On a horrific downswing, looking for advice

Part of this post is to vent, and also to see if this is typical of someone who is learning the game.

A couple months ago I got serious about learning to play Hold 'Em (limit in particular). This occured after I lost my initial 50 bucks at Party Poker, got the $20 "come back to us!" bonus, and managed to win a $10 SnG and break the 50 dollar mark so that I could withdrawal. After some floundering on some other poker sites and embarrassing losses, I decided to play on and stay at PokerStars. I liked the interface and they offered microlimits, since my bankroll was around $80 at that point, which includes having withdrawn $50 to purchase PokerTracker.

I read Small Stakes Hold 'Em twice through before I began playing again. I also read through Theory of Poker. I played for a while on the 0.05/0.10 tables, and after I got some experience, I decided to move to the 0.25/0.50 tables, since the profits from the 0.05/0.10 limit tables were non-existant.

Between a couple of SnG's that I won and a couple weeks worth of limit ring play, my bankroll had increased to about $170.

I had been playing two tables at a time up until this point. Foolishly, I thought I could handle three. I lost about $35 this way. I decided to cut it out with the three tables and move back down to two. But, for some reason, I kept losing. I would have maybe one day of good sessions, but many more days of bad ones. I've re-evaluated my game through Poker Tracker, re-read some of SSH, and tried to fix my leaks, yet my bankroll has continued to plumet. Over the course of October, I've managed to lose the $90 I won in limit 0.25/0.50, and I'm back where I began. I'm nearing my 8,000th hand soon.

I'm rather discouraged now, and I know I still have a lot to learn about the game. What really sucks is that there have been days where I'm playing fine one hour in at a table, and then a string of bad cards reduces my winnings, and then suddenly I'm under my buyin at any given table. This seems to happen without fail, after an hour has passed. I don't get fatigued, and I continue to pay attention to what I'm doing, so I don't understand if its just a coincidence or some other problem.

Loosing $90 at the 0.25/0.50 microlimit just feels too big, like that should indicate something is really wrong.

Any advice for what I should do? I want to re-read SSH a third time. Should I drop down to the 0.05/0.10 tables again and build my bank roll slowly? I'm starting to post my hands in the limit forum, so hopefully that will help some too.

I would probably feel better if I knew if this was a typical case, since most of these types of stories involve playing no limit instead of limit.

http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...pic.php?t=4971

http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...pic.php?t=9214

http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...pic.php?t=8435

man i feel your pain....it might encourage you a little by reading my post a few rows down.

I'm right there with you...on my downswing in the newbie circle of death...

Its frustrating, just sit back a bit and remember the basics and the good PF hands to play, I need to regain patience for my game to work better.

My experience is similar and is frustrating the fuck out of me presently. I lost early before finding FTR, but then using simple rules took my bankroll from $100 to $1200 through the month of July. Then I REALLY started studying the game and have been alternately breaking even/losing my ass ever since. A few weeks ago I was at $1000. This week I dipped below $700. Hasn't mattered what I do. I tried low stakes limit and even though the game makes sense to me in theory, in practice I can't seem to make a profit. So I went back to NL only to see buy in after buy in disappear to bad beats, bad reads, or just plain getting my ass bluffed when holding nothing more than TPTK and scare cards on board.

To make matters worse, I've been unemployed for a couple of months, and though my BR is technically over $700, I only have $100+ of that online, and I need to dip into the rest to pay bills and get me through the month.

So, as of last night I decided my new BR is what I have online(basically $100). My new strategy is go way the fuck back to basics and safely rebuild my bankroll while trying to figure out where my game went. I'm now single tabling $5 SnG's and staying completely focused. I can crush that level, which I need just for the confidence, at present. Going to stick with the 5's til I hit 1k, then move on to the $10's until I hit 2k, and so on.

I'll probably throw in some bonus whoring playing TIGHT $25 NL here and there, but not until I'm over $500. I'll also begin to multi tabling the SnG's at target $$ intervals, but immediately go back to single table if it affects my game.

Believe me, I feel your pain. Best advice I can give to both of us is to lose the beginners luck giddiness and post luck wake up calls and realize this game takes time to learn. Also, I'm figuring out that books and education are great, but when it comes to poker, don't underestimate the power of instinct.

Last thought... I really recommend playing a level and style well within your bankroll and one you can figure out how to crush. One of the biggest problems with the downturns is what it does to your confidence, and a player playing scared makes -EV decisions more often than not. Get your confidence back, and you'll start to see the game again.

Good luck turning things around.

The easiest way to build your bankroll is to go way way over your bankroll for like half an hour. I.e. go to whatever table at which your bankroll is the absolute minimum buy-in. Then play super super tight. Because online poker is rigged and because no one at the higher limits has seen you play you are guaranteed to double, triple or quadruple up during that first half-hour. The key is to then leave the table while you are ahead and go back down to the lower limits where you can piss those winnigns off.

Originally Posted by _KO_

My experience is similar and is frustrating the fuck out of me presently. I lost early before finding FTR, but then using simple rules took my bankroll from $100 to $1200 through the month of July. Then I REALLY started studying the game and have been alternately breaking even/losing my ass ever since. A few weeks ago I was at $1000. This week I dipped below $700. Hasn't mattered what I do. I tried low stakes limit and even though the game makes sense to me in theory, in practice I can't seem to make a profit. So I went back to NL only to see buy in after buy in disappear to bad beats, bad reads, or just plain getting my ass bluffed when holding nothing more than TPTK and scare cards on board.

To make matters worse, I've been unemployed for a couple of months, and though my BR is technically over $700, I only have $100+ of that online, and I need to dip into the rest to pay bills and get me through the month.

So, as of last night I decided my new BR is what I have online(basically $100). My new strategy is go way the fuck back to basics and safely rebuild my bankroll while trying to figure out where my game went. I'm now single tabling $5 SnG's and staying completely focused. I can crush that level, which I need just for the confidence, at present. Going to stick with the 5's til I hit 1k, then move on to the $10's until I hit 2k, and so on.

I'll probably throw in some bonus whoring playing TIGHT $25 NL here and there, but not until I'm over $500. I'll also begin to multi tabling the SnG's at target $$ intervals, but immediately go back to single table if it affects my game.


Believe me, I feel your pain. Best advice I can give to both of us is to lose the beginners luck giddiness and post luck wake up calls and realize this game takes time to learn. Also, I'm figuring out that books and education are great, but when it comes to poker, don't underestimate the power of instinct.

Last thought... I really recommend playing a level and style well within your bankroll and one you can figure out how to crush. One of the biggest problems with the downturns is what it does to your confidence, and a player playing scared makes -EV decisions more often than not. Get your confidence back, and you'll start to see the game again.

Good luck turning things around.

Thanks for the encouragement.

Yeah, I just moved down to the 0.10/0.20 tables, and I had all winning sessions today, so that helped my confidence a bit. Since my bankroll can support these levels, I'm going to stick around there for a while, rebuild my bankroll, and re-evaluate my game and try to determine where I went wrong. The people at the 0.10/0.20 tables at Pokerstars are also crazy super-loose (I couldn't believe the difference between these tables and the 0.25/0.50 tables), so building the money back may not be as difficult as I thought. My other problem may be that I'm playing on PokerStars, which is known as a slightly more difficult site to play at. After re-building my bankroll, I may move to another site to play the microlimits, since 0.25/0.50 PokerStars isn't as fishy.

Originally Posted by chardrian

The easiest way to build your bankroll is to go way way over your bankroll for like half an hour. I.e. go to whatever table at which your bankroll is the absolute minimum buy-in. Then play super super tight. Because online poker is rigged and because no one at the higher limits has seen you play you are guaranteed to double, triple or quadruple up during that first half-hour. The key is to then leave the table while you are ahead and go back down to the lower limits where you can piss those winnigns off.

I know you're joking when it comes to terrible advice like this. I know online poker isn't rigged, and that I was playing outside my bankroll (probably my biggest fault). If I want to go bankrupt, then I should follow this advice, haha. Thanks, I needed the laugh.

I'm in a similar downswing myself.Pissed away my PLAYOCT bonus and now am currently down clearing my SHAW reload.The rock garden at Eurobet certainly doesn't help my cause either suffice to say.