novinas (catholic) was some of his last advise.I went back to my luxurios room at the boardwalk and thought about what he said in the most huble manner I was capable of and tried very hard to look at my situation in an objective way. Anyhow to make a log story longer I ended up building my bankroll up to about 27K that week. So now I am learning how to play the game of poker and life has become much better. Hope this will help and you might look into charlie "Warbucks" shotens advice about terrorist. The gist of his advice is to just let go thus enabling one to live now and in the moment. It's kinda of crazy stuff some believe but i believe it to be very powerfull and it has definately helped my game as well as life, personally I wish he would just shut up and stop telling everyone these simple secrets, check him out you just might be surprised.The fact of the matter is that everyone loses, there is no getting around it. It all has to do with how you handle it. After all, even my poker hero has had some very bad runs according to him ( 17 losing sessions in a row if I recall) MY POKER HERO. If it can happen to daniel it can happen to anyone. Stay positive and good luck.

[jayboogie 0]

it's becoming a real drag. I'm playing well and I feel like I'm playing well, making good reads, but the cards just arent coming to me. I make good laydowns when needed and I'm being patient, just the cards won't come. I can't even count the consecutive games I've lost with AK against KQ or AQ, it's staggering. It upsets you even more when it knocks you out of a tournament, getting AK beaten by KQ. Everytime, it's on that god damn river just to add insult to injury. It's really frustrating when every play you makes equates to you losing money.

[TheSandMan 0]

I just had a night like that. I prayed to god that I would go back to church if he just gave me one winning hand. I just won a hand wtih two small pair.I guess I have to wake up early on sunday.

[tilted 0]

Now I know why Daniel does not make deals at the table. On Thanksgiving my family and I played a $5 buy in hold em game. It came down to me and my brother. It went back and forth for about an hour. I had him on tilt and was starting to eat away at his chips. He got tired of playing ( the game was going on 5 hrs) so he offered to split the winnings with me. I agreed. Since then I have been on a real bad losing streak. Can't catch any cards and when I do i get busted by someone with card better then me. NO MORE DEALS AT THE TABLE FOR ME!!!!!!! :twisted:

[wrto4556 0]

Well, guys, this is ripping apart my ego! I built my bankroll from $200 playing at he $.50/1 levels, moved up to $1/2, then got my BR at about $1,000. I've lost $100 a day for the past week playing at $2/4. That's right. I'm down to about $250 bucks!The worst part of all: I know that i'm better than everyone I play with at pokerstars. If I notice someone is playing better than me, I leave unless the table is just too good to pass up. So, most of the time, when I play, I am the best player at the table. I kinda thought I was invincable. :oops: My win rate was good, my VP$IP, everything was looking soooooo good. This is over only about 10,000 hands. Regardless, 10,000 should have given me a good idea of how I play. I was already planning on when I was going to make the jump to $3/6. hahahaha. Just goes to show...Never know what life is gonna deal you. In conclusiong: I still dropped out of college, and have gotten a job at blockbuster. Next time I decide to jump up limits I guess i'm going to have a "super-sufficiant" bankroll. 500xBB sounded rediculous to me. But, I guess that's what I gotta do. I preached 200-350xBB. That only got me broke.Don't cry for me though I'll bounce back...I always do.

[tekn0wledg 0]

You'll make it back wrto! I have faith bro!And yes you are correct, no matter how good you are running it can always turn around just as fast.As a guideline for moving up in limits I like to move as slowly as possible, even tho the temptation for money is great and easily distracting, but I just remember why I am waiting. I wait so I can earn my way up there and so I can be sure my play is solid when I get there.I think a year or two ago I made a jump between limits too soon as well. It crushed me. I took some time off from the game. I was running so hot for a long time and moved up to the next limit and got shelled over the course of two weeks. Lost nearly my whole bankroll. I had no choice but to take a break and get some money to play with. But I learned a valuable lesson not to move up in the ranks before I was ready.In retrospect I think it was a combination of the play being a bit different and the psychological aspect of larger swings, particularly the losses. So I'll never make that same mistake again.

[GaelicGrindFRC 0]

I may as well vent also ! I've been building my NL $ Roll for a little over a month now , playing NL ring games . Well , my castle has begun to crumble to sand . Not one losing session , but three straight . WTF ! Dropped over three bills last night . Am I ready for another day of battle , I'm not sure . It's hard for me to deal with the swing I took last night . It's my first big loss , (i know not last)and had crippled my confidence . Oh...well , time to prepare for battle and evaluate my game for flaws . Had to vent ....Play well everyone ! Cheers

[BPV 0]

I had been losing a lot lately.. but last night we were playing 6 handed, and I was on my A game. Every read I made on a person was perfect. Every raise was perfectly timed, every bluff exactly at the right time. Even if i wasn't in the hand I was positive of what everyone had, and when they'd show their cards I was always right. Perfect night for me. Ended up winning every dollar on the table.

[KKsuited 0]

Not to be a jerk wrto, but you need to keep that job and go back to college. To lose just about your entire BR playing at those levels means you have a leak you need to fix. This sounds worse than just a streak.Also, you can't make a living playing on a $1,000 BR. Get a degree and then you'll have plenty of money to play poker with.Being a professional poker plalyer is very difficult. You need a big bankroll and tons of experience. Please, get a degree.

[wrto4556 0]

lol @ KKsuited!I still have the job, bro. I only get paid $7.00/hr but that's O.K. About college: It's boring. I made dean's list my first semester...Then I got academic probation because I was bored with it...Then I got scared and straightened up; made dean's list...got bored again and got academic probation again, then got suspended the next semester. So, I came back home and went to a community college and switched my major from math to english...I was doing good at first, got a couple poems published and a short story....Then, it just kicked in again. Made dean's list again that semester, then dropped all my classes this semester.I am one math class away from an associates in mathematics, and two literature classes away from an associates in literature. I know this sounds super retarded, but School is just too easy! I get bored with it...All my friends and familiy tell me i'm just young and making a huge mistake...that I have alot of potential...Actually, my best friend got into a huge arguement with me last night at the poker table! (He was just mad I took his money!) Anyway, he has a B.S. and lives in California making about 60K/yr. There are plenty of job offers out in cali. where he works but he won't give me a damn one. Tell's me I need to get my degree. And all hell breaks loose...I just feel like college is a waste of time; I can say that I know this, but it really hasn't sunk in: "It's not about what you learn while you're in college...it's all about the degree." I thought about going back next semester, I just have "the hunger". I want to be a millionare now!As for my poker game, of coarse I have leaks. You can never stop getting better. Doyle proves it. But I seriously don't believes it's how you think it is. I honestly make good laydowns, even with big hands, and know when to put money in the pot. I just believe I moved up in limits too soon. I didn't have the bankroll and I was scared to lose my money. I wasn't playing as aggressive as I know I should have. Psycological. Financial. But not strategical (except not being aggressive). I jumped down to $1/2 and killed the competition. I really was on a bad streak. Missing flops with big hands, getting great hands beat on the river. Not seeing a hand worth playing in hours. Just bad streak. And of coarse, a few times I tilted. But I cought onto what was happening quickly and took a break.Sorry this is so long, I just have a whole lot on my mind. I appreciate your concern, KKsuited. Honesty can be kinda brutal, but i'm one to take the truth to heart. Good luck at the tables, my freind.