I would like to know. In my case, they seem to be coming every month of every 3-4 weeks. The one I am at now, has two days and 1275 hands. I am not feeling bad at all. In fact these streak has shown me that my game has improved a lot because I am folding to outdrawns I usually had to call before.

Here are my numbers for the two bad days:

Hands: 1275
VP$IP 18.75%
Amount LOST = $90.71 = 14.44PTBB/100
Went to SD = 28.8%
Won at SD = 49%
PF raise 6.55%


I know that WtSD is high, but that might be because of a lot of bad beats like set of jacks lost to set of queens and KING high flush lost to nut flush and all that kind of stuff. Hands in which, of course, I will lose my stack (not the flush, but the set over set and full over full).

As most of you know and see, I play at NL$25, and it s almost 4 buyins down. I dont feel bad at all. I´ve understood that this thing is part of the game. Tilting and getting desperate wont get me out of it. I dont think my game has been worse in these two days.

For how long do these losing streaks last in your case?


AlexMR

I am on a 4 buyin slide at Stars the last 2 days, too.

My last stack lost is shown below. It epitomizes what happens when you're on a bad run. I raised to $50 (25xBB) on the button after a bunch of limpers because there were 2 monkeys playing less than $50 stacks and I had a strong feeling they'd call with anything playable and I knew they didn't have AA/KK, so I was either a coinflip, sm fav, or big fav. One of them just recently doubled up playing garbage all-in against me, so I hoped they'd try again. If they didn't call, I figured to just take the 6 BB right there. The guy who did call said it was a misclick. His misclick cost me another stack, can't we have a do-over? Anyway, I'm taking a couple days off from online poker, but am playing live tonight. After a solid week, my over-aggression has cooled me down and I need to tighten back up.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $2 BB (9 handed)

UTG ($37.70)
UTG+1 ($347.05)
MP1 ($290.90)
MP2 ($50)
MP3 ($412.20)
CO ($93)
Hero ($148.45)
SB ($171.35)
BB ($200)

Preflop: Hero is Button with , .
UTG calls $2, 1 fold, MP1 calls $2, MP2 calls $2, MP3 calls $2, 1 fold, Hero raises to $50, 2 folds, UTG folds, MP1 calls $48, MP2 folds, MP3 folds.

Flop: ($109) , , (2 players)
MP1 checks, Hero bets $98.45 (All-In), MP1 calls $98.45.

Turn: ($305.90) (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: ($305.90) (2 players, 1 all-in)

Final Pot: $305.90

Results in white below:
MP1 has Ad Th (flush, queen high).
Hero has Ks As (one pair, aces).
Outcome: MP1 wins $305.90.

As for how often streaks happen, that's dependent on your style, how often you play, etc. I tend to hit a stretch of a few days after a nice run where everything in the world seems to go wrong (like the above). When this happens, I have usually either taken a day or two off, as my game is usually getting slightly sloppy from overplay and winning, or I'll just shake it up playing something else like limit O8 somewhere chasing a bonus. If you go earn a bonus, thats like a buyin right back and didnt risk you much. Gets momentum going for me mentally.

I did that. I am always playing for some bonus. I deposit 500 and cashout 580. Bonus compensate your losses but... damn! I hate this!

As for my style of play I am rated TA with AF of 2.15 (I am not soooo aggressive, not after the flop. At the flop my AF is 3.5.

I decided to go play some limit for a while. (Until party do the cashout )

There's unfortunately no general rule here in my experience. It's just the way the cards go...

I would suggest the following: As things dry up, be sure you stay completely tight. Don't get tempted to playing inferior hands. Just decide what's right for the table and play exactly that.

I think one is better off throwing in loose plays during a winning streak, actually. The thing about a tight player during a losing streak is that opponents tend to view your play as weak-tight and are all over you. If that happens on a weak-ish hand, you just end up losing more. It's a big temptation to try to bluff yourself out of it sometimes (I've definitely done it), but it's not wise.

Sounds like your play hasn't been bad. I think set over set is normally just a case where you really have to lose your stack--K-high flush, however, less so (also the reason why I've pretty much abandoned KXs altogether, a hand I used to play a lot in LP).

I am in the middle of one also, and if it runs the way it usually does its 3-5 days. The only thing I ever found that seemed to help was to simply tighten up, but you already got that one down.


Your showdown is a little high for a bad spell, but the circumstances being what they are its understandable, as far as the number of buyins down im down 2 1/2 myself in 4 days (i know, i know palman..) I learned just to pretty much ignore that as youll make it back soon enough.

since mine, and it seems many others run regularily, ive often wondered how much of a streak is due to the cards and how much is due to oneself, IE missing tells you might otherwise not and taking a hand to far etc.

hope this helps
sonicboom

My current losing streak, $1/2 blind $200 buy in game

4/21 Thursday 4 hours -15
4/22 Friday 3 hours -40
4/23 Saturday 1 hour -224
4/24 OFF
4/25 Monday 4 hours -48
5/30 Monday 4 hours -66
5/31 Tuesday 4 hours +57
6/1 Wednesday 3.5 hours +142
6/2 Thursday 15 minutes -21

-$215 / 23.6 hours

What I like about the NL ring game is that when things run badly for me I tend to lose a little or stay close to even. It is a nice change from the days of limit poker when you would lose much more when running bad because of the relative high cost of the blinds. I'm trying to focus on not being results oriented and taking it one hand at a time. Make good decisions and the money will eventually arrive.
gl

YD

Ive only had 1 losing week this year so obviously I havent had any long losing streaks, but I have had 4 or 5 down turns where I lost about 4 buy ins each time.

Luckily, i was quickly able to turn it around. The better you get, the more of your losing streaks will be caused by bad cards and not bad play.

When MOST of your losing streaks are caused by bad cards (and not bad play), they will get shorter and shallower. Bad cards really dont run in super long stretches. But overplaying hands when your getting bad cards and trying to win anyway, will kill you.

Yep, I think both Yogadude and ice have exactly the right attitude.

Specifically to YD's comments: I think that's really the basic idea of tight play. Essentially, the better-than-average cards and the worse-than-average cards even out over the long run. If what you're basically doing when nothing hits (or even worse, hits only partially leaving you with hands that good judgment just tells you are likely to be second best) is cutting your losses in a timely manner, then you don't lose nearly as much during the bad times as you win when the cards are going your way.

I really think we often focus too much on these great hands where we won big pots (and those are obviously important, dramatic and very satisfying), but equally important is the ability to lay down when the situation calls for it and just wait out patiently the sometimes very long runs of horrible cards. That's really harder to do than it is to take AA's stack when you hit your set and stuff like that. Anyone who can do it (wait while maintaining one's sanity) I think deserves to feel extremely proud of themselves!

Only slightly off the subject and one other thing I've been meaning to mention to YD: During my 6-month absence from poker, one thing I did get involved with is yoga. It's actually a pretty incredible kind of "balancer" for a poker player, I'm now discovering--REALLY great in terms of increasing one's ability to stay focussed and not get overly angry and frustrated when things go wrong (and, as we all know, poker can be very aggravating at times--even with yoga, but it helps enormously!).

I also do Yoga! it is great for anything that requires patience and concentration.

I took a break since thrursday morning when I played and lost 1.5buyin at bodog in another set over set situation.

I will be bact in the tables in a few minutes and maybe tommorrow. I am very confident that I will start doing better because these streaks havent been longer than 3-5 days and I know desperation (which has not been the case in this one) has been of great contribution to them.

Thanks for the advise...


AlexMR

I was a big fav in each case. At least 80/20 or more, yet lost 'em all to mostly maniacs.
When that happens, I simply look at my ev, cause I know in the long run things will even out. Must trust in the math. BTW, this all came over my last 100 hands on PP.

-GeoC