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JaneTheHot

Before people start flaming, read my post first. I've been winning 1-2 10 people games for a while now. However, this past two weeks, nothing has been working. I lost over 1k playing my A game. I would consider myself being a tight-aggresive player, I play about 20% of the hands that I am dealt, sometimes the percentage is much lower. I usually play 2 tables and start with $100 on each, for the past two weeks I usually went broke or close to broke. I reviewed my hands and plays carefully and I did not find anything wrong with it. I respect position, I respect raises as well as check-raises from people that are tight. I can go on and on, but I would love to hear any of your opinions.

Thank you in advance!

griffinlord · Posted: Sat Dec 09, 2006 11:04 pm Post subject:

First major downturn?

Probably some combination of getting cold decked and playing less well than you think you do or the game has changed and you need to adjust.

Downswings happen. down 100-200BB is pretty common for limit players. It sucks, but it happens. Down 500BB is pretty extreme, although it could happen. If it is cold cards drop down to .5/1 or even .25/.5 and play through it.

On a bad downswing I always play just a bit off of my A game. It is "only" a bet here, two bets there...but when winning is counted in 2-3BB/100 hands units donking off 5BB/100 will put a hurt on you pretty fast. But the mistakes are mostly minor and hard to catch. They only have to occur once or twice per 100 hands to turn a winner into a loser. Put this on top of cold cards and you drop another 100-200BB in a hurry.

Game selection, seat selection, and the nature of the game all factor into whether or not you are a winner. For a long time I was beating (owning) the games at one site and spewing chips at the other. I played the same way on both sites, but the games were different. The nature of the players was different and I needed to adjust. It is possible that there has been a change in the players--either new players or a handful that are playing better that makes whatever you were doing a losing proposition now.

JaneTheHot · Posted: Sun Dec 10, 2006 12:32 am Post subject:

Your advice is very much appreciated. I understand what you are saying and that 1-3 bb's per 100 hands can affect my results. However, I was winning 8-9 bb's per 100 hands. I do not think the games have change, people are still calling a raise from early position with A-Joff in middle position, people still chase with any pair in their hand if its heads up, or chase to a straight when there is two of the same suit. I am thinking of moving down a limit and see if that helps. However, I do believe that my game is way above 1-2. I've played 3-6, 4-8 in casinos many times and came out a winner 9 out of 10 times. I understand that casino poker is no fold 'em poker, but sometimes it is much harder to win at casino than on the net.

JaneTheHot · Posted: Sun Dec 10, 2006 12:34 am Post subject:

On a further note, I had terrible nights or couple of days before, but I had never had a week or more of losing sessions.

JaneTheHot · Posted: Sun Dec 10, 2006 12:42 am Post subject:

Even in sit n gos I am losing, I do not believe that sit n gos are my specialty, however I am defintly not the a losing player. If you were to check my stats on sharskscope.com JaneTheHot pokerstars you would see that I am not doing too bad.

IABoomer · Moderator Joined: 29 Oct 2006 Posts: 4601

I think most people would suggest that 8-9BB/100 isn't a sustainable level, so you probably were on a bit of an upswing. There's times the deck hits you in the face and you can do no wrong. Then there's times the deck hits you in the crotch and you can do no right.

If the hands you're losing are "setup" or "cooler" hands (KK v AA, overpair vs underpair flopping sets, etc.) then don't worry about it. Otherwise, take a look at the hands you're losing the most on and see if there was a way you could have played them differently. Pokertracker is an invaluable tool for this kind of thing.

Also consider taking a break, changing games, changing limits, etc. to get out of your losing funk. You might also want to play a short session and just leave when up. The psychological factor of leaving after a winning session, even if it's not a big one can weigh on your next session. If you keep playing a new session having come off a loss, it stands to reason that you're concerned with getting even again, which might be affecting your play.

deadmoney314 · Posted: Sun Dec 10, 2006 12:42 pm Post subject:

If you are crushing a game for a while, enough regulars, be it fish or sharks, will get tired of losing to you and will remember to pay you off less on the turn and and river. This usually happens after beating up on a limit for a while and you need to adjust by varying your style. If you play just TA all the time you will become predictable and opponents will kill your winrate and as you've experienced sometimes make you a loser. I'm not saying give up TA just make sure you learn more than one cookie cutter way to play--you need your opponents guessing at what you have or you will be slamming your fist into your keyboard.

griffinlord · Posted: Mon Dec 11, 2006 10:33 am Post subject:

griffinlord · Posted: Mon Dec 11, 2006 10:42 am Post subject:

JaneTheHot · Posted: Mon Dec 11, 2006 11:59 am Post subject:

Thank you all for such great comments, I really appreciate knowing more than I did before reading your posts. Yesterday, I played some no limit since I know no limit not so bad, so I gave it a try. I ended up winning $70 in .25-.50. Today in the morning I played some limit .50-1 and the same results were happening. I am hoping that this cold deck is going to melt soon or else I am going to start hating limit, which I defenetly do not want to do. Again, all of your comments were really helpful!

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