I am ready to blow a gasket
A week ago I took my solid stake to 15x what it was in a week (playing strictly 2/4 9-handed on PS)...now lost 1/2 of it (ie down to 7.5x) ...how long is this going to last? Bad beat after bad beat...maniacs beating my AKs with 48o...not to mention that ALL my AA in the past 7 days have been cracked (except 2 where everyone folded), and that numbers about 20 or so. THREE times today some guy with Jxo flopped another J and then jacked me on the river to crack my aces.
Is this 'variance' or could there be something missing? I am ready to take the money out and buy something instead...I am just going mental here...it's like I loved poker last week and hate it this week.
I know, I know...welcome to the game...but how best to deal with this? I tried tightening up even more but AK doesn't hit anything anymore.
My gut tells me to just keep playing my game...which is typically a solid style...and the cards gotta change. Anyways, I'd love to hear from anyone (everyone?) who's been through this...
Bill
Is this 'variance' or could there be something missing? I am ready to take the money out and buy something instead...I am just going mental here...it's like I loved poker last week and hate it this week.
I know, I know...welcome to the game...but how best to deal with this? I tried tightening up even more but AK doesn't hit anything anymore.
My gut tells me to just keep playing my game...which is typically a solid style...and the cards gotta change. Anyways, I'd love to hear from anyone (everyone?) who's been through this...
Bill
Comments
Pokertracker blah blah Overplaying overcards blah blah folding big pots too early blah blah blah?
Sometimes you can find solace in charting your win graph assuming you kept good track of it. And sometimes that chart just makes you more depressed...
Bill
Someone here on the board finally pinpointed what my main problem is. The problem is that I have the belief, right or wrong, that online sites are not entirley "fair" and because of this I find myself altering my game to the point where I am calling or folding where I shouldn't because I am guessing a miracle card will hit on the river because I have seen it happen so many times.
I play for fairly modest stakes online so when times like this happen, and they do happen to all of us, it doesn't hurt that much.
I also find venting on the board to be very therapeutic.
If you're experiencing a cold streak, take a break. All streaks, hot or cold, will end. Soon you'll be saying you can't believe how much you have made when people have called your monster hands with nothing.
Case in point - I was on-line in a 7 Stud tournament last night. My four up cards are all 7s. That's right I am showing 4 of a kind. And some fool (to my benefit) calls my bets twice. Twice. He had nothing but a flush draw. Made no sense. I loved it. Wait for the turn around..it happens.
So, you're saying sites use different random number generators in their tourneys than in their cash games? If they could "manipulate" the RNG to increase rake for cash games, why can't they "manipulate" the RNG so that everyone gets monsters in the first few hands and the SNG is over in 10 minutes (thereby increasing the rate of SNGs).
Bad beats happen everywhere. You see it more often online because: (segway to ScottyZ type list)
1) More hands dealt/hr.
2) More tables (potentially) being played simultaneously.
If you're playing 4 tables, and figure the online dealing rate is at least 2x faster than at a B&M (a conservative estimate I'd guess), then you should in theory see 8x as many hands. So instead of your aces getting cracked once every four hours in the B&M, it's happening every half hour online.
Seriously, I'd donate to someone doing "THE" definitive study on "Is online poker rigged?", if only so we'd have to hear less (we'd still hear it EVEN IF proven otherwise) from these conspiracy theorists.
Sorry, end rant.
Everytime anyone complains about on-line poker it is always after a losing streak. They never seem to think it is rigged when they crack aces. I play a lot of on-line hands and a lot of human dealt hands. I have seen bad beats and runner runner beats and two outers in both. I have been on both ends. It just so happens that I can get unlucky. If I took the theory that seems to knock at on-line play being rigged and I can apply it to Zithal's tournaments. I happen to get beat on the river there more than anywhere. Therefore it is rigged. Everyone will think that theory is nuts since there are no computers involved and Zithal is a trustworthy person. How is it fair to attribute it to a particular poker site without any evidence but two weeks worth of losses? It is not.
Now my rant is over.
You can recover over the length of a SNG and MTT. Cash games are instant wins and losses to your bankroll. Same random generator different type of game. It is funny when people take offense to anyone doubting the "RNG" of these sites. I have doubted them long ago and make a great 2nd income of them both short and long term. Unforunately I will not play big stakes cash games online due to their so called "RNGs"
End of rant
hmmmm, I don't know Zithal well enough yet to comment on that but I see the potential for a new thread? I've only played in one of his tourneys but it was very well run!
well said Flint, I think you are right on the money, I've had two very bad nights in a row and it is very easy to go looking for an excuse...playing a solid game over the long run will be profitable.
IronDoc, perhaps if the large swing in bankroll at 2/4 is upsetting drop down to 1/2, the swings will always be there but maybe it won't hurt so much if they are smaller and the bankroll doesn't take such a hit?
Bill
Bill
If we ever play heads up in a tournament, I'll make sure to design a 75o t-shirt to wear! (Gotta admit, though, it was a pretty good play on my part!)
I think bad suckouts are more common online, but for different reasons. For starters, it's far too easy to hit that call button for two quarters. With more people to the flop, more people hit a portion of it. The games are hold No-Fold'em-Hold'em for a reason. Let's say you're holding AK, you raise and get 6 callers... The flop comes...
Kc Qc 6d. You bet and get four callers. Worst case senario you could be up against... a flush draw, a double ended or gutshot straight draw or someone who's hit top or bottom pair.
If you were against the following hands...
A6o
JTo
Q4h
23c
... the cards you have to aviod to win are; Any club, any Ace, any Queeen, any ten, any 6 and any four (not counting perfect runners!) If one hits, you get to see the suckout, and what you don't get to see are all the draw that missed.
So, while you see a lot of bad beats and suckouts online, what you don't see are the multitudes that missed. Couple that with more hands per hour and I don't think you'd see much more of a diffference between online and home if the # of players to the flop and general tendancies of the average player were the same.
Implicit collusion has all these players gunning for you, and it seems that the favorite in the hand is the player with the best draw, not the best hand.
The two single biggest pieces of advice I can give to a poker player to begin to become a winning player would be :
A) Play within your bankroll......yes you have seen and read all the 100 BB requirements....I along with many pros say to go much higher,perhaps even 400 before you may be able to play that game without pressing..if you start feeling the crunch you will inevitably start playing a looser style of poker to chase your loses....this gives you a -EV which will catch up to you,yes you may get it back that session but like I mentioned before the cards always catch up .
I dont mean to say that you are a losing or winning player for that matter....what I am saying is that if you are a winnig player the cards will in fact straighten themeselves out in the long run and dont start pressing,the internet is not rigged in my opinion as I know alot of people making a decent living from it......play SMART ...I could keep going on and on however I have to go get a new laptop as I am heading out of town very quickly here...Good luck to you all.
Bill