McDonalds is -EV for your body and brain.

Keep it up.

I've only been doing this full time for 6 months now and part time for maybe 10, but I seem to run on a pattern of absolute crushing for a solid 200 hrs where I get my money in good or +ev 9 out of 10 times, and then go on a week or two of bad play and spew where I start gambling and getting my money in bad. I apparently suffer from winners tilt.

I'm by no means saying that this is what is going on for you right now, but if it is, what's helped me in the past is to play a lower variance tighter, more passive style, where my motto is "no one is bluffing and I give up". I take double and triples out of my game, play draws passively, etc. We can read hands well enough to be winners just by nitting it up and value betting since this is LLNL. I hate being a nit, but booking a few small wins in a row after losing 6+ BI helps get my mojo back. Of course, everything I just wrote is personal experience so it may mean nothing to you, but I figured i'd add my two cents if it can in any way help.

Not calling getting almost 2:1 when he can be jamming worse FDs, over pairs, and naked 6s is really bad

The a3dd hand is definitely a leak preflop. I'm thinking you are suffering from a little bit of entitlement tilt.

And winning a modest 10/hr when "running bad" is not a big deal. Try crushing 2/5 for 1k hours and suddenly losing 2.6k in 55 hours, going 1/41 on flopping sets during a span of this time based on variance. That's what I'm going through.. It happens, toughen up and look at this as just a challenge. If you can't handle a 8-10 bi downswing intermittently then you need to rethink grinding poker full time. I can tell you're a pretty good person and player but don't focus so hard on your short term hourly. It will take care of itself

Yea, I hear you. Like I said, realistically I know this is nothing and standard and happens all the time. But I've never really dealt with much of a long downswing before. And its just demoralizing to work harder and play more than all of my poker friends and still get crushed while they all run like Jesus.

I have no plans of giving up or letting this get me off my game.

about the A3dd hand, though... You don't think its right to call even OOP getting like 46:1 IOs in a 3way pot against a huge fish?

Generally that's a 3bet or fold for me but we're deep and the guy was so awful.

Thanks for your thoughts P4MS.

Yeah i know. Going to work out today and hope that helps with my mental state.


I don't think I suffer from winners tilt. I actually play really really well when I'm winning or on a hot streak. My decision making is good and my thoughts are clear and I actually play less spewy when I'm winning. I only bluff in good spots and stick to a value game.

Its when I'm losing that I start spewing and making -ev bluffs because I want the pot so badly.

I didn't think I ever suffered from entitlement tilt but I think P4MS is right that I am. I feel like I deserve to win and get really upset when I lose to people who I deem are less deserving. I also have really bad mistake tilt which I mentiojed multiple times in this thread. I'm a perfectionist and it just devastates me when I make even a small mistake. Big mistakes just throw me right off my game.

I'll definitely take your advice though tonight and play a little more solid/ABC today to prevent my mind from inventing spots.

Don't sweat losing a few buy ins, that's what bankrolls are for. 2k downswings at 1/3 are common and nothing to worry about, a 6k+ downswing would be incredibly unlikely so you will still be in good shape no matter what. Losing large chunks is in the job description, you will get used to it.

I don't mind the call pf with A3s, the c/r is meh, calling it off that deep is a mistake. You have to be cautious shoving in a ton of money with the nfd no FE on a paired board, if his range is a few overpairs a few 6x and 44 you need about 30% equity to call.

Play well!

I just stoved the A3dd hand

If he plays QQ+, 6x, and 2 combos of FDs this way, its about break even IF he never plays boats and quads this way.

I think its unlikely he'd overbet this dry flop with a boat or quads and I think there are more than a couple combos of flush draws he could jam with. I also felt there was a chance he'd spaz with TT/JJ

In game, I thought i definitely had over 35% equity. I'm not good at equity calculations off the top of my head, though. Judging by pokerstove, though, it seems like calling might be lightly -EV.

Granted it's been a long time since I've played as low as 1/3, but it's generally a rule of thumb in llsnl that when someone b 3/b shoves over a check raise they have it 98% of the time. Add in the fact that you're relatively deep and playing with a small roll, I don't see how you think this is a good call ever.

Yea I understand that but he had been donking out with junk a lot and was definitely capable of 3bet jamming KK or a lower flush draw. He bet/3bet jammed J-high earlier for example.

Im not sure if you think I'm calling 3bet jams with flush draws for 200bb every other night but I called here based on the way this guy was playing and usually plays. Obviously its a fold in general.

But yeah, after thinking about it and stoving it I think calling off was a mistake. I just don't think it was a really bad mistake.

I'll do the math later bc I'm interested but it's not that bad. If you have a queen draw then..

Another night, another spew story. Hating everything about this game and my life right now. Can't get cards. Can't hit flops. Haven't flopped a set and gotten paid in years. So i just barrel off my stack trying to win the pot.

Won't bother with giving the hand histories this time.

Bankroll is down to $10,100. Was at $12.9K just a week and a half ago when I was playing so well and feeling so good. Now I'm actually negative in terms of profit since I moved out of my parents house.

Today I can't even complain of run bad. It should have been a small losing day based on the cards I got but I managed to turn it into a -$900 night.

We're supposed to get a snowstorm tomorrow night which is really annoying because I just want to get back out and play so badly.

Everything is going to change tomorrow. I'm going to go back to being a tight nitty ABC player. I'm only losing money by getting creative so back to the NAG style (nit-aggressive).

I want to win so badly that I'm forcing things too much. I want to be successful too much. Its so crazy that wanting it so badly is what is killing me. Its like i can't control myself from spewing off my stack.

Games are going to suck tomorrow I'm sure because of weather but I really really want to play so ill see how many tables are going tomorrow before I decide if I'm going to play.

Take a break dude. Enjoy the snow.

You're fine, quit freaking out and making it worse. No one plays perfect all the time. You're going to lose in this game and your downswing is hardly a downswing. You can't let your brain be so up and down and affect your play.

Take a day or two off and get your mind right.

The problem is he thinks the game is so easy, that the players are so bad that he should win EVERY SINGLE SESSION. And win big.

It's great to have an ego, to think you are the best player in the room and to find fault with your game.

But when you don't hit a flush for a month; don't flop a set for two weeks, etc. ... that's just variance and you have to be willing to accept it.

Tommy Angelo has a good quote about winning and losing. I'll look for it after work and post it.

It basically says, 'If you can't be a good loser, you can't be a good winner.' And that sounds like you.

I know we use this site to vent and get stuff off our chest but ... best thing to do is move on and do something else (short-term; not eliminating poker as a career).

PS: Goal is to find out who this Kauch character is.

I disagree that ego is a good thing. Confidence is fine, but ego will only get you in trouble.

Duke will learn with experience. He's way further along than I was at his age. You can tell someone something a million times, but there's no substitute for experience.

It's really simple. Play within your bankroll. Understand and accept the reality of the game. Play each hand the best you can. Remove emotion from decisions. Always try and get better.

Easier said than done I know, but that's your focus.

And have a life away from poker. You're 21, go out and do something stupid and have fun. How many 21 year olds have 10k to their name nowadays?

Goal: c/r chip with air, show bluff and introduce myself.

I was going to say something similar ... It's important to have balance and I think Duke's life is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too much poker right now.

If I was 21 the last thing I'd be doing is spending 90 hours a week playing poker. Cut that back to 50. Take two nights off. Go out with friends. Get a girlfriend, etc.

LOL at c/r me with air. Can't wait until that happens. You obviously know who I am.

[QUOTE=You obviously know who I am.[/QUOTE]

I could be bluffing.

I went from having a 30k+ roll to under 10k as of right now it was and still is hard on me emotionally but there will always be someone out there who has it worse off than I do. Think of how good your life is that you don't have to worry about going to bed hungry. If going from 12k to 11k is mentally draining then I suggest taking a break maybe go to Africa and see how bad some people have it in Burundi with the recent flooding.

good posting. i don't get the sense he's really concerned about the money as much as losing a few sessions in a row.

walk a mile in someone in the real world's shoes, though, and see how tough things really are.

Really? The Africa thing was a good post?

Lolol at Africa and it would be awesome if chip knows who this kauch guy is but is leveling him into c/r bluffing and going over the top to win a few bucks.ultimate level

Big part of the problem with your mental game right now is lack of balance. If poker is the only thing you have going on in your life, and poker sucks at the moment, well that doesn't bode too well for your overall mental well-being. You can do small things that help with that. Don't just spend all your time either at the casino or at home studying poker. Get a library card and check out some books so you can develop your mind outside of poker when you take a day off. Get online and discover some new music. Maybe start your sessions earlier on Saturday so you can go out and socialize later that night. Join some kind of rec sports league in the spring - there are a couple of good organizations for that kind of thing in Philly. Just some suggestions but you have to develop a more well-rounded lifestyle or you'll run yourself (and your bankroll) into the ground.

I'm glad neither one of you got the message from that post and skipped right to the Africa part and dismissed the rest of the post. If you read books like that, you have no chance at ever learning anything.

There is so much truth in that post that you are both missing.

here is the tommy angelo quote:

'To win at poker, you have to be very good at losing.'

I woke up this morning and almost booked a stay in Miami from tomorrow to March 9th. But I already paid for 2 months worth of rent here in Philly and don't want to let that go to waste by having to shell out for two places. Oh well, it would have been nice to get out of the cold and have a change of scenery.

I decided to go play tonight and made $160 in 5.5 hours before I called it a night. I played pretty tight and ABC tonight only making 1 "move" where I raised this bad aggressive player's cbet with ace-high and he folded.

Other than that it was pretty straightforward. Feels good to get a win and play well. I'll spend tomorrow reviewing my session and continuing the study list that I posted for myself the other day. I want to get all of that stuff done by the end of this week.

Tentative poker plans right now are to grind the 1/3 hard for the next month or so and shot-take the 2/5 as my bankroll approaches $13K. When I approach $20-25K, I think I'm going to move out of the city and play at Maryland Live or in Miami... I haven't had a great time so far in Philly. Maybe my feelings about that will change when it gets warmer, though.

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Thanks to everyone who commented yesterday. I was feeling really sad last night and this morning and I think it has more to do with than just poker. Some balance in my life would be awesome. I have my brother and some friends coming down to Philly Sunday so that should be fun.