It happens to every poker player from time to time, no matter what you do ... you just can't seem to win ... you get in ahead and still lose on turn or river. How do you combat those situations and losing streaks? There are different approaches, however also a lot of ways to make it even worse and bust your bankroll pretty quickly.
What you shall try to avoid:
1) Tilt
The tilt is the most common mistake that many players make, they loose up in their play and try to win back their losses as soon as possible without even paying attention to the table and their opponents anymore. They just see their own hole cards and fire out as many bullets as possible until either they have the money back or bust their stack / money.
2) Move up in limits
Well, if you just lot of money, it is by far more difficult to get all losses back quickly at the same limit. So why not just move up ... more money involved also means I can get my money back faster, right? Of course that is true, but if you are in a downswing, it will always have a certain impact on your game and you more likely end up busting more money and destroying your bankroll.
3) Blaming the poker site
Obviously if you don't win, the poker site has to be rigged. And the more you tell that yourself, the higher your anger and rage will be if you get beaten the next time. It doesn't matter if it was a setup or if you went in behind, it has to be the fault from the poker site and they don't want you to win anything. Usually that is followed by quite a few swear words in table chat as well and / or blowing off some steam to everything and everyone near you. But wait, did you actually get your money in ahead or did your opponent just outplay you?
_____
There is no ultimate solution that fits for everybody, you can try different ways to combat them but there is no guarantee that you will be able to un-tilt your mind. It will always be part of the game and the best starting does not always win ... but you have to keep in mind that you shall always try to get your chips / money in when you are convinced that you are ahead. Let's take a look at a few potential ways to combat the downswing in a constructive way.
Possible ways to combat a downswing:
1) Taking a break
Sometimes it just helps to close the software and take a break before you go broke. There is a concept at MTT / SNG poker that also applies here "a good fold is better than a bad call" ... if you just don't feel it, you can still come back to win it. Of course it is hard to declare a defeat, but Rome was not built at one day either and you might have lost one battle but the war is not over yet!
2) Analyze your game
It does help at online poker when you do have a tracking program, because if you want to review your session and just depend on your memory, the opinion will be biased and you just can't keep all the necessary info about specific hands. One way to solve this problem is to browse your hand history on the poker sites that are usually saved ... but it will take by far more time and manual work. It is an important step in the recovery process though to review your hands, because it will give you a better understanding of what actually happened. Most of the time we just see the final result of the hand and keep that in mind, but we barely pay attention of how the hand was actually played until the river.
Even if we are on a downswing, it does not automatically mean that we play bad. We can still get our chips and money in ahead ... the question is just if opened hells gates ourselves or if there was nothing that could have been done. Luck will be a part of the game, it is for every card game ... but you should always focus on getting in ahead rather than depending on luck yourself.
3) Switch to another poker type
Most of the time the cash game players recognize a downswing much faster, because they play by far more hands than a Tournament or SNG player. It does not mean that you shall not play cash game anymore, but maybe you should consider to play on short handed tables instead of fullring ... or you don't play NLHE for a while and try PLO or Stud. Those are the poker types that require more thinking and might also give you more insight on your Hold'em play as well.
If you tend to tilt your money away quickly at cash game tables, try some SNG ... they don't take as long as MTT's and you might win less if you take it down. But you also just risk a fixed amount of cash and can't kill your whole bankroll in one hand (unless you buy into the highest SNG that you can find with your remaining money ... lol). And it may also give you some confidence in your own game back if you happen to take it down.
4) Follow BankRollManagement
There are a lot of poker forums and sites that offer articles about a proper BRM, if you follow it you will just risk a certain amount of your bankroll at a time. This requires a lot of discipline though and the temptation is pretty high to just ignore the restrictions because you would have to move down and play on lower limits, even though you know exactly that you can beat a higher one already. BRM is a more old fashioned approach, but it also reduces the risk to burn your bankroll at once. It is always up to the player how much risk he is willing to take, those restrictions are just guidelines that may help you on the way to become a better player ... because they always have the long run in mind and not the short term profit.
5) Get rid of all potential distractions
Most of us tend to do other things at the same time as well when playing poker. Do you know how much they influence your play? If you can't fully focus on the game itself, you won't be able to play your best game.
6) Play shorter sessions
It is by far more difficult to maintain the same concentration and play your best game forever, you can use "natural drugs" such as coffee or energy drinks that might help to keep the same level for a while, but they usually just make everything worse after a certain time. Review your sessions and see if you lose a lot after a specific time ... cut the sessions down and play more short sessions with a small break in-between to refocus.
7) Workouts
Many are not aware that some sports may help to come back totally refreshed, you can release all your anger and frustration in a constructive way and also do something for your fitness as well. It is important to maintain a healthy connection between body and soul and if you generally feel better after a workout, you will also be able to focus the mind and get back to play your A-game. If you are ill, you will always be distracted ... even though you might not notice that you can't give your best. Would you let your star player participate in the next game even though he has a broken leg?
I could go on and evaluate each topic more in depth, but I am afraid that would just kill the exposure and many people are not able to keep up the concentration or simply don't want to because it would require to invest more time to read through. Quite a few of those aspects in this blog entry are also part of my psychology project though and will probably be explained more effectively when they have their own topic.
Thanks for your attention.
What you shall try to avoid:
1) Tilt
The tilt is the most common mistake that many players make, they loose up in their play and try to win back their losses as soon as possible without even paying attention to the table and their opponents anymore. They just see their own hole cards and fire out as many bullets as possible until either they have the money back or bust their stack / money.
2) Move up in limits
Well, if you just lot of money, it is by far more difficult to get all losses back quickly at the same limit. So why not just move up ... more money involved also means I can get my money back faster, right? Of course that is true, but if you are in a downswing, it will always have a certain impact on your game and you more likely end up busting more money and destroying your bankroll.
3) Blaming the poker site
Obviously if you don't win, the poker site has to be rigged. And the more you tell that yourself, the higher your anger and rage will be if you get beaten the next time. It doesn't matter if it was a setup or if you went in behind, it has to be the fault from the poker site and they don't want you to win anything. Usually that is followed by quite a few swear words in table chat as well and / or blowing off some steam to everything and everyone near you. But wait, did you actually get your money in ahead or did your opponent just outplay you?
_____
There is no ultimate solution that fits for everybody, you can try different ways to combat them but there is no guarantee that you will be able to un-tilt your mind. It will always be part of the game and the best starting does not always win ... but you have to keep in mind that you shall always try to get your chips / money in when you are convinced that you are ahead. Let's take a look at a few potential ways to combat the downswing in a constructive way.
Possible ways to combat a downswing:
1) Taking a break
Sometimes it just helps to close the software and take a break before you go broke. There is a concept at MTT / SNG poker that also applies here "a good fold is better than a bad call" ... if you just don't feel it, you can still come back to win it. Of course it is hard to declare a defeat, but Rome was not built at one day either and you might have lost one battle but the war is not over yet!
2) Analyze your game
It does help at online poker when you do have a tracking program, because if you want to review your session and just depend on your memory, the opinion will be biased and you just can't keep all the necessary info about specific hands. One way to solve this problem is to browse your hand history on the poker sites that are usually saved ... but it will take by far more time and manual work. It is an important step in the recovery process though to review your hands, because it will give you a better understanding of what actually happened. Most of the time we just see the final result of the hand and keep that in mind, but we barely pay attention of how the hand was actually played until the river.
Even if we are on a downswing, it does not automatically mean that we play bad. We can still get our chips and money in ahead ... the question is just if opened hells gates ourselves or if there was nothing that could have been done. Luck will be a part of the game, it is for every card game ... but you should always focus on getting in ahead rather than depending on luck yourself.
3) Switch to another poker type
Most of the time the cash game players recognize a downswing much faster, because they play by far more hands than a Tournament or SNG player. It does not mean that you shall not play cash game anymore, but maybe you should consider to play on short handed tables instead of fullring ... or you don't play NLHE for a while and try PLO or Stud. Those are the poker types that require more thinking and might also give you more insight on your Hold'em play as well.
If you tend to tilt your money away quickly at cash game tables, try some SNG ... they don't take as long as MTT's and you might win less if you take it down. But you also just risk a fixed amount of cash and can't kill your whole bankroll in one hand (unless you buy into the highest SNG that you can find with your remaining money ... lol). And it may also give you some confidence in your own game back if you happen to take it down.
4) Follow BankRollManagement
There are a lot of poker forums and sites that offer articles about a proper BRM, if you follow it you will just risk a certain amount of your bankroll at a time. This requires a lot of discipline though and the temptation is pretty high to just ignore the restrictions because you would have to move down and play on lower limits, even though you know exactly that you can beat a higher one already. BRM is a more old fashioned approach, but it also reduces the risk to burn your bankroll at once. It is always up to the player how much risk he is willing to take, those restrictions are just guidelines that may help you on the way to become a better player ... because they always have the long run in mind and not the short term profit.
5) Get rid of all potential distractions
Most of us tend to do other things at the same time as well when playing poker. Do you know how much they influence your play? If you can't fully focus on the game itself, you won't be able to play your best game.
6) Play shorter sessions
It is by far more difficult to maintain the same concentration and play your best game forever, you can use "natural drugs" such as coffee or energy drinks that might help to keep the same level for a while, but they usually just make everything worse after a certain time. Review your sessions and see if you lose a lot after a specific time ... cut the sessions down and play more short sessions with a small break in-between to refocus.
7) Workouts
Many are not aware that some sports may help to come back totally refreshed, you can release all your anger and frustration in a constructive way and also do something for your fitness as well. It is important to maintain a healthy connection between body and soul and if you generally feel better after a workout, you will also be able to focus the mind and get back to play your A-game. If you are ill, you will always be distracted ... even though you might not notice that you can't give your best. Would you let your star player participate in the next game even though he has a broken leg?
I could go on and evaluate each topic more in depth, but I am afraid that would just kill the exposure and many people are not able to keep up the concentration or simply don't want to because it would require to invest more time to read through. Quite a few of those aspects in this blog entry are also part of my psychology project though and will probably be explained more effectively when they have their own topic.
Thanks for your attention.
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