Being Good at Running Bad

Now here’s a poker skill you might have overlooked: how to be good at running bad. It’s not a joke and it’s not sarcasm. If you’re better at running bad than your opponents, then in the long run you’re going to have a significant advantage over them because no one is immune to running insanely bad over some period of time.

The general idea is that when things are going well, you should use that feeling of momentum behind you as motivation and a source of confidence. Also, when your opponents are doing poorly, you should keep putting the pressure on and allow their mental condition to compound their mistakes. On the flip side, when things aren’t going so well for you, the key is to neutralize the possible psychological effects on you and your game, and keep playing well.

So far this month I’ve got in almost 14,000 hands of 100nl and I’m down about seven buy-ins. There have been a number of times I’ve lost a full buy-in when a villain was drawing to just a few outs and hit, but this is really awesome if you think about it, because that means there are idiots still out there who are willing to gambooooooool like that, and I’ll make lots and lots of money off of them.

For those who have tilt problems or have problems getting motivated when they are running bad, here are some suggestions that will help:

• Play on a deep bankroll so that one bad run isn’t going to cripple you. The small amount you might lose in the short-run from playing a lower level is easily overcome by the peace of mind of a secure position at some level.
• Move down for a few thousand hands until you get your confidence back, even if you think you have “enough” buy-ins to continue playing at the same level.
• Avoid talking about specific beats or coolers you have been involved in because the more attention you give them, the more influence they have over you.
• Be careful not to let your poker results manifest themselves in other areas of your life. In short, don’t take your bad results out on those around you.
• If you are feeling particularly down or bad about poker, then just sleep. Sleep is the best cure for this type of pain.

This entry was posted on Friday, June 6th, 2008 at 6:37 am and is filed under Life. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.