@Pokerzhard, i know how you feel as I'm going through a similar patch myself. Not getting paid off with any big hands, and getting coolered or tough board runouts seemingly far more often than has been usual. I guess this is just what is known as a downswing.

It is crap. It has left me doubting myself, and whether all my previous winnings and moving up levels has just been luck/heater.

I posted my stats in the checkup thread, and keep posting hands in BQ and uNL and get involved in the various conversations going on to try and learn where I may be going wrong. I'm also re-reading Sklansky's Theory of Poker and will move on to Raisers Edge after that.

I agree with CMAR and others in that you just have to stick to your game that you know works for you and ride it out. Keep reviewing your sessions and being objective about your play, don;t just put things down to coolers. Could you have got away?

One thing i also did was remove the hero HUD from my screen. That way I don't look at my own stats so only have a vague idea if I'm up or down, and don't adjust my game based on anything other than my opponents and the situation. Dunno if any of that helps, just my 0.02c

I think it's important I put this here, I think some of you forgot to read it. In the second sentence I say I think I let it affect my game, and then say I don't know if that's good or bad. I go on and continue to explain my reasoning, however illogical it is.
I posted in the beginners forum bc I know I have a problem w/ tilt. I don't get mad like I used to, but I end up trying to dissect a pattern or pay attention to the wrong things when I feel I am on a downswing.
If I already recognize this, there's not a reason to give a one line answer that does nothing to help. For a mod to do so shows the lack of integrity of the position. I wanted some advice, that's why I am in a poker forum. If you have nothing to add other than "how do you know you are still card dead", no need to post.
I believe some people still want to help and understand my position. I just need help dealing w/ downswings, playing w/ regs during those stretches, all the while minimizing my losses

You already have a downswing thread. Are you asking me to merge the two threads?


Look, you have a horrible attitude in general and this is what's really holding you back. Not any downswings. Not being card dead. Not playing against regs. You are your own worst enemy.

Nothing is ever your fault or your responsibility. Everything happens to you and you are just an innocent victim. You're break-even because you're card dead, not because you need to improve your game. You certainly don't deserve any of the infractions your account has received (hint: most posters don't have any infractions) just because you can't figure out how to follow the rules. Rules set out to protect you.

Everyone who disagrees with you is a douchebag, everyone who's post you don't understand is pompus. You whine about getting trolled when nobody has trolled you. You don't post in any strategy discussion except in the vaguest sense (this thread and your downswing thread are the peak of your strat and they are both terrible - How many times do people have to ask you to post your statistics? [hint: graphs are basically useless]) and yet you expect to magically get better at the game.

If you had taken two mintues to actually think about my post and answer the freaking question you would have understood what I was getting at. But you didn't because you are fundamentally lazy and expect everything to just be handed to you. You'd rather pick fights than actually think or learn.

Here's your final clue. 2+2 is not here for you. 2+2 is here for people who actually want to learn. You say you want to learn, you probably even tell yourself you want to learn. However, it is pretty clear you are not prepared to do anything to actually put yourself in a position to succeed at this game. You have 386 posts. Have you ever posted a hand history? What FAQs and stickies have you read? How many sweat sessions have you done?

Moreover, you don't get to tell anyone how or what to post. Everyone who offers you advice is doing you a favour. If you don't agree with that advice or choose to ignore some of it - that's your perogative (and certainly learning to seperate the wheat from the chaff is an important part of learning to use 2+2). However, the chance that a mod is trolling you in a strategy forum is very, very small. And when a better player posts something you don't understand it's probably you, not them. Ask questions, don't throw tantrums.

You're raging about a 5K hand break-even stretch. This should give you some sleepless nights:

Stop playing poker. Maybe permanently, maybe just until you get your head straight.

Seriously. This is the best advice you will ever get.

As long as you have this attitude you will fail at this game.

My recommendation to you is to go read some of Alan Schoonmaker's books. Specifically, My Worst Poker Enemy and My Best Poker Friend.

Poker is a game that requires tremendous tremendous psychological strength and self discipline. I adopt the attitude when I have downswings that I don't care if it's variance or bad play because if I find my biggest leaks and fix them my results will improve.

You asked if you should "tighten way up, cbet less, and just overall play less aggressive". No one here has any clue if these are your biggest leaks or not. How could they? To conclude this would require the analysis of some hand histories.

"runs" of cards are all in your mind. Play normal. Just make the correct decision every time. If it means folding very very often, then fold very very often. If it means using tight image to steal more, then do that. Just do the correct thing. Don't waste time thinking about how lucky or unlucky you are at the moment or recently. It is not relevant. It's only useful when assessing your edge or how you're playing, and that's not something to do while playing. If you're not feeling well or feel like something's really wrong, then take a break and analyze. Otherwise just keep doing what you think is correct and play your best.

The Socratic Method is one of the most powerful and informative techniques for teaching, instructing, debating, and deriving the truth about a situation.

It consists of asking the student/debator a question. The question serves to get him to think through his argument in a way that highlights possible contradictions in logic. When a contradiction is highlighted it serves to show that the logic is false. In your case, you are arguing how we should/should not modify are strategy when we are card dead. So when CMAR says

It is an extremely powerful and informative response to your question.


The reason why your immediate response was anger and accusation is due to your subconscious shielding your consciousness and ego from admitting any possible wrong or inaccurracy on your part. Another possibility is that you are immature and you want what you want when you want it and in this case you want a simplified answer that will solve all your problems and you want this answer spoonfed to you because you don't want to do any real work....

I suspect a combination of the two along with other problems you may have.

In any event, CMAR is a very respected 2+2er who has contributed a lot of great advice on 2+2 and helped a lot of us become winning players. You got some value feedback and its a testament to your ego and immaturity that you don't see it.

Based on your responses in this thread, unless you mature a lot fairly soon, I don't think 2+2 is for you.

Sounds like you have a confidence issue rather than a card issue. Playing tighter hand ranges could be beneficial (players are less likely to 3-bet you and you will get more respect, plus you will have greater confidence that you have the best hand when you enter a pot). However, playing passively is only exacerbating the issue.

I appreciate the honesty from those in this thread. I do have a maturity problem and would like to improve. I don't think I come off as I would like, or intend to. I do want help, not psychologically, but to improve my game. I don't blame the cards, or try not to and don't honestly think it matters, but when I run bad I don't have a good idea of how to block it out and continue moving forward.
I understand what has come in this thread, it's the internet and people have more to say here. I don't feel I deserve that many negative comments for simply wanting some help, which I did ask for. Like I said before, I need to correct the way I word my threads and I also need to look through other threads and learn from them (instead of making a new one).
As one poster stated asking a question is an excellent way to learn, and he brilliantly described this theory. The problem w/ this is it was not helpful for me, and when I start a thread I am looking for help for me, not somebody else. Next time I will either a) not start the thread or b) accept whatever advice comes, regardless of how little I feel it will help.
I am not under the impression I am a great player...I would like to improve. I go through good and bad stretches, and have a problem recognizing bad play compared to bad luck during this. It's something I would like to improve on

At the micros - Just continue with your stratergy... Openeing a good solid range as a default and changing that range depending on x number of factors (stack sizes, opponents, position and so on).

At the higher stakes, you may concider the meta game and your image -this kinda works at the micros, but you so often will find people calling your UTG open with ATs. Therefore, I would just stay away from lighter than usual opens without a damn good reason.

According to the book "How to Dominate $1 and $2 No Limit Holdem", when you are card dead, you should go home.

While at first this seems outrageously ridiculous, upon reflection it is really only mildly ridiculous.

The reason is perception amongst your opponents. You simply appear weak because of how you've been running. This affects primarily your ability to bluff, or at least to appear strong enough to take down pots without a fight.

At the level that I play ($1/3, $2/5 live), people are going to make mistakes. Being card dead for me basically means being a little bored and listening to more music. I wait for good hands and get paid off when they come. So you have to adjust and if you're a normally aggro player who makes a lot of c-bets and stuff, you should play value for awhile, no matter how long you have to wait.

Of course I bluff occasionally when I play. But I bluff less often after a period of being card dead. You would think if you came out swingin' after 2 hours of folding, people would be running for the hills, but you'd be surprised. When people have a hand they want to play, they're going to play it.

I have heard some comments from other players when this happens, although it happens far more in limit poker for some reason. I don't know the reason for that. But if I've folded for an hour in limit poker and then raise, occasionally some crusty old fart will announce to the table that I have aces and everyone will fold. Or in Omaha Hi Lo, they'll announce at that point that I only play A234. (On a couple occasions I've had to call the floor over to get these morons to shut up.) But whatever.

Of course my raising range is far, far bigger than those hands. But they are not bluffs either. They simply are profitable raises against the range of my opponents (IMO) so I play them. It's simply that I've been getting rags and trouble cards. The difference between me and them is that we'll both fold the rags, but they'll play the trouble cards, especially if they're bored, and I won't. "Best hand I've had in 2 hours" is not a good reason to play a bad hand.

Jesus you guys are pompous windbags. The question is simple and the question is valid: how should you adjust your play if you are card dead. Not if you continue to be card dead. Not how to alter the past if you were card dead.

If you guys can't understand what affect this might have on your opponents' perception and therefore their play, then perhaps you shouldn't be answering questions in the Beginner's Forum.

Usually this is horrible advice. You might want to stop briefly, but most likely you'll do better if you think about some of the answers in this thread (the good ones, hard to find I know) and then get back in the saddle feeling inspired and a little refreshed, with new resolve. Continue to study, of course.

Do you often find yourself using the Socratic method when you feel intellectually and psychologically superior to your "students"?

p.s. inaccuracy is a bad word to misspell.

Absurd. First you say they don't exist, then you give overly simplistic and bad advice for when it does occur.

Runs of cards are obviously very real. The fact that you have no idea when they'll stop is beside the point. Assuming you've reached a level where you recognize it for what it is - simply a random swing - and it doesn't affect you psychologically or in how you play your hands, there is still your opponents' reactions to it, which is obviously a very real effect. The question is how to adjust, if at all, when your opponents see you folding far more hands than normal. I've already given my answer for small stakes live.

For online, some of your opponents will have HUDs and be multitabling, and have absolutely no idea you're card dead. Then it's your past history they're playing against. In this case, no adjustment at all is necessary.

To those opponents actually paying attention to the current situation, some adjustment might be beneficial. What it would be is hard to say. Unfortunately no players good enough to answer that very well are here in this thread.

How to tell the difference between multitabling HUDers and those paying attention? It's very hard to say. MHUDers tend to chat less, and tend to have delays when they shouldn't (for example calling an all-in when they have the nuts). That's because they have other things to attend to. Those paying attention have delays at the appropriate time, and make timely chat comments.