Poker just isnt much fun anymore

[iceman5]

You all know about my horrible run. It was almost all bad play on my part.
I took a couple days off and came back with a vengeance. I had a win rate of about 20PTBBs over 2000 hands or so. I knew full well alot of it was variance. I had some big hands. I was just about to move back up when my next streak started. Looking at my graph, I hit my high point of 375BBs at 1800 hands.

Since then Ive lost about 150BBs over the next 3400 hands. Thats not the end of the world or the end of my bankroll or anything, but its just not fun, folding hand after hand for hour after hour after hour.

I now have 4500 hands of break even poker. Its not like these guys are any good. I swear I watch these guys play big pots with absolute junk and then every time I have anything (which isnt often) they all have nothing. I know theyre not folding just because Im in the hand and Im a rock. Im betting flops all over the place and they call when I have nothing and fold when I have a set. Ive tried slow playing and they still fold when I bet the turn.

Since the 1890 hand mark on the graph, there are almost NO hands where I won a nice pot. There are maybe 3 hands where you see the graph jump up suddenly. I know this is variance as well, but like i said, its just not fun playing poker anymore.

I really do feel like just quitting, but then I think about all the money Ive made and I think its stupid to quit. On the other hand, I have to go back 45 days to find the break even point. In other words, Ive broken even over the past 45 days. For someone who had never had a losing month and had 2 losing weeks all this year...thats just hard to believe and hard to take. Maybe my expectations are just too high now, but all I know is that I havent had fun playing for about 6-8 weeks now. Ive had more frustration in the past 45 days than ever before and nothing to show for it. How long do you keep playing just for the sake of playing?

Sorry about the large graph. I cant figure out how to make it the right size.

[Kuso]

some suggestions:

- take some time off

- learn a new game... A-5 triple draw is REALLY fun (just tried it yesterday).

- play some SnGs

- drop down in limits (to a level at which you don't care if you lose) and just bully the table. mixing it up while mostly playing solid poker just messes people up.

- play TW in a "challenge"... or even series of challenges.

- sit at MK's limit table... definitely +EV


whatever you do, you can be certain that the heater is just around the corner.

[Molina]

How do you keep on playing?

I think it depends on your motivation to play winning poker in the first place, if it's for the money then it's a case of keep on playing your best game and break even poker will change into profit. Break even on a cold spell of cards and action isn't really a bad thing.

If you're playing poker for the challenge and the satisfaction of winning and really can't stomach poker for a while then play backgammon or pool. I had a spell where I was so burnt out from poker I didn't play for a month, the bankroll suffered but I ended up playing an insane amount of pool (I have a table in my house) and I realised that trying to excel in pool really took care of my competitve juices.

Ice, you in the situation that you're not dependant on you're poker income and you're reasons for playing are probably a combination of these 2 motivators as most people would say.

The fact you're frustrated with not having made cash the past 45 days says to me the money is main motivator which is as it should be, and, well, you just have to keep on playing, stopping playing poker won't get the money, dropping down in stakes won't do it either, you need to play your best game in your normal games. The thrill of playing may wane temporarily but it's the money that counts.

Then again poker is my job, I don't have to find it fun, merely more profitable and preferable to other jobs. Hope you can extract some sense from this ramble.

Molina

EDIT - I have no idea why my post is double spaced, it's not intentional.

[droqqa]

[bobby]

[AlexMR]

I feel for you, Ice.

I dont think I could handle to be breaking even for that long.

What I do like about this new post is that you are thinking right, IMHO...and it s about the money. As I said in a previos whining from you, you HAVE to think about the money and understand it is important for you and your family!!! Unless you are rich or something.

That said, I just think you need a break. Maybe a big one. Do it. Stop playing for a while. Dont even come to the forum (ok, for me that iseven harder than not playing but U need to try it). I really dont think you can be playing your best game after all this, and mostly because of how you feel about it.

Take the break...or you can stay and have your ass kicked for another while and come here and we will find something nice and relieving to say....

I am sure most of this is just variance, but at this point I also doubt you are at the top of your game. Things will change but right now the break is the best option. Has it been too hard to not play for a few days?

[BigPhish]

OK, not to be sarcastic or a prick or anything, but...

Why does it have to be Variance? Why can't it be something else? I mean, that's a fairly long stretch to be just variance. Variance kicks your ass for a session or three, not for a month and a half.

I'd throw out three thoughts for you to consider:

1) May be you're at a level that is seeing an improvement in the overall skill factor. The pickings aren't as easy at your current level than they were a level or two ago.

2) Maybe you've sprung a leak, or had one the whole time and it's only becoming prominent now. Not that I'd have any clue how to find a leak in anyone playing at your level, but you might want to talk through hands and strategies with some better players.

3) Maybe you just need a break. Or a different game.


If you hate playing at this point, the obvious one to go to first is #3.

But I bet #1 and #2 play into your experience over the last little while.

[iceman5]

Phish,

A lrage majority of the past 45 days have been at the $2/$4 and $1/$2 levels. The chart I posted is ALL at $1/$2, and I know these guys arent that good. Ive been beating these guys to shreds for 10 months now.

Alex,

Yes its been very hard to not play for a couple reasons.
1) Poker has become a very big part of my life. When you avg playing 3 hours every day for 3 years, its tough to know what to do when you suddenly arent playing. I work in the evenings so Im home in the mornings by myself when my son is in school and my wife is at work. I dont remember what I used to do before poker to be honest, but the couple days I took off last week, were very boring.

2) When you win constantly and consistently for 3 years, you expect to win and get used to winning. Even though I dont spend much of the money I win, I have made alot of plans for the future which include having the extra money coming in, so quitting changes everything. Like I said, I feel like quitting. When I think about quitting, I think about everything I ve worked for. Ive been winning thousands every month for a while now and it seems like a huge waste to give that all up, but then I think about the hour after hour that Ive played for the past month and a half and have nothing to show for it. I know what footbal players feel like when they are at the end of their careers but just cant retire. They dont want to accpt the fact that they cant get it done anymore and they dont know what to do with themselves because football is all they know. But its hard to believe that I just all of the sudden cant beat the games that Ive been beating for so long. Its not poker skill fades so fast like athletic skill does for pro athletes.

How do you go from winning 75% of all days played for years....never having a losing month...having 3 losing weeks over the past 52 weeks.....to going 45 days of break even. My past success has made times like this very tough to swallow.

I sat down to play last night and dropped 1/2 a buy in in about 20 mins and just turned the computer off.

1) I open raised to $8 with TT in the cutoff. BB calls. FLop comes 973. I bet $16 and he pushes in for $30. Its $14 to me so i call. He has JJ

2) EP raises to $9 and has $20 total. I put him in with QQ. He has AK and the flop is KKK

3) 2 limpers. I have KJ in the BB. FLop JT4. I check, Cutoff bets $4 into the $8 pot. Button calls. I check raise to $16, Cutoff pushes in and its another $15 or so to me so I call. He has AA.

None of these hands are that big a deal, but combined with 1000s of hands where I have nothing and combined with the very few real hands Ive had where everyone folds...its just frustrating to the point of it not being fun anymore.

Hands like #3, I see poeple play hands like this all day long and win with T9 and junk like that, but it seems that everytime Im in the hand, my hand isnt good enough. I know full well that variance will work itself out in the end, but Im just fed up with it.

[Felonius_Monk]

[iceman5]