-1M in 2 days

Replay Poker Poker Discussion
1

Well, I can’t play anymore. I can’t win. I can’t do anything. I’m super frustrated. I’m on a never-ending tilt hell. If it’s not one thing, it’s another. I’m completely inside out.

I’ll play decent for a short time, but never long enough to win chips in a tournament.

I go up early, then lose a big hand, then exit a few hands later.

I’ll get nothing until I’m nearly out, then shove desperately and hit a lucky pot win, boost up to chip leader, and then just as quickly bust out before the bubble.

I get called when I’m bluffing like I’m being dealt face-up.

Every time I have a hand, someone else has a better hand.

I started the week at 2.2M chips in the bankroll, and as of now am at 1.4M.

I took chips in one 9-seater today, 2nd place finish, the only game where I played consistently good and had playable cards throughout most of the tournament. Was close to winning it but got beat on two big hands during heads-up where I had top pair and my opponent had a rag set.

Everything else has not been close. bold = chips won

9-seat SNG: 6th
9-seat SNG: 7th
3-seat SNG: 3rd
Lucky 8s: 41st
9-seat SNG: 2nd
Open Happiness: 38th
3-seat SNG: 2nd
9-seat SNG: 8th
3-seat SNG: 2nd
9-seat SNG: 5th
9-seat SNG: 4th
Grand Canyon: 22nd
3-seat SNG; 1st
3-seat SNG: 2nd
3-seat SNG: 3rd
3-seat SNG: 3rd

Yesterday, it was much the same:
3-seat SNG: 1st
3-seat SNG: 3rd
3-seat SNG: 3rd
3-seat SNG: 3rd
3-seat SNG: 2nd
3-seat SNG: 3rd
3-seat SNG: 3rd
3-seat SNG: 3rd
3-seat SNG: 3rd
9-seat SNG: 8th
9-seat SNG: 9th
9-seat SNG: 8th
Lucky 8s: 52nd
The Mad Express: 47th

Two days ago:
3-seat SNG: 3rd
3-seat SNG: 1st
The Cut Off: 2nd
American Special: 83
9-seat SNG; 4th
3-seat SNG: 3rd
3-seat SNG: 2nd
9-seat SNG: 4th

I feel like something has changed about the way people are playing, and I haven’t caught up to it. For a while, the 3-max SNG was a money-maker for me, I could reliably win better than 1-in-3, often closer to 1-in-2, now I’m getting killed for 50k chips every 5 minutes in them.

I could also hit money in a 9-seater between 1-in-4 and 1-in-2. Most nights slightly profitable, occasionally taking a slide.

This current slide has me all the way back to within 200K of my starting bankroll from 3 months ago when I resumed actively playing, so it’s pretty awful.

Two weeks ago, I was up, I felt like I’d finally figured out poker and could continue winning. Today? I feel like I know nothing, and like I should just give up and take a break for maybe 6 months and maybe not come back.

1 Like
2

I know the feeling. been there for a while now. i’m at a point I fold would had won , play a hand and don’t hit anything. get straight and flush draws if I chase don’t hit, but soon as I fold then it hits. I don’t know what two cards to play anymore or anything.

played Omaha hi/lo tournament today. one hand flopped a 3 of a kind, but couldn’t do anything with it cause there was a flop straight draw, by time got to river someone hit a flush. would had hit a fullhouse, but of course there was a higher one. had two winning hands, one being a straight and the other all cause of a lo hand.

3

Nice job taking 2nd in the 15K tonight! Every time you think you’re out, they pull you back in :slight_smile:

1 Like
4

That just happened! Were you watching? I don’t see you in the leaderboard.

I had no hope against the big stack, but I did really well throughout the tournament, in spite of getting re-balanced a total of 7 or 8 times (I lost track). I did well to outlast everyone else at that table, coming in with the stack size I had at the time… I think I had 6th or 7th most chips at the final table when it started. Finally I felt like I knew what I was doing in this one!

1 Like
5

I read your post then went to look to see where you were playing. It ended just as I opened the table to see. LOL, your retirement may have to wait :slight_smile:

I’m trying to recollect myself after my set of 6’s is beat by 5/3 that made a straight on the river. How the hell did he get to the river on a gutshot with a K-high flop and an ace on the turn? The pot was bet both streets. OMG, people will call anything here. I think the site is partially owned by Verizon.

++The level of shall we say delayed mental development here is astounding! Just went out with my QQ actually being called by J8o (not in the BB). Flop came J-high and I 100% knew what the next card was going to be - yup, an 8. LMAO - for play chips people will call anything with anything. Still a profitable week (550% ROI in the MTT’s) but its just so goofy sometimes I wonder why I’m here.

6

Bankroll is back up to just under 1.6M, and I have another 600k to go to get back to where I was at the start of last week. It’s going to be a long uphill climb.

7

I’m sure you’ll get it done. Maybe stay away from those goofy 50K 3-max things? They can’t be good for your game. Maybe I’ll catch up with you back in the SnG lobby and you can win some of my chips? Its so hard for me to find a game I’m interested in that I may wander back there and try again.

1 Like
8

3-Max SNG used to be my jam. I got to hone my heads-up play at them. When you win, it’s a lot of chips, and the stacks are so small, they’re usually over in like 5-10 minutes, so you can win a lot of chips with them very quickly. Thing is, you can lose a lot of chips with them pretty quickly as well. But they’re the best value for building chips in a short amount of time, if you’re good.

Looking back at that 2nd place finish in tonight’s Home of Hold Em MTT, in analyzing my play, I really didn’t play better. I just happened to get a few very lucky breaks.

I got dealt AK, flopped a King, shoved, got called by the big stack, who held K3 and had flopped 2 Pair KK33. I ended up with a Straight, A-5.

My biggest pot win, I had flopped a pair of Queens with a hearts draw on a scary board with 2 7s on it, and my opponent called my shove holding trip 7s, only to have me suck out hitting my flush draw with runner runner hearts.

One time, holding A4, I flopped into bottom pair, used a min bet as a feeler/blocker, got just a call, and then the Turn gave me trip 4’s, allowing me to bet down the hand. I didn’t get value for hitting the trips, since my pot-sized bet induced my opponent to fold, so I should have sized better for value. But I was happy enough to not have to fold. Can’t seem to find the link to that hand.

Here’s a hand: I have ATo, and raise from BB, and get 2 callers. I miss the flop, K29rainbow, and try to bluff by betting my overcard, and get called. The Turn pairs my Ace, so I shove and my opponent folds. Here I might have extracted more value as well, but missed the opportunity. If it wasn’t for the lucky Turn, I would have lost a lot of chips here, empty bluff against Kings.

A few hands later, I’m dealt J2s in the BB, limp in, hit a flush and don’t get value out of the river card because I bet the river too big:

Another time I got dealt J2o in the BB, limp in, hit top Pair with a runner-runner spade draw, and buy the pot, inducing 5 folds. Here, this was intentional, I wanted everyone to fold, because I was afraid of my Jacks not holding up, or my kicker not being good, so I bet it like I had JJ, and it worked.

Here I am, ATo on the button, I limp in because the blinds are so high and my stack’s not big enough for me to want to get overcommitted with AT, but I do want to play it, so we’re 5-handed to see the flop. The flop is scary – a pair of 3s, but I pair the Ace. First to act min-bets, only the SB folds. The Turn, a 9, no one bets, so I min-bet, and the first two players fold, leaving me heads-up for the river, a Ten, giving me 2 pair. I’m still beat if this guy holds a 3, but the CO checks to me, I min-bet it and he folds, even though his stack dominates mine 5:1 and I’m nearly all-in. I can’t say I played this hand well, but everyone else in it played it worse than me.

Here, I have K6 in the BB, blinds are massive. I limp, pair the King, my opponent the great big stack bets into me, I call, he checks the Turn and I min bet and he gives up. I recognize this – a player with a massive stack advantage will often try to bully the small stacks off of hands by betting into them, betting the minimum amount as a low-risk feeler bet – and it often works – but not when the small stack hits top pair.

Another one: I’m sitting in the Hijack, with KTo, and limp in. We’re 5-handed. Maybe I should have raised here, or even shoved, and tried to just buy the pot preflop. The blinds were so big at this point, it would have been enough. Instead, we see the flop, and I hit my King but there’s also an Ace. Heedless, I fire off a pot-sized bet, to which they all fold, and I take it down.

A6s in the SB, I limp, flop hits my Ace, I close the hand with a half-pot sized bet:

Blind steal with AK:

Overall, I think I played well enough to get 2nd place, relative to the talent I was up against here, with no small thanks due to the cards I got to play. But in several situations I left value on the table by betting too much, and that contributed to me having a significant stack disadvantage at the final table. I’m not saying that if I’d managed to get better value out of each of those hands that I would have won the whole thing. But it might have changed the outcome.

The problem I’ve been having, when I try to make the transition between betting too much when i think I’m ahead, and winning the hand through folding, and placing just the right-sized value bet that I can extract maximum value for my hand, I end up letting players back in to suck out against me on the turn or river, and then I end up losing value instead of extracting more. So at times I tend to be overly aggressive, particularly in river situations where I just hit my draw. Maybe the next thing I need to learn is how to value bet.

9

If you can stand the boredom, the ring games are the fastest way to build up chips. Sit on a full ring table and nut-hunt. Play 2 or 3 or 4 tables if you want because you’ll just be looking for big hands and getting paid. Not fun but if you want to build your roll, this will work.

It sounds like you have a few issues with your game right now: hand selection, bet sizing and patience. @WannabeCoder suggested dropping down in stakes, which is good advice if the problem was with your bankroll taking too big of a hit. To me, it sounds like the issue is more internal than anything else. You sound unconfident in your posts and like you are having more issues than you can address all at once. In your shoes I’d either take a break and get my head right or I’d head to a ring game way below my bankroll and force myself to grind. Play without the pressure of increasing blinds or of worrying about your bankroll. Just play patient, solid poker until you get your game back.

1 Like
10

Yeah, I think I’m going to take a break again. 0-for-all today so far, might as well let myself off easy.