Best way to deal with a Bad Luck Streak

XXIII · Apr 1, 2008

I have had a run of bad luck of late. Its getting to me a little bit. I don't mind losing to a bit of bad luck once and awhile but my streak has been going on for about a month now. I make the right calls, folds and such. I am confident in my play but losing on 2 outers in 3 straight tourneys gets to me.

So what do you think I should do?

Should I just take a break? (Which I normally do)
Should I play only one tourney a day/week?
Should I just try to play through it and learn to deal with really bad luck?

BelgoSuisse · Apr 1, 2008

How many games does a month mean? What kind of tournaments are you playing? STT or large MTTs?

If you play mostly MTTs, switch to STTs for a while to increase your ITM and gain back some confidence. If you play STTs mostly, a month long losing streak calls for reconsidering the way you play.

XXIII · Apr 1, 2008

I play pretty much everything. A month worth of tourneys can be from 15 -45.

Well my luck has ben going like this:
I get dealt KK I get called by AJ. I hit my 3rd K. The other guy hits runner runner straight.

I get dealt AQ suited. Flop my flush. Other player hits his fullhouse on the river.

Stuff like that. I can deal with losing. I lose more tournaments then I win. Same as everyone. Losing with the best hand sometimes is fine.

MDTed · Apr 1, 2008

I got so disgusted in mid March about the same type
of things that I just quit ring games altogether until
the end of the month.

People would call my KK with Q3 os and that 3 would
end up beating me as 4 other cards of that suit came
on the board. That happened twice in one day where
I had KK and someone called a 4xBB raise with nothing
and got 4 suited cards on the board to win.

I haven't started up playing again yet today but I will
get in some ring games tonight and see how it goes.

Effexor · Apr 1, 2008

The important thing is to review your hands and make sure you are still playing good. If you are then just play through it, if you aren't then take a break for a while.

Monoxide · Apr 1, 2008

Ill give the cat a good swift kick across the room, always helps.

Bad luck streaks suck, sometimes its by error, ill assess what I did wrong and learn not to do it next time.

Ronaldadio · Apr 1, 2008

What about trying another form of poker for a while?

I was getting the same and decided to give Omaha hi lo pl a try - I have not looked back since (apart from this month!!!)

Just a thought

BelgoSuisse · Apr 1, 2008

15-45 games is not much and may be due to bad luck. Still, if you always lose to bad beats over a long streak, it's most likely not due to bad luck, it most likely means that you are not loose enough, or not aggressive enough, or not bluffing enough, or not calling enough. And all those are hard to analyse because they happen in hands when you do not see a showdown.

marble · Apr 1, 2008

it can get stressfull when you often lose w/ AA KK QQ, especially when you play tight. i sometimes loosen up a bit to avoid losing w/ my big hands, not recommended to all players.

lionheart527 · Apr 1, 2008

Yea i think we've all hit that point in time where nothing seems to go right. When I had first started to get into online poker it was all low stakes here and there but nothing seemed to be going my way. so i took a break and came back now playin low stakes but soon goin to get into higher stuff

XXIII · Apr 1, 2008

Well it is April 1st so I guess it is a new month. I'll play the Cardschat Freeroll at UB and see if my bad luck streak continues. If so I might just take April off and start off fresh in May.

lionheart527 · Apr 2, 2008

Good plan sometimes all ya need is a break to start off fresh

Ronaldadio · Apr 2, 2008

Ronaldadio said:
What about trying another form of poker for a while?

I was getting the same and decided to give Omaha hi lo pl a try - I have not looked back since (apart from this month!!!)

Just a thought

Forget this!!!

I am now sick to the back teeth

XXIII · Apr 2, 2008

Yeah I am only going to play the CC at UB for the rest of this month. Its getting so bad.

I have about 10,000 in chips on the button. Blinds are 100/200.
About 5 people called.

I have Pocket Kings. I have been playing tight all night. Only played pocket pairs, AK, AQ and such.

I raise it up to 2000

I get one caller.

The final verdict is I'm all in and out because my opponent called me with As5s.

I think my pocket kings are cursed.

4Aces · Apr 2, 2008

Nothing you can do but hold on tight until the storm passes.

I thought I was running good today when I won 3 buyins in omaha in the space of 60 hands. A few hands later the poker gods reminded me that I am not allowed to run good. I put my 200bb stack in with he nuts against another 200bb stack for a 400bb pot, and I lost. That's poker.

KyleJRM · Apr 2, 2008

If it really, really gets to you to the point it effects your play, take a break.

But really, a good poker player should know that you are never "in" a bad luck streak. You've simply had a run of bad luck up to this point. Your odds of winning the next hand are the same no matter what.

Ronaldadio · Apr 3, 2008

XXIII said:
I have Pocket Kings. I have been playing tight all night. Only played pocket pairs, AK, AQ and such.

I raise it up to 2000

I get one caller.

The final verdict is I'm all in and out because my opponent called me with As5s.

I think my pocket kings are cursed.

I think you want to sit back and think here about a few points.

The guy who called, how many chips did he have, how had he been playing.
When did the ace hit the table pairing his ace?
When u got your 2000 chips in, assuming that you only got one caller (guy with A5s) you were about 70% to take down the hand.

So, based on the above points, but in reverse - the other guy made a mistake, you didnt.

Did you slow down when the ace hit? If the ace did not hit until the river and you continued to bet, should you have pushed all in on the flop (obviously depending on when ace hit) or, did you overplay thinking "I can`t believe this"

Did you pick the wrong person to raise against?

I think you need to give yourself a shake and think "I did the right thing but got muffed"

XXIII · Apr 3, 2008

The guy had been playing pretty much every hand. But the guy also only called the big blind. Usually if someone raised he folded. He had slightly more chips then I did preflop (~11,500)

I bet 4000 after the flop. The Ace came on the turn. By then I had only 4000 left and since he kept calling I thought he had to have Queens or Jacks calling with nothing good on the flop. So I kept my aggressive tendencies and threw the last 4k in.

I guess I gave the guy more credit then he deserved.

bustme · Apr 4, 2008

I may take a break of an hour... But usually I just keep playing for in the long run the best player wins.

I have to have really bad luck to get on tilt... It is when I play one hand bad I may am going to tilt..

ROFL

In my opinion it is more important to get in the money 8% of the tournies and when you win you win big Than getting in to the money in many of them like over 20% and just reaching the moneys.......

JblackII · Apr 4, 2008

XXIII said:
I play pretty much everything. A month worth of tourneys can be from 15 -45.

Well my luck has ben going like this:
I get dealt KK I get called by AJ. I hit my 3rd K. The other guy hits runner runner straight.

I get dealt AQ suited. Flop my flush. Other player hits his fullhouse on the river.

Stuff like that. I can deal with losing. I lose more tournaments then I win. Same as everyone. Losing with the best hand sometimes is fine.

This happened to me like 6 times last night!!! Except I think it was always AK suited that I would hit the nut straight with, and someone with something dumb like 10 3 off suit would hit their fullhouse on the river.

I hate that.

JblackII · Apr 4, 2008

JblackII said:
Except I think it was always AK suited that I would hit the nut straight with,

Oops, I meant nut flush.

Best way to deal with a Bad Luck Streak

XXIII

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BelgoSuisse

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XXIII

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MDTed

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Effexor

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Monoxide

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Ronaldadio

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BelgoSuisse

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marble

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lionheart527

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XXIII

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lionheart527

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Ronaldadio

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XXIII

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4Aces

is watching you

KyleJRM

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Ronaldadio

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XXIII

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bustme

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JblackII

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JblackII

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