My Story

Not sure if this will help anyone, but I'm feeling good about poker again so I though I might share.

I started poker with a $100 deposit on party poker after having played some B&M and home games for about half a year. I quickly found FTR and through the posts here and the advice I got, I managed to turn the $100 to $2000 within 3 months and withdrew some cash for myself to enjoy. I always stuck to the right limits for my bankroll, rarely experimenting with other limits, but always trying to experiment with playing styles and games (omaha etc) to find what suited me best. I managed to get back up to $2000 (post withdrawels) and was feeling pretty good about poker.

Then the bad beats started. It seemed that every single good hand I played in got busted; I even had flopped quads busted by rivered higher quads. Putting it all down to variance, I kept playing without looking at my game and without dropping down (hey, I was rolled for it, so why drop, variance will even out!) levels. Pretty soon I was down to $1k,so I finally decided to drop down again.

I plateaued at $1k for about a month, not really getting anywhere before the bad beats kicked in again; AA all in preflop lost to 46o, reload. Hit mid set, AI on turn, lost to higher rivered set. And so on. I kept dropping my roll, until I finally busted.

Determined to make this work, I deposited a last $100 and started going through some poker tracker hands. I stayed at about $100 for a short while and then had a quick losing streak in one day (admitedly I was on tilt and should have stopped). I was left with $15 and was desperate, so I decided I would split my money into three; $5 at a cash ring game, $5 into an SNG and $5 into one of those 1v1 tournies. I won all three and kept playing. Then I started bonus whoring... soon my measly $15 was $100, then $200, then $400..

Now I've built my roll back up to $1k and am feeling good about poker again. The posts here have really helped, and I know I cant totally blame variance as I should have re-read the articles on this site and taken some advice from people. So thanks to FTR, I'm back, and planning to stay

Put a tear in my eye.

Seriously though, very nice how you pulled yourself together even when faced with these great adversities. Hope you can double up once more

also, in the future, 95% of the time...

variance is real...

but we often blame a change in our play on variance (and dont even know we are doing it ourselves)

Yeah but blaming sucky play and its negative results on variance is dangerous too.

I still have this "problem' for example. Don't know what it is really, but I just get this "bored" feeling, like I really don't care anymore. If I keep playing then, I'll suck HORRIBLY.

Like yesterday it went in my head like: "uh oh, you're having this bored feeling.. yeah but keep playing man, it's such easy money.. (etc)". So I played anyway and yeah, sucked horribly. So examples:
- got stacked vs super obviously being beat, thinking "ok maybe they both have crap"
- wanted to call $0.05 on the SB with a suited hand, ended up calling the 8BB raise from some other guy. Hadn't noticed.
- thought I had a straight and hammered on.. when the money went the other I was like "huh?" and noticed there was actually no J to complete my straight.

So yeah, blew quite some of my winnings yesterday playing in this "bored state" which is a real trend. It's cool though.. BR is back up to $130 after two hours of play today.. but really, I think it's important to evaluate the parameters in which you play a good game and in which you suck horribly WITHIN YOURSELF too. In my case, if the boredom kicks in.. STOP FRIGGIN PLAYING. (I hope I can in the future, that'd be such a relief)

I still have this "problem' for example. Don't know what it is really, but I just get this "bored" feeling, like I really don't care anymore. If I keep playing then, I'll suck HORRIBLY.

I find that the bored feeling was only there when I played one table. I realized quickly that boredom kicks in when you don't play enough hands. You will never be bored flopping a full house or a flush and someone raises into you. If your playing just the 19 hands and learning the game (under a 1/2 year or so for the "basics") then multitable. It keeps you from the dreaded thought " i'll call these 45s hearts just to see the flop, then you get two more hearts and chase the 5th one that never comes, tossing in bet after bet. If you think you need reads on those micro stake tables your crazy. Here's what I did to get all the reads I needed at micro stakes. Take a piece of paper and write on it. THEY ARE IDIOTS, THEY CALL EVERY RAISE CHASING A GUT SHOT STRAIGHT OR A 3 CARD FLUSH AND FOLD AT THE RIVER and under that write, Ax IS WHAT HE HAS EVERY TIME HE 10BB RAISES WHEN HE HITS HIS KICKER. And every time you try to read a micro stakes player look at the sheet.

Originally Posted by Trainer_jyms

I find that the bored feeling was only there when I played one table. I realized quickly that boredom kicks in when you don't play enough hands. You will never be bored flopping a full house or a flush and someone raises into you. If your playing just the 19 hands and learning the game (under a 1/2 year or so for the "basics") then multitable. It keeps you from the dreaded thought " i'll call these 45s hearts just to see the flop, then you get two more hearts and chase the 5th one that never comes, tossing in bet after bet. If you think you need reads on those micro stake tables your crazy. Here's what I did to get all the reads I needed at micro stakes. Take a piece of paper and write on it. THEY ARE IDIOTS, THEY CALL EVERY RAISE CHASING A GUT SHOT STRAIGHT OR A 3 CARD FLUSH AND FOLD AT THE RIVER and under that write, Ax IS WHAT HE HAS EVERY TIME HE 10BB RAISES WHEN HE HITS HIS KICKER. And every time you try to read a micro stakes player look at the sheet.

I think I'm a stage or two ahead of what you're describing though. But anyway, this "bored feeling" isn't really boredom, it's more mental fatigue, or self-indulgence. So either when my mind gets tired (concentrating for too long), or when it starts to look too easy, then I get into this bored state. That's how it manifests in me I guess. And yeah I've also started multitabling (2 tables for now, don't want to get ahead of myself) to combat seeing too little hands. And now I'm trying to only play in periods of mental fitness, so that I'll lose money on leaks and negative variance, rather than on the sheer inability to concentrate or care.

It's quite good this way. Now that poker has entered the zone of becoming routine somewhat, I have picked up tons of other stuff in my life again, so it's getting to where I play a little every day, and when I'm losing my sharpness of thinking, I go do all the other stuff.

Sorry, I read where ya said "Don't know what it is really, but I just get this "bored" feeling" so I tried to give you an option. Basically all I'm trying to say is that at our stakes reads are not as necessary as good poker because they're so unpredictable that they're transparent, so 4 table if ya get bored. It's remarkably easy, even for a three month career like mine. I three table and either MTT or S&G.

Originally Posted by Trainer_jyms

Sorry, I read where ya said "Don't know what it is really, but I just get this "bored" feeling" so I tried to give you an option.

Just tried to clarify with my above post, didn't mean to give you heat or anything

Basically all I'm trying to say is that at our stakes reads are not as necessary as good poker because they're so unpredictable that they're transparent,

Yeah I know, but I can't help it, I try to do reads anyway. There really are quite different people there. The occasional sensible player, who will lay down TP. The backwards player, who generally downplays when he has something and bets hard on bluffs/draws. (had some problems with those yesterday but figured out ways to exploit it) The value-better, a typical 10NL player who simply throws the amount of money on the table on how good he thinks his hand is. Etc etc.

so 4 table if ya get bored. It's remarkably easy, even for a three month career like mine. I three table and either MTT or S&G.

Well, tomorrow will be my one month career. At poker, online a week less. I feel 2 tables is still my max. Playing poker is finally becoming routine, but it still requires a lot of attention for me. Especially since I'm still relying on adapting my playstyle to specific people and table flows etc, rather than sticking to one predefined strategy. If I were to 4 table now, I'd probably just have to play Tagg. But we'll see.

I found playing semi-LAGG on passive tables helped my 'boredom' as such out as well as my game. I loosened up a bit from playing 17% of hands to about 29%; also became much more aggressive. When you play against people that only raise with TPTK or better, it's pretty easy to make reads