Maybe I'm Not A Winning Player Anymore
After another bad day of carnage on Sunday, I took a couple of days off. I was thinking of trying ot give up online poker for Advent, but the bottom line is that that's not really all that realistic. It's my favorite hobby and I can't seem to stop myself. Plus, I'm sure my game would get worse after more time off. That said, I'm thinking maybe I should try again to give it up until Christmas.
I'm not sure I'm even a winning player anymore. I lost another 40 BB at .5/1 SHLHE again today. Now, granted it seemed like everytime I made a strong hand, someone had a better one. I lost with AA at least twice, I flopped a set of 5's and played it strong only to lose to a turned set of K's. It seemed like that kind of stuff happened to me constantly today. I had an AK that flopped trip K's and I lost with that (I don't even remember how). I didn't seem to make any flushes when I needed to. Granted, I felt like I was running pretty bad, but it seems like I constantly run bad, since I first started playing SHLHE again. I've seemingly never run good at that game, so maybe I just suck at it. The problem is, I have no idea where to go with my poker game. I'm not very good at NL cash. I'm now down $20 over my last 124 SnG's since I came back, so it doesn't seem that I'm very good at those either. I can't get anything going in an MTT, it's just sick. Full ring LHE, which used to be my bread and butter, has pretty much dried up. The tables are full of nits sitting back and waiting for strong hands, but also calling down with just about any pair, which means they can't really be run over either. I'm not sure if there is a way to beat that game for worthwhile money the way it's played right now. I'm certain that shorthanded is the way to go, but I can't seem to win at those tables, so I'm suffering from a distinct lack of confidence right now.
While I was getting my ass handed to me at SHLHE, I also played two $5.50 SnGs and an MTT. In the first SnG, I got HU against a donkey that was playing virtually every hand the entire tournament. I got all-in with 77 against his KT, but lost the flip to finish 2nd. Then, in the 2nd one I'm pretty sure I got sucked out on to finish in 7th place, but I don't remember exactly how I went out. Finally, I was doing pretty well in the MTT all things considered. It was a $2.25 buy-in with one $2 rebuy and one $2 add-on. I rebought right away, but lost most of my stack in the first hour and went into the break with only 1200 or so. I did the addon, then early in 2nd hour I got all in with 5s5c on a board of 3c4s6s and got called by two players. They both had flush draws that missed and I made a straight on the turn to triple up. I made some solid plays from there and built my stack to about 19K. Then, I was forced to fold on the flop after a few pre-flop raises with fairly strong hands didn't materialize into anything on the flop. I was all the way down to 6900 with blinds at 200/600with a 75 ante and about 37 players left with 27 cashing, when I picked up AKo in the BB. The chipleader raised in EP to 2400 and the button called him. I shoveled, the chipleader called and the button folded. Of course, the chipleader had AJo, flopped a Jack and it was GG me. I almost threw my laptop across the room. This stuff is just happening to me constantly in tournaments right now.
A week and a half ago my bankroll sat at $600, it's now $339. I just don't know what to do, I seem to be running bad everywhere I look and it's killing what little confidence I had. I'm practically scared to sit down at a table anymore, yet I can't seem to keep myself away. I basically have no confidence at the moment and while up still up from my $100 deposit back in October, it's mostly rakeback and I'm afraid that I'm no longer a winning player and I don't know how to fix it.
I'm not sure I'm even a winning player anymore. I lost another 40 BB at .5/1 SHLHE again today. Now, granted it seemed like everytime I made a strong hand, someone had a better one. I lost with AA at least twice, I flopped a set of 5's and played it strong only to lose to a turned set of K's. It seemed like that kind of stuff happened to me constantly today. I had an AK that flopped trip K's and I lost with that (I don't even remember how). I didn't seem to make any flushes when I needed to. Granted, I felt like I was running pretty bad, but it seems like I constantly run bad, since I first started playing SHLHE again. I've seemingly never run good at that game, so maybe I just suck at it. The problem is, I have no idea where to go with my poker game. I'm not very good at NL cash. I'm now down $20 over my last 124 SnG's since I came back, so it doesn't seem that I'm very good at those either. I can't get anything going in an MTT, it's just sick. Full ring LHE, which used to be my bread and butter, has pretty much dried up. The tables are full of nits sitting back and waiting for strong hands, but also calling down with just about any pair, which means they can't really be run over either. I'm not sure if there is a way to beat that game for worthwhile money the way it's played right now. I'm certain that shorthanded is the way to go, but I can't seem to win at those tables, so I'm suffering from a distinct lack of confidence right now.
While I was getting my ass handed to me at SHLHE, I also played two $5.50 SnGs and an MTT. In the first SnG, I got HU against a donkey that was playing virtually every hand the entire tournament. I got all-in with 77 against his KT, but lost the flip to finish 2nd. Then, in the 2nd one I'm pretty sure I got sucked out on to finish in 7th place, but I don't remember exactly how I went out. Finally, I was doing pretty well in the MTT all things considered. It was a $2.25 buy-in with one $2 rebuy and one $2 add-on. I rebought right away, but lost most of my stack in the first hour and went into the break with only 1200 or so. I did the addon, then early in 2nd hour I got all in with 5s5c on a board of 3c4s6s and got called by two players. They both had flush draws that missed and I made a straight on the turn to triple up. I made some solid plays from there and built my stack to about 19K. Then, I was forced to fold on the flop after a few pre-flop raises with fairly strong hands didn't materialize into anything on the flop. I was all the way down to 6900 with blinds at 200/600with a 75 ante and about 37 players left with 27 cashing, when I picked up AKo in the BB. The chipleader raised in EP to 2400 and the button called him. I shoveled, the chipleader called and the button folded. Of course, the chipleader had AJo, flopped a Jack and it was GG me. I almost threw my laptop across the room. This stuff is just happening to me constantly in tournaments right now.
A week and a half ago my bankroll sat at $600, it's now $339. I just don't know what to do, I seem to be running bad everywhere I look and it's killing what little confidence I had. I'm practically scared to sit down at a table anymore, yet I can't seem to keep myself away. I basically have no confidence at the moment and while up still up from my $100 deposit back in October, it's mostly rakeback and I'm afraid that I'm no longer a winning player and I don't know how to fix it.
posted by TheCinciKid @ 6:13 PM
2 Comments:
At 2:29 PM,
Whatever said…
I suggest getting the 60 day free trial of PT3 and dropping down to .25/.50 6 max limit until you get back up to $600.
And be wary of drawing conclusions from small sample sizes in a game like 6 max LHE. I have played 29,500 hands of 1/2 6 max which is certainly not a big sample.
Hands 1 to 11,000 I made $100. 11,000 to 22,000 I made $1,100. 22,000 to 29,500 I've lost $350. I would certainly say that I have improved from hand 1 to hand 29,500 and have been playing fine the past 8,000 hands or whatever it is. The main thing is to stay within 600 BBs or so at your limit and try to improve.
At 5:36 PM,
TheCinciKid said…
You're right, I need to get PT3. The problem is that I can't right now because I may not be able to play at all in January or half of February. I'll be TDY for training and I doubt that my internet connection through the Air Force will allow me to access FullTilt.
Maybe I'll just lay off the 6-max until I can get PT again.
Btw, crazy swings there that you mentioned, I think that's gonna be tough on my psyche, but I guess as long as I'm pretty much overrolled it shouldn't be a huge deal.
Post a Comment
<< Home