For the past few weeks I can’t win at poker. I used to be a high stakes player but I completely imploded and lost 350k chips and busted my bankroll on here. It was as if I hit a self destruct button. Tonight I lost 5,700 chips I knew I was losing but just felt like I couldn’t stop playing. I had to force myself to quit and right now as I type this I want to go back to playing but I know I shouldn’t.
I used to be really good player on here. I’ve tried taking a few days off , read some books , watched videos but nothing is working for me.
Ever since I lost the 350k chips I haven’t been the same player like I was before. Today If I had something another player would have something better. I had a straight someone else has a higher straight , I have a flush , someone else has a better one , three of a kind , four of a kind etc.
How can I break this cold streak and become a good player again?
Losing streaks happen. You just have to grind through them. Play lower limits until you get it back. Play tighter, bet less, enter fewer pots. Like I said, you just have to play through your slumps or take some time off and come at it again fresh.
I know when I play too much I tend to get careless. I then have to make an effort to concentrate on the basics. I find that an honest evaluation of particular hands (after the fact) can show me where I was playing poorly and helps me to avoid making the same mistakes over and over.
If it’s just bad luck, drop down to lower stakes and grind it out. If it’s bad play, find your leaks and plug them. If you are playing bad and running bad, take a few days off.
By the way, if your bank was 350K, you had no business playing high stakes. Bank management is a big part of the game. I would never risk more than 5% or 10% of my bank at any table. You have to have the chips in reserve to weather any storms that come your way.
Losing over the course of a few hundred hands doesn’t change you from a good player to a bad player. If you are losing confidence, then it can help to take a break to avoid going on tilt.
Statistically, there is a lot of variance in poker, meaning that luck/odds will affect the outcome, not just skill. That’s why, like SunPowerGuru said, you should not buy in to cash/ring games for more than 5% of your chips or into tournaments for more than 2.5%-5% of your chips.
I recently won by far my biggest pot ever (49,000,000) by getting extremely unlucky (I had QQ, the flop came AQT and my only opponent held KJ) only to get extremely lucky on the river (the board paired, giving me a full house), which shows how much luck is involved in poker. There was no way I could fold middle set in a raised pot with one opponent when my opponent could be holding AK, AQ, AJ, AT, or TT, while only AA and KJ beat me (although based on his betting and counting combos, I was pretty sure he had it). The fact that I almost lost more than half of my entire Replay bankroll (25,000,000) in one hand also shows the importance of bankroll management.
Studying and watching video help (although professional poker players do not play the same way as free chip players), but experience helps even more. As frustrating as it can be to play against the bingo players at low stakes, it is actually easier to beat them than better players. Even on Replay, the game changes a great deal from when your opponents are ranked lower than 5,000, from 5,000 to 500, and from 500 into the elite stakes players, so take that into account as you move up the stakes.
I agree with Guru and Joe. Bad runs definitely happen, and BTW it’s not that the site is “cheating”; Not that you implied that.
When I have a bad run I just spend a lot of time at the low stakes ring games or 500 buy in SNG’s.
Thanks for the advice everyone! Looks like my cold streak may be over or very close to it. Just finished in 12th place in the 100K Daily Freeroll to win 3,000 chips. Definitely a confidence booster.
May or may not be your situation, but I find that I lose more when I let other players get under my skin. Sometimes I let myself get suckered into a play that I normally would not have thinking if I win it, they will shut up or stop going bingo all the time. If your goal is to maintain chips, I might suggest playing CARDS instead of playing POKER. Distinct difference. Play what you know you have and stop gambling on what the table MIGHT deal you. A savvy player will pick up on your betting habits and the chance of winning a huge pot is decreased, but so is your chance of losing a ton. Many may consider this boring, but there is a reason it is called gambling. Play your game tighter and see what happens.
My problem is that I just cannot get use to people betting 2/7o 3/4o etc. and staying in with big raises too. Naturally, they suck out on your AKs that you 5x preflop and pair up on the flop. 3x raise pre flop won’t get anyone to fold no matter if they have 2/7o. It is a hard adjustment for me having played real poker all my life and now playing free chip poker. I can’t honestly say that playing here has improved my game or the game I would play if the $500 bet is coming out of my pocket.
With so many players on this site every body will hit a cold steak sooner or later but it evens out the longer you play. I was down to under 20k but kept playing now I am to about 300K. Sometimes you have to pick the right games to play in.
Do like the big boys do–drop down in limits/blinds. Maybe your opponents are simply better players than you are. Alternatively, take a break for a week or two and come back refreshed and ready to win again.
I have found that your frame of mind has a lot to do with the way you play. If I am upset about something going on in my life, I stay away from the poker tables. I find I try to take my frustrations out on the other players and take risks that I wouldn’t normally take. Chasing bad bets with worse ones is never a good thing.
When there rating is 700000 or so they do anything. They may eventually learn. What I hate is when I have a good hand, and make decent bets some beginners stay in and get the turn and river somehow to win.
You’re playing suing odds and percentages, aren’t you? In fact you’re playing against a computer generated program which can be programmed to do anything and manipulated to do anything… Think about it and research it and you will see the reasons why it happened. It’s all over the internet, look for answers and then don’t play this game for any reason other than a diversion. It isn’t REAL.
That was meant ot be "Using odds and percentages. I’m sorry for making a typo. My boyfriend is a professional dealer and a high stakes player who used to play here doing the same thing I think you must be doing. He no longer plays here.
I agree - I’ve been here a while and had 34M chip bank. by today, I was down to 9M - loooong losing streak and then Halleluia I won 8.55M in 1 little 6 seat tourney, which means I appear to have grinded it out??? On the other hand, I could just have more to play with in a losing sort of way… Time will tell.
That is basically the most routine Omaha hand ever. There is nothing particularly remarkable about it. Having a ten high flush isn’t that strong in Omaha, and getting counterfeit because you have to use two cards is very common. His bet on the turn makes no sense, but neither do 90% of the plays people make on Replay.
@agacord232
Can’t see why you are complaining that this hand is in some way flawed. You had bottom two pairs on a flush board. As no-one bet the flop or the turn the player in last position, holding 2 pairs and a gutshot, potted to try to steal. With so many hands that beat you here why call?. Any flush Trips K4 K5 KJ J4 or as he did have J5. You were dead to the two remaining 4’s at this stage. The 8 on the river didn’t make any difference. Bottom two pairs in Omaha is about as much use as a chocolate fireguard and will lose a huge percentage of the time. Find an odds calculator online and check this out if you don’t believe me.
I know what u mean , same 4 me I try being passive & waiting 4 the cards but get beat by a bettor hand , i.e str8 by aflush on the river1 Itry to be agressive & the cards dont fall on the flop! I;m loosing interest because loosing sucks. Dont know what 2 do .I used to be O.K. Won a few tourneys etc. now I never win anything. Ienjoy playing but continually loosing sucks big time!