It seems that about once a month I hit a 4 buy in losing streak. Each time it happens, Im somehow able to turn it around before it gets aout of control by looking at my big hands during that time. I havent had a losing streak bigger than 4 buy ins in over a year so I guess Im doing something right. Ive decided to post some of the hands from the streak this time for evaluation. These are from memory so they may not be exact but since Ive been accused of having a photographic memory, I think theyre close. Feel free to point out dumb mistakes. Thats exactly the point.

All hands are $2/$4 NL

Hand #1) I raise to $18 with KK in EP. MP ($75) calls. BB then min reraises to $32. He has about $300 and I have him covered.

Most people in my games dont reraise a healthy raise without AA or KK. I could fold here but that seems incredibly weak. I dont subscribe to the theory that you must go broke with KK vs AA.

Anyway, because of the short stack I dont think I can just call the reraise. I have to at least reraise enough to put the shortstack all in. I decide to just push all in. Short stack folds his TT. BB calls with AA and there goes one stack. A ten hit the flop.


Hand #2 MP min raises. Its folded to me in the BB and I call with TT.
Pot is $18. The flop comes AKQ. Check/check.

The turn is a Jack. I have the nuts and check planning to check raise. Hes not calling a bet with an underpair. If Im going to get any money from him its going to be from 2 pair. I cant believe he wouldnt bet that flop if he had AA, KK, QQ, or even AK or KQ. He checks again.

The river is another Jack. I bet $15 and he goes all in for $380 or so. HUH? For some reason I talk myself into calling and he has AJ. UGH!

Hand #3 I raise to $16 UTG with T9 of clubs. Its folded to the BB who calls.
I just played a big hand with him where he raised $12 preflop. I called with TT and the flop was QTT. He bet the flop and I called. He bet the turn, I raised..he reraised and I pushed all in....He folded after putting in half his stack. This hand is also the same table and only a few hands after my dumb TT all in call.

The pot is $34. The flop is QJ4. He checks, I bet $30. He check raises to $60 and I push all in. He started the hand with about $300. This is a play I normally dont make but he has to be afraid of AA, QQ, JJ and I really thought he would fold. He called with KK and I didnt hit my straight. I normally dont play draws that hard which is a big reason I dont have bad losing streaks, but I still think this may be a good play at times. He should not have called with KK there considering I should have AA, QQ or JJ when I make that play from UTG. If he calls I have outs....anyway...another loss.

Hand #4 UTG raises to $20. Hes been raising in EP to $20-$25 with 99 and worse. I call in MP with AK. SB calls also. Hes very looseand bluffs alot as does UTG.

Pot is $64. The flop comes A66. SB checks, UTG bets $75, I call and so does SB.
Pot is $290. The turn is an 8. SB bets $175. UTG folds. I raise all in to $300 total. SB calls with 76s and I lose.


There are other good and bad hands in this streak of course but these are the hands that cost me about $1600.

Hand #1..-$400 I have no problem here
Hand #2..-$400..I think if I bet the turn he calls anyway with 2 pair so Im counting this as a mistake loss of $330
Hand #3..During a losing streak I need to fold these hands...-$300
Hand #4..Not sure about this one.

What do you think?

hand 1 - sucks, and I can talk all the mess I want, but I'll almost always put all my money in preflop w/ KK and just pray I'm not up against Aces... there's just too many players who chase too much not to call...

hand 2 - he pulled the old "all-in to look like a bluff when it's not really a bluff" trick on ya... I've been burned a lot of times w/ the nut straight/flush when the board pairs on the river... I would have probably, chokingly, hatingly folded...

hand 3 - we've all chased at one time or another, and it usually comes back to bite us in the ass... you definitely hid your hand well, and I'm not sure what he thought you would've had that he beat (AA,QQ,JJ you got him...)... must be one of those guys whose pocket pair will hold up, come hell or high water...

hand 4 - I've played nowhere near as many hands as you have, but I wonder if there's a way to research what % of people that stay in a hand have the trip on a paired flop... Enough so that I probably won't chase w/ the 2nd pair... I may have called the flop, but wouldn't have stayed in on the turn...

Just look on the bright side... you make enough bank playing that 4 buyins in a day don't kill you... I can afford it, but if I lost $1600 in a day, I'd be on suicide watch...

MVP

Two questions Iceman:

first, in hand 4, why do you flat call the flop? I agree that you are most likely ahead, but most turn cards will make you wonder whether someone hit two pair or better. Why don't you raise the flop to take it there or slow down when called?

Second: you say in hand 3 that you should fold this hand during a losing streak. This really surprises me. As a beginner, I am always struggling with the fact that all that matters is making the best decisions. Whether you call, fold or raise should not be determined by whether you are up or down for the session or for the week. (The only exception is when you have evidence that your winning or losing has seriously influenced how people play you.)

Personally I still find it difficult to have more than two losing sessions in a row, even if I'm convinced that I just got unlucky. Typically, after two losing sessions I will either play too timid, being afraid to lose more (even thought that would be no problem for my bankroll), or I will play too loose, trying to force the issue.

Superficially, it would seem as if you compromise your game here. Or do you think it is just a way of reducing variance? Related question: if you are on a very bad losing streak, do you still take on 55/45 situations for your stack?

Pieter

I flat called in hand 4 with the Ak, because UTG was the kind of guy who would keep firing. I was going to raise all in on the turn. I didnt expect SB to call the flop.

The T9s hand...I dont make very many high variance plays like this. I dont really need to. I win at a very nice pace just playing my normal tight aggressive game. Most people should fold T9s UTG no matter if theyre winning or losing. I play it sometimes , but I think I have much more folding equity when Im winning and players see me winning.

Give me an example of the 55/45 type hand your talking about and I'll let you know. I doubt that I would play it any differently whether I was winning or losing, but I usually dont play for my stack if I know its 55/45, unless pot odds dictate that I do.

I have a major problem with both hands 1 and 2. I personally hate pushing allin in hand 1 because the pot is still small and you are usually only getting called by KK/AA there. And his minre-raise just screams of AA. Nevertheless, check-folding is way too tight, as you said. I would raise to about $80 and fold to a push. Either that or smooth-call the minre-raise to disguise the strength of your hand and keep the pot small.

Hand 2, I think you have to bet out the turn everytime. He won't necessarily put you on a ten just because you bet; as a matter of fact, a checkraise is much more of an indication of a ten than is a bet. If he has a set/2pr he's still gonna pay you off a decent amount. Also, you have to fold the river, but you know that already.

Hand 3 I don't mind that much, and Hand 4 I think you played absolutely perfectly.

The only hand I have problems with is the 10's. Sure the min raiser looks like he has aces, but how many times do you see someone doing that same play with AK or QQ.

I still can't get over the fact that a 4 buyin streak is the longest you've had in a year. That's just absurd.

Isn't your bankroll at least 20x buyins? Don't sweat it until you hit 12.

I've lost 4 buyins in 1 session like 3 times this year already...and i'm Passive-tight aggressive according to pokertracker.

Not to beat a dead horse since even the best players make bad plays every once and a while, but in hand two how did you convince yourself to call?? The pot is only $33 the best you can hope for is to get $17.5 of it back and you risk $200 to do it?

Rhound...I didnt risk $200 to get back $17.50..I risked $400.....lol

Palman, the most Ive ever lost is 8 buy ins and I really doubt that will happen again any time soon. 4 of those buy ins were bad luck mostly, but the other 4 were horrible titling plays on my part. Yes, I have many more than 20 buy ins in my roll so Im not worried about going broke or anything like that. I just like to go back over my big hands when I lose 4 buy ins. It must be working because I have been able to stop the bleeding there every time.

I made back about $390 this morning so hopefully the next winning streak has already started