Coping with a losing session

[therivierakid]

Just to kick things off, I'm curious as to how everyone copes with losing sessions - I'm thinking here about sessions where you drop at least 30BB.

My own reaction varies somewhat. Sometimes I'll brood on it for a couple of hours afterwards, even to the point of thinking on it as I'm trying to get to sleep. Other times I will satisfy myself that I played well and was simply outdrawn/ran into bigger hands or better players. Occasionally I will fire up PT and analyse some of the big losing hands that I played in the sessions. This tends to be more of an activity for the day following the losing session though.

Does anyone think that a negative reaction to one session may affect your performance in the next? What if you always react negatively... is there some sort of cumulative psychological effect?

[taz115]

[Piemaster]

[Taardvark]

The cumulative effect of negativity is poisoning. It's not isolated to poker. Think about relationships, your job, school, etc. When something goes bad for a while in one of them, it really effects that aspect of your life but it also starts to creep into everything else and steamroll.

I used to have horrible swings that would start with a couple of bad sessions and then last way too long. I did all the wrong things to try to break out of it: I'd play too long, I'd make marginal plays, bluff too much, play too many hands, play too much, etc. I got lucky and do to a number of life events I had to step away from playing for a good month. I was so busy I didn't really think about poker at all. When I came back I was fresh and the negativity was gone. I started winning again.

I also think that something that isn't discussed a lot is balance. I know a couple of kids about 21 who do nothing but play poker online. They multi table for 10-12 hours a day 6 or 7 days a week. They certainly do well by 21 year standards financially, but they have very little social life to speak of. I can't speak for their diet and exercise, but I imagine they are not eating particularly well and exercising much. When I run bad I just step away now and do something completely unrelated to poker. I wonder what these guys do since they have built their lives around it?

[maxp]

I noticed that if I'm having a losing session and taking a lot of bad beats (so it feels), my game also detoriates. I make bad calls, bad plays, missing value bets. And in this mood, it seems the beats continue endlessly, to the point where Poker is no fun anymore and more like a grind. Like playing 1/2 or 2/4 FRL-tables on crypto...

My roomies also have to kinda suffer because they have to hear my whining all day long (e.g. where I lost my flopped nuts flush against an underpair No he had no set and the board wasn't paired on the flop)

Then I usually take a break for 2-5 days from playing Poker. Still checking Poker forums and reading some books like ToP, but after the break I usually regained confidence and the old lust for Poker.

seems like a love-hate relationship...

[Fumseck]

I find that when I am running bad, I push marginal hands more often because I want to get back to even as quickly as possible.

For example:

I raise from the button with TT, SB folds, BB 3-bets me. I call.

Flop come all low cards (below T).

When I run good, I make a bet if checked to me or I make a raise if bet by BB and I can fold my TT if BB shows more aggression.

When I run bad, I push the flop whatever BB does.

Sometimes pushing is the right move, but not always. I push because I want to get back to even more quickly not because it's the right move.


Basically, when I run bad, I am not as patient as when I run good.

[SteveGriff]

Tilt weaknesses that I've battled against in the past are:

1) Calling down when steamed.
2) Betting hard trying to push people off pots
3) Everyone's semi-bluffing me. (or bluffing me outright). Thinking they're on flush/straight draw when they have a better legitimate hand than me.

[Willem]

I have not yet experienced any real big losses. Total losing streak of only 100 BB and perhaps 45BB in one session. So, I don't know how I will react to a huge losing streak.

I find that knowledge is one of the most important things for tilt control. First, knowledge makes it easier to combat tilt. Whenever you are more and more convinced that a certain play is the correct play, it is easier to make that play despite your emotions. Second, knowledge makes it easier to detect tilt. Whenever you still make the wrong play, you are quicker to identify you play as a mistake. This way you can quit before you really start playing bad (assuming you have enough discipline).

I think one of the reasons that beginning players suffer much more from tilt is partly due to their lack of knowledge about the game.

[AlamedaMike]

I played about 18 sessions this month and lost 16 times. It has a very negative affect on me since it was the opposite in January where I won 16 of 30.

It has put me so far off my game that I have to re-think my entire poker playing experience and it has me doubting myself.

This looks like a nice forum.

[Llanlad]

This is an in interesting read ..

Ive had a few losing NL sessions lately ...the initial one last month ( about 11 losing sessions on the trot ) affected my sleep !!

All kinds of things are going through my mind ... you really can doubt your own play after a while ..

I felt i was not aggressive enough .. or played hands a touch poorly ... but when you dont hit anything for a while ... you really have to knuckle down on take a grip of whats going on IMO ..

Piemaster's saying that poker is just one long session is correct .. and i try and use that thinking when things are not going well ..

But i think players can over react when they are having a prolonged losing streak ( me too at times ) ... and you try to make too many changes to your game, when in reality .. your game is ok ... but your just having a downswing ... something that unfortunatly happens in poker !!

Last night .. after a dodgy start to this month ... I tried to up my aggression levels preflop and the flop ...a VPIP of around 24% and a PFR of about 14% .. now thats slighlty high for me ... but i kept at it ....

I ended the session down half a buy in ... but i think i actually played ok ... just did not get the run again .... it happens ... so ill take the positives out of that session ..

I actually had 2 quads .. but no action ...

I think a downswing can be interputated in many ways ... being outdrawn when you are ahead is one ....

Another one is getting no action with your big flops but getting played back at all the time when you miss can be very frustrating ..

With a PFR of around 14% you raise preflop with many kinds of hands .. its amazing you raise with 78d .. the flop is 456 .. you throw out a bet .. and everyone folds .. !! .. then again you raise with KA .. flop is 456 .. you do the same bet .. and 2 play back at you !!

[Dogs]

[Baz501]

Im just thinking logically here, but the worlds best poker players dont have to worry about a losing session as such, as they have millions splashed around anyway dont they? Whereas perhaps a player like me who can only afford to have a 20$ session loses - we aint good enough to play big pots, and when we lose the small ones it further undermines us.

I tried playing free money poker to gain confidence, but as it worked out you play hands you wouldnt normally because in the endm it doesnt matter, as it isnt real money. Its like going for the million on who wants be a millionaire - on the computer youll have a wild guess because it doesnt matter, whereas in real life youll take the money

I guess what Im trying to say is, those with money dont really care as they are doing what they love and dont have to worry about losing more, as they have enough. Thats my view anyway

[AlamedaMike]

[jeffnc]

[AlamedaMike]

Note- February was terrible and it put me off my game - March I got my game back together but I am still losing more that winning. Just much slower because I am playing better.

Reply -

The classic utterance from a bad player is 'I only win when I get lucky and I lose when I am unlucky'. My new mantra.

I think that I am very unlucky but sometimes I get very lucky - as in hitting a jackpot with a bad beat. I have had the same bad beat again but not on a jackpot table. I can not count the number of times that I have lost to quads or hit quads - yesterday I got a straight flush.

For instance - a player flops a full house (88 ) and I (77) turn a lower full house (6867Q)! Bad luck or that's poker? I turn a full house and end up splitting the pot? same question.

Saturday I got pounded with bad beats - at least 15 times I lost when I had the best hand to 1, 2 and 3 outers. Assuming that we lose 50% of the hands that we see the flop with I was in the range of losing 75%.

How did I handle it? I just bemoaned my bad luck to my wife (who is the only person that will feint interest) and kept on playing trying to play my best game. Did my very best not to go on tilt and try to get it all back now. Concentrated on making good decisions and letting the cards fall as they may. Since almost no one folds its showdown poker. Once the cards are dealt my only decisions were how much to put in the pot and when to fold.

I worked hard yesterday for 8 hours an 'only' lost 10bb for the session. I had some fun.

I like the Moneymaker example. Jimmy Gold was also very lucky to win as is almost all the winners are.