Give up or play on?

mud1tza

Joined: 17.02.2007

22.07.2007, 20:31 0

I have had so much bad luck in the past few days I just dont know whether I should carry on with poker...

I have been playing lots of fullring STTs and I made some gains, after reading articles and watching Morgoths video several times in the silver section. My bankroll was over $500.

But now I'm consistently losing, finishing ITM only 18% of the time, with loss streaks of 8 or more games at times. Its extremely frustrating, I have been knocked out with the best starting hand in about 75% of the games, including:

AA vs AA
JJ vs JJ
AA vs 5Ts (he was a calling station)
QQ vs AT (I was the pre-flop aggressor, the flop was Q8A, he bet 1/2 pot so I pushed, the turn was an A, the river was a T)

Finally, I played in the 300k gtd tourney last week and today, after qualifying. Last week I made two straights on the turn, only for the river to complete it for my opponent anyway, I didnt really get any other hands. Today I survived for about 1.5 hours, the few hands that I got included KK, AA, AKs, all three of which I lost to much weaker hands. My stack was reduced to 2.5 BB, I pushed all in with A3o, and ofcourse I didnt get any of the luck my opponents have been having and got knocked out.

I really prefer STTs to cash games, I like the way they change as the blinds increase and players get knocked out, and I think for the most part I was playing correctly. I have been reading the articles again, but I should have moved back down the limits sooner, and now my bankroll is now only $92, what would you guys advise?

Should I play to $3 SNGs with the crappy rake?
Just play some cash games?
Quit and take the money?

Advice would be really appreciated

- A demoralized mud1tza

2 replies

Puschkin81

Joined: 14.04.2006

Posts: 4,523

22.07.2007, 22:54 0

Don't worry mud1tza!

It's just a terrible downswing. I think you should take a break, analyze your game, read books and articles and come back with a bigger knowledge. If I'm in a downswing I always take a break of at least two days and the only "poker-thing" I do is reading books/articles and analyzing my game. It has two advantages:
First: You forget the bad beats and calm down.
Second: You become a better player.

I hope this helps!
Puschkin81

swissmoumout

Joined: 24.02.2007

Posts: 2,976

23.07.2007, 00:16 0

Hi,
I agree with what puschkin says, take a break! play some TD ♦
I faced a very similar downsing a few weeks ago... I play mostly 10 and 50 person SNG's, and I was up to over 300$, winning consistently, and then...bam just 40$ left...my AA and KK etc got cracked over and over again...
the one mistake I made was not quitting right away (okay, there was also the mistake of not going down to lower buy-ins...looks like I forget about bankroll management when I'm tilting...)
So just take a break... if you got to 500$ once, you can do it again...at least you still have a good margin with 92$...
and to answer your other questions:
1) NO. too many badbeats at the 3$ tables. you'd be even more disgusted

2) Whatever you like. Either stick to SNGs, or play cashgames if you know you can win (or go read the articles). If you want to take a break from tournaments, I'd suggest setting yourself a goal at the cash tables (like 150$...) before going back to tournaments. It worked for me on my first BIG downsing (though I'm having a bit more trouble this time ) You'll find you're more focused, cause you don't want to have to go back to cashgames ♦ (ok maybe speaking for myself here)

3) definitely NO. what good will 100$ do? It's not even a day's work, but with all the articles provided here, you can make it grow to alot more

[Closed] Give up or play on?