Crying over my insane downswing!

ColdDeckz0 · April 2014

Variance is getting to me. So is losing 30% of my bank roll in a week from ****. I'm used to swings in cash games & have found myself swing down 8 buy ins when it goes bad. I am a winning player overall however I'm on the worst run of my 9 years playing! I seem to de well in a tournament & final table or win. I win consistently in cash games . All is good. After I have a good result in a tournament the " poker God's" decide to punish me! I've lost 30% of my bank roll or 16, 100 bb buy ins in a week. While getting the money in good around 95% of the time & losing. I know it happens but some hands I've lost tonight are incredible

Pocket aces lost in big pots , some all ins for over 100 bb, 6 out of 7 times. The hand I won was a raise & everyone folded so I took the blinds. 4 times out of the 6 I flopped a set of aces & was thinking wow I'm so far ahead how can I extract value? Then in all of these hands turn & river gave four to the straight or flush & my opponent hit.

Hard to stay positive when no matter how dominated I have my opponent what ever they have they hit & I miss. Can't seem to win when I'm a 92% favourite let alone a coin flip!

Is there any advice for seemingly unlikely beats hand after hand? Tightening up my range & playing tight aggressive has still caused a landslide down swing... I'm not sure how much longer my bankroll can take it, I've already moved down below my normal games. & losing with 7 sets tonight alone to people with draws has knocked my confidence to pieces. Flop the nuts & lose big on the river makes me want to withdraw my money & run. My live games have far less swing as I keep a log in fact they pretty much just grind up. Online goes great for 2 or 3 weeks & then lose most of that profit in a couple of days has me wondering should I just stick to live games!? I really don't want to as I love the game & this community / website.

Any words of wisdom would be appreciated

chicknMelt · April 2014

start by changing your username! :P

seriously though - if you are a winnging player then it will turn round eventually.

when I have been in a big downswing /tilt i tent to start playing a bit spewey, trying to force plays. Sounds like you might be the opposite. neither is good though - by playing tighter/ more passive because you "know" they are going to get there is only going to make things worse because you'll be missing out on value from your medium strength hands.

online is tougher/more aggressive than live for sure, so will be naturally be more swingy.

the best thing you can do is review your hands, post ones your not 100% about on the forum and people will pick apart your play (in a good way) - even if your winning you can still get better, which can only help. play less tables and think more about each move, and remind yourself that when you get unlucky it DOES even out in the long run no matter how bad it seems now. try to train your brain to laugh instead of cry inside.

confidence is a big thing in poker, so when your not feeling confident (like now I guess) move down (right down!) in stakes to where the games are easier and get a few wins under your belt to help get your confidence back + if you do get a few more beats then it wont hurt so much!

finally, and probably most importantly, move down in stakes when your BR dictates it, dont go chasing after your losses. accept that it might be a long road building your BR back up to where it was before and beyond, but you will get there eventually.

hope that helps, and you turn it round. GL!

chicknMelt · April 2014

one other thing... 16 BI's isn't that harsh of a downswing...

probably not what you want to hear, but ppl experience far worse.

I dont think he will mind me saying (he put it in his diary), but Lambert180 plays cash (professionally) and had an 80-100BI downswing last yr. I'm sure he can also give you some advice.

I had 2 x 80 BI downswings last yr too, but i play MTTs, so a bit different.

BigBluster · April 2014

There's a guy on 3+3 (inappropriate to exactly name another forum) who has posted genuine graphs of -121 buy-ins against average. That is, if variance worked itself out, he would be 121 buy-ins better than he is! Horrendous.

There is much more luck than people imagine.

CraigSG1 · April 2014

Every poker player goes through this. I have plenty of times and Ive always been a winning player. And it is tough. Very tough.

There are many different ways to combat this and it's a case of finding a way that works for you. From taking a few days off to refresh your mind and attitude to dropping down stakes or playing different formats or reading a good poker book to reaffirm your approach.

For me it's a few days off, watch a few poker program's and YouTube videos of other peoples bad beats (hehe) and hopefully I get a new determination to do well.

Good luck

ZIPPY146 · April 2014

Hi colddeckz,

i dont play cash,because i could not handle the swings.if u are a winning player normally,u will pull it around.Like craigSg1 says, take a break from playing,study instead of playing and u will come back revitalised,freshstart and all that. GL mate

GaryLaud · May 2014

In Response to Re: Crying over my insane downswing!:

Hi colddeckz, i dont play cash,because i could not handle the swings.if u are a winning player normally,u will pull it around.Like craigSg1 says, take a break from playing,study instead of playing and u will come back revitalised,freshstart and all that. GL mate
Posted by ZIPPY146

+1 to these remarks, as I am much the same, I found cash just basically sucked all live out of my BR and my love of the game. Perhaps give DYM S&G games a try, these you can find as little as 30p @ turbo speed or 60p at standard 5min blind setup/level.

GL in what you choose to do, and never give up - this is a fantastic & intersting game.

AND another thing, always play within your budget!

Crying over my insane downswing!

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