In my last 10-15 sessions of playing ive had a pretty rough time. At one point, before rakeback and excluding bonuses i was losing >$1000. Thats kind of a figure i havent had to deal with online before. Even though ive lost £1000 in a day more than once before, somehow losing it live is much different to losing it in small amounts online over a more substantial amount of time. So i took that pretty badly to be honest. Reassuring myself was pretty difficult and every now and again i would just give myself a speech or rant to myself like; 'How can i keep losing' or 'I must be playing bad' or 'Fuck poker this is bullshit' etc etc. Obviously that was just the irrational side of me speaking and after looking over graph after graph and showing myself over and over again how far below EV i was running it eventually sunk in (kind of). But running >$100 below EV every session for approximately 7 sessions is not something i plan on doing very much. Im not going to show every single session of running bad so heres one small session;
These sort of sessions are obviously just massively demoralising, especially when it happens time after time after time. During this time ive also encountered some horrific bad beats, which are made to feel a lot worse in the middle of a big downswing. For example losing AA vs AK for a >£100 pot or getting it in with the nut flush on the flop on 2 tables simultaneously vs 1 pair and losing them both. All these things just add up and affect you mentally. However to have gone through all these things whilst experiencing personal problems and not have killed myself is kind of an achievement though haha!
Now here are a couple of things that have gone my way on a plus side;
Preflop: Hero is CO with AcAs
4 folds, Tony5tark raises to $1.50, 1 fold, Leders raises to $2.50, 1 fold, Tony5tark raises to $10.00, Leders calls $7.50
Flop: ($18.00) Qd 4d Ah (2 players) Leders bets $49.22, Tony5tark calls $49.22
Turn: ($116.44) 7s (2 players
River: ($116.44) 6h (2 players
Hero was CO with Ac As
Final board: Qd 4d Ah 7s 6h
Leders shows Jd Qh
(Pre 15.1% Flop 5.3% Turn 0.0% River 0.0%)
Tony5tark wins $115.94
Its nice when someone calls your 4bet pre with QJo and then open ships when you flop the nuts, cannot complain with that at all. Another hand here;
Preflop: Hero is MP2 with 7h 7d
johnthebook calls $0.50, march188 calls $0.50, 1 fold, jamiess007 calls $0.50, Tony5tark calls $0.50, xjwj raises to $2.50, mikegreeny calls $2.50, 3 folds, march188 calls $2.00, 1 fold, Tony5tark calls $2.00
Flop: ($10.75) Tc 7s 8c (4 players) march188 checks, Tony5tark checks, xjwj bets $9.00, 1 fold, march188 raises to $16.80, Tony5tark raises to $64.40, xjwj calls $55.40
Turn: ($147.35) 4s (3 players
River: ($147.35) 2h (3 players
Hero was MP2 with 7h 7d
Final board: Tc 7s 8c 4s 2h
march188 shows 8h 7c
(Pre 24.8% Flop 10.3% Turn 4.8% River 0.0%)
xjwj shows K6cc
(Pre 33.5% Flop 35.5% Turn 31.0% River 0.0%)
Tony5tark wins $154.35
Winning a flip is always nice but winning it for a triple up just makes things so much better. Obviously on the flop its a huge cooler but how K6 squeezed pre and got a call from 78 is beyond me. But oh well hey it happened and i won a nice pot.
My goals for the next few months are to play as much poker as i can and earn another 100,000 paddy points so i can get a $1500 cash bonus and get a free ipad 3! Also when on a downsing and losing a lot it does not make it feel better when you have to withdraw a chunk too. Ive withdrawn about $1500 recently to pay for a holiday for me and my girlfiend for september. Spain for 10 days with 2 other friends too is just what i need right now, shame i have to wait. Hopefully i will get to blog a lot more. I have this problem where a lot of time i just cant be bothered lol. Also still trying to keep balance in my life as advised by the great Phil Galfond. Hopefully ill keep it up
Now here are a couple of things that have gone my way on a plus side;
Preflop: Hero is CO with AcAs
4 folds, Tony5tark raises to $1.50, 1 fold, Leders raises to $2.50, 1 fold, Tony5tark raises to $10.00, Leders calls $7.50
Flop: ($18.00) Qd 4d Ah (2 players) Leders bets $49.22, Tony5tark calls $49.22
Turn: ($116.44) 7s (2 players
River: ($116.44) 6h (2 players
Hero was CO with Ac As
Final board: Qd 4d Ah 7s 6h
Leders shows Jd Qh
(Pre 15.1% Flop 5.3% Turn 0.0% River 0.0%)
Tony5tark wins $115.94
Its nice when someone calls your 4bet pre with QJo and then open ships when you flop the nuts, cannot complain with that at all. Another hand here;
Preflop: Hero is MP2 with 7h 7d
johnthebook calls $0.50, march188 calls $0.50, 1 fold, jamiess007 calls $0.50, Tony5tark calls $0.50, xjwj raises to $2.50, mikegreeny calls $2.50, 3 folds, march188 calls $2.00, 1 fold, Tony5tark calls $2.00
Flop: ($10.75) Tc 7s 8c (4 players) march188 checks, Tony5tark checks, xjwj bets $9.00, 1 fold, march188 raises to $16.80, Tony5tark raises to $64.40, xjwj calls $55.40
Turn: ($147.35) 4s (3 players
River: ($147.35) 2h (3 players
Hero was MP2 with 7h 7d
Final board: Tc 7s 8c 4s 2h
march188 shows 8h 7c
(Pre 24.8% Flop 10.3% Turn 4.8% River 0.0%)
xjwj shows K6cc
(Pre 33.5% Flop 35.5% Turn 31.0% River 0.0%)
Tony5tark wins $154.35
Winning a flip is always nice but winning it for a triple up just makes things so much better. Obviously on the flop its a huge cooler but how K6 squeezed pre and got a call from 78 is beyond me. But oh well hey it happened and i won a nice pot.
My goals for the next few months are to play as much poker as i can and earn another 100,000 paddy points so i can get a $1500 cash bonus and get a free ipad 3! Also when on a downsing and losing a lot it does not make it feel better when you have to withdraw a chunk too. Ive withdrawn about $1500 recently to pay for a holiday for me and my girlfiend for september. Spain for 10 days with 2 other friends too is just what i need right now, shame i have to wait. Hopefully i will get to blog a lot more. I have this problem where a lot of time i just cant be bothered lol. Also still trying to keep balance in my life as advised by the great Phil Galfond. Hopefully ill keep it up