I've been playing for money for just a bit less than 2 weeks. It went like this:
  • Deposit $50 with Pokerstars
  • Play until I made the $25 bonus
  • Withdraw the original $50, leaving about $54.
  • Do pretty good in the low/micro limit SnGs
  • Suddenly go crappy in the low/micro SnGs
  • Last 5-table today ($1 + $0.20) I went out 9th. Surprise.
  • Busto


Now, I haven't lost anything so I'm not that upset about the money, but I guess this is my first experience with a bad run that everyone seems to talk about and write about and such. Example from my last SnG -- big stack gets a couple of bad beats, is cursing people at the table, and goes all-in. I see AA and go AI as well, followed by another player with KK.

Turns out tilty-guy had AA too, and the other joker flops 3 kings.

I know -- it happens, that's poker, I got in the the best of it, it was unavoidable, and all the rest, but a few of these in a short time period mixed in with a few mistakes of my own makes for a humbling experience.

So, my question: what do y'all do when you find yourself on a downswing? Take a week off? Dig through hands looking for holes you can plug? Read a book? Ignore it and keep playing your best game?

I think my biggest leak so far is I don't know how much to loosen up once a 1-table SnG gets down to a few players, so blinds -> short stack -> blind steals -> something like 99 v QQ -> 4th position. A lot of 4th positions. If there was one thing I would fix, it'd be my short game where short stacks want to gamble and double-up, and big stacks want to avoid big confrontations and maybe steal some blinds.

Thoughts?

(Geez - feel like I'm rambling).