Running bad is frustrating

[TheJON]

So lately I've been doing a lot of traveling and playing cards. I did the whole online thing for a while but I just hate sitting in front of a computer by myself all day. It's just not enjoyable. I made a measley $1,900 profit over the course of a few months playing online (not full-time, just a couple times a week for maybe a couple hours) and decided to cash out and call it a day. I was getting pretty bored. During that time, I basically stopped playing live poker. I think I went to the casino once and that was for some little cheap tournament.

Anyways, between July and September I had a nice run. Mostly playing $2-$5 No-limit cash games, but also mixed in a little $1-$2 if there were no $2-$5 games being spread. A few times, I played in a $5-$10 PLO game that I was doing well in until it basically disappeared from my local casino. It lasted a whole 3 weeks I believe. Think I profited over $2,300 in that. But during July and August I had averaged about a $5,700 profit which is as well as I have ever run over more than 1 month- playing about 20-25 hours per week on average.

Then came labor day weekend and it's just gone to shits from there. September overall was not horrible, but I lost over $1,800 for the month. That's misleading because I had 2 days in that month where I won over $900. Take away those 2 days and my net losses for the month was well over $3,600. The problem has been the game I've been playing. My local casino basically got rid of the $2-$5 game due to not having enough players, so I've been playing $1-$2 and just been getting owned. I always try and analyze my play at the end of the day regardless of whether or not I won or lost, and there were a few days I played like shit (we all do) and some other days where I misplayed a few hands here and there looking back on it. But in the end, none of that really matters because I keep getting sucked out on for all of my chips on just 1 hand. Over and over and over and over again. If I play well and get up a little, it doesn't matter because eventually that 1 bad hand that I could do nothing about will come up and all of my chips will be gone. Or if I play bad......same thing. I'm at almost 2 months now and the end doesn't seem to be in sight. I keep getting my hands in as a big favorite and keep on losing.

I guess this is why we love poker so much though. You gotta take the bad with the good. Lesson of the day: take a break. Don't play on tilt. Told my wife I won't play for 2 weeks. I'll come back fresh and regroup and hopefully the run of bad luck will come to an end.

[buckeye_in_sc]

Tough on the 1/2...I hate it now more than ever...would much rather play 2/5 where play is more solid...

[TheJON]

Tough on the 1/2...I hate it now more than ever...would much rather play 2/5 where play is more solid...

No doubt. It's IMPOSSIBLE to get someone off virtually ANY draw no matter the size of the bet. Oh sure, you technically want them to call because you'll end up well in the long run. But when you're running bad and you flop a set vs a flush draw, sometimes you don't mind just taking down the pot.

A few weeks back I had pocket 9's on a 6-9-3 flop (2 spades). There was probably $20 in there pre-flop. BB bet out $15. I called. Another player called. Turn is a deuce of hearts (or diamonds?). BB bets out $25. So now I've put him on A9 or something like that. Maybe 2-pair. He's a complete donkey, so I'm thinking I can raise big and expect a call. If he had a flush draw, he must likely is checking the turn in hopes of a free river. I raise to $85 expecting a call. The other guy folds (he probably had a pair of 6's).

He re-raises all-in to about $190 (which was pretty much my entire stack.....I had about $20 left behind). Of course I call. He flips over KQ of spades. I'm thinking "well, you might be a complete fucking idiot but you did fool me!". He rivers a spade that doesn't pair the board.

Horrible play gets paid off. Nothing I could do. I'm not laying down the 2nd nuts against a moron. It pissed me off because I had played for about 2 hours and was playing solid. Just wasn't getting any cards but hovered around even for the day. And then, just like it's been time and time again the last couple of months, 1 hand completely kills the day.

I always bring 2 buy-ins (which in this case would be $400 for 2 buy-ins), but I tend to just get up and leave after a hand like that. I refuse to play on tilt. If I'm steaming, I will at least get up from the table and go get something to eat and come back feeling refreshed an hour or 2 later ready to give it another shot.

Our 2/5 game used to be a great game because you would play against the same table full of degenerate idiots. These guys play until they go broke. It doesn't matter how much they have in front of them. They will literally play until they go bust. And they're all maniacs except this one guy Fred that pretty much only plays the nuts. He pisses them off because he sits there and never plays a hand and they all hate him for it. But when he gets kings or aces these idiots will pay him off because they wanna crack his big hands to piss him off. What the idiots don't understand is that they're only encouraging him to play that way and making his strategy profitable. When he raises big pre-flop, 90% of the time he's got queens-kings-aces and the other 10% he is just bluffing (using his image). So it's a good assumption that he's playing monster cards. But these morons will throw $50-$60 in pre-flop (sometimes more) with 10-7 or shit hands like that so that they try and crack his aces and piss him off. Brilliant strategy.

Basically, I would play tight-aggressive and played position. I wouldn't play as tight as Fred, but I was rarely throwing chips in with mediocre hands. When you hit, you almost always get paid off. These are degenerates that cannot lay down a pair. If there's $100 in the pot on a 10-7-5 flop and they've got A7 and you bet $80 with your pocket Kings- you will get called. Even if you made a big re-raise pre flop and got 2 callers and then bet a good amount on the flop. If they hit their 7, they're calling you.

It''s hard to get that game going anymore. I guess most of them busted out or quit playing (that's unlikely). Been getting my ass kicked at the 1/2, but I think a lot of it has to do with the coincidence that I'm just running bad right now. Cards will turn around soon. They always do eventually. That's the great thing about poker. No matter how bad you are running, you know that soon it will all turn around and you'll get back to kicking some ass.