How to handle the Bad times.

So for the last couple of weeks, while I've had a couple of winning sessions, the majority have been small losing sessions. My good hands don't ever seem to hit the flop, or when they do hit the flop, i get beat out by the river card. I know its the way things work in poker, but what the best way to handle this? Do you just have to suck it up? I've been reviewing my hands through PT, and watching the videos here trying to find some where where I'm going wrong. I had a hot streak during the holidays, is this just the down side of a hot streak?

Just for reference..I've been playing for a few months, usually in the evening after work on Full Tilt. I get about 100-500 hands a night. I've already been through the "circle of death" and was down to about 10% my original buy-in and have managed my self back up to about 50%. I'm working on fixing my leaks and playing better. I just feel like I've hit a snagg. Thanks in advance.

Don't get frustrated, it's just part of the ebb and flow. Move down if your bankroll gets too low and just ride it out.

Good luck

i was there from August through December. i had an ok month in October, but it was right back down for 60 days. longest stretch of nothing i have ever had...some 50k hands.

but, it has turned, and yours will, too.

i did the same things. watched a lot of vids. scanned through my HHs. posted a bunch of "bitchy threads." looked for leaks. and found a lot of hands where i was simply set up by the deck, too.

its very frustrating, but it will come around. you just have to ride it out.

Possibly the most helpful tab for me in PT was the position stats. every time I would start to slide a little bit I would go there and see that my stats were becoming a little too loose from the earlier positions. then I would tighten up a bit and things would start to turn around.

are you charging enough to make it unprofitable for people to draw out on you? Are you paying off too much when they do? Sometimes when we aren't hitting flops we have a tendency to want to slowplay when we finally do. This is an urge that should be resisted. You need a reason in the other player(s) to slowplay, not a reason in yourself. (I hope that doesn't sound too much like a Tony Little saying).

My best advice to you is...GET OFF FULL TILT.

Sorry, I use to play there and was tired of the insane bad beats. Now don't everybody start screaming thats its all part of poker and one site doesn't give more bad beats then another. I have heard it all already. I don't care what anyone says, Full Tilt is a black and evil place thats creams your full house with runner runner quads...daily. Run away while you still have a soul brother!!!!

Listen to some peaceful music right before and perhaps during your session. I'm talking rock ballads and blues type shit, not classical; but whatever works. It might relax you / get you disinterested in outcomes, which is ideal.

Goose-frabah...

Originally Posted by Deuce Blue

My best advice to you is...GET OFF FULL TILT.

Sorry, I use to play there and was tired of the insane bad beats. Now don't everybody start screaming thats its all part of poker and one site doesn't give more bad beats then another. I have heard it all already. I don't care what anyone says, Full Tilt is a black and evil place thats creams your full house with runner runner quads...daily. Run away while you still have a soul brother!!!!

Be very careful giving this kind of "advice" to beginners. It's very bad for them.

People don't know about variance and how sick it is. 15k breakeven runs are more than possible even when you should be crushing the game - this is why you get stupid "OMFG FULL TILT RIGGED" posts.


I will admit that during sick runs I have considered riggedness but I realised within about half a second just how fucking stupid it would be to rig a site.

Never said once that I thought Full Tilt was rigged. I don't by that for a second. There is so much money to be made that risking it all to gain a little is -EV.

That does not change my mind that Full Tilt is evil. Not rigged, just evil. Damn I miss it sometimes though. I play on FT sometimes at work just for play chips to pass time and God I miss the software. I play on sportsbook now and the graphics and software are HORRIBLE . But lots of gambling freaks that want to give poker a try.

hard to imagine you saw more bad beats at FTP than at a "gambler's paradise" like sportsbook.

FTP players generally know how to play. i would venture to say they are by far and away more knowledgeable than your average sportsbook player. and, where the gambooolers are, the suckouts breed.

your just running better at sportsbook, imo.

FWIW I'm 18k hands deep at a site I've just moved to (possibly the softest place around) and I'm up like 2 buyins. I'm on pretty much the worst stretch of my life and it's seriously fucking depressing.

I wan to thank you all. I looked back at my PT stats and saw some spots where I needed to tighten up. So last night... while I didn't win a lot, I finished a little higher then I started. I still didn't run very good.. but at least I didn't spew chips. I think this site is amazing. While I've read Small Stakes Hold'em, Ace on the River, and The Little Green book, I think this site has helped me more then any of those books. Thanks again.

Chopper you very well may be right. FT just always seemed to be the worst when it came to getting rivered. You would have K's vs Q's and without fail that 3rd Q would hit on the river and bitch slap me.

You are right about FT players being tougher for the most part. I also almost always played in 6-max S & G's. I read some stuff on the player difficulty being higher in the 6-max as opposed to the full ring. Maybe that had something to do with it as well. Sportsbook there are 10 at a table so it sweetens the pot a bit more then the usual 9 player ring.

Yes, I like taking the sports betting junkies money when I can. You get a monster you can check/call their whole stack.

Sometimes if I'm running really bad I'll switch games for a while, just to keep your mind thinking. If you play 6 max, try full ring or NL try Limit or I even play Omaha or stud for a while just to think about playing good poker in general.