Having a really bad downswing immediately after setting poker goals
04-29-2018
, 11:14 PM
04-30-2018
, 12:36 PM
Quote:
Combination of both. Some huge losses as a result of shot taking, playing HU 25 50 and 50 100. Losing 30%+ of my BR in single sessions. Subconsious tilt as a result, declined motivation to improve my game, playing B game for weeks after such a session and running very bad as well. 95K under EV at one point.
Spending big on life and gambling also helps to destroy your roll. Playing high as a kite, drunk etc.
One advantage of playing live vs online is that you can't go monkey tilt and play HU vs regulars on very high stakes. Plus rebuying is more difficult and you play fewer hands per hour. Online it can go very very quick.
I would go as far to argue that shot taking is almost never profitable in the long run, considering the very large downside of: Needing time to process mentally, going on subconsious tilt, playing B game, finding your normal stakes boring and not thrilling or fun, risk of chasing losses, the list goes on.
Also, if it does go right a few times, you will be inclined to take even bigger shots or widen your view of what is shotworthy, which will eventually make you end up in the downward cycle again as described above.
Some giga whale in Vegas once said smt along the lines of: ''I lost 100$ in the casino and I spent 300mil to win it back''
By being honest with yourself and knowing your flaws, you can beat the biggest enemy, that is yourself. However, personality is incredibly hard to change if not almost impossible, but you can implement rules like stoplosses and focus on improving on those lesser aspects of your personality, in order to avoid disaster.
This process of improving yourself will feel incredibly uncomfortable at first, but gets better overtime as your mind starts to gradually respect the process more than the outcome. Focus on the things you CAN control.
Played a bad session? No problem, if you made sure to analyse honestly what went wrong, if you implemented your stoploss and did your workout that day or ate healthier and managed to keep your spendings on dumb things to a min.
For us poker players variance can easily start to influence everything in our lives. Mental and physical state, health, routines and social interactions. Focus on improving other aspects of your life as well, and you will experience how one positive thing leads to another, just like one negative thing leads to another. The cycle works both ways and the opportunities will multiply if you persist.
For example: You stuck to your BRM for a few months, you started working out a couple of times a week, improved your game and watched some videos on mental life game in general. You feel more energized, look better and are more fun socially, when all of sudden one of the whales you played before invites you to his 5/10 home game with his friends only, because you were the only ''fun'' guy at the boring and unfriendly 1/3 table. I know this might sound like a long shot ofc, but this is just an example to sketch how one thing leads to another. You never know how crazy life can get. But the thing is, if it happens, you better be ready and able to seize the opportunity.
I went broke just before the cryptoboom. One of my close friends, was in the position where he could follow advice from early adapters and invest. I wanted to join, but there I was with no money. At that time I had some crypto already, but I had to sell as otherwise I wouldn't have had money to live from.
1 week later the market exploded which was very very lucrative for my friend and I was very happy for him, knowing how much work he had put in in order to reach the position where he could invest that sort of money.
However, hearing the stories at my university and hometown of random guys having portfolios of 20K and even 90K, while starting with like 1k, was pretty hard to swallow, as I missed the boat because of my own mistakes and am now less worth than some random guys, while I have dedicated 3 years of my life to poker.
Again, I understand that this particular event was almost historic and unlikely to happen again in this form, but the truth is we never know what will be next. I hope these stories make it more tangible for you.
Spending big on life and gambling also helps to destroy your roll. Playing high as a kite, drunk etc.
One advantage of playing live vs online is that you can't go monkey tilt and play HU vs regulars on very high stakes. Plus rebuying is more difficult and you play fewer hands per hour. Online it can go very very quick.
I would go as far to argue that shot taking is almost never profitable in the long run, considering the very large downside of: Needing time to process mentally, going on subconsious tilt, playing B game, finding your normal stakes boring and not thrilling or fun, risk of chasing losses, the list goes on.
Also, if it does go right a few times, you will be inclined to take even bigger shots or widen your view of what is shotworthy, which will eventually make you end up in the downward cycle again as described above.
Some giga whale in Vegas once said smt along the lines of: ''I lost 100$ in the casino and I spent 300mil to win it back''
By being honest with yourself and knowing your flaws, you can beat the biggest enemy, that is yourself. However, personality is incredibly hard to change if not almost impossible, but you can implement rules like stoplosses and focus on improving on those lesser aspects of your personality, in order to avoid disaster.
This process of improving yourself will feel incredibly uncomfortable at first, but gets better overtime as your mind starts to gradually respect the process more than the outcome. Focus on the things you CAN control.
Played a bad session? No problem, if you made sure to analyse honestly what went wrong, if you implemented your stoploss and did your workout that day or ate healthier and managed to keep your spendings on dumb things to a min.
For us poker players variance can easily start to influence everything in our lives. Mental and physical state, health, routines and social interactions. Focus on improving other aspects of your life as well, and you will experience how one positive thing leads to another, just like one negative thing leads to another. The cycle works both ways and the opportunities will multiply if you persist.
For example: You stuck to your BRM for a few months, you started working out a couple of times a week, improved your game and watched some videos on mental life game in general. You feel more energized, look better and are more fun socially, when all of sudden one of the whales you played before invites you to his 5/10 home game with his friends only, because you were the only ''fun'' guy at the boring and unfriendly 1/3 table. I know this might sound like a long shot ofc, but this is just an example to sketch how one thing leads to another. You never know how crazy life can get. But the thing is, if it happens, you better be ready and able to seize the opportunity.
I went broke just before the cryptoboom. One of my close friends, was in the position where he could follow advice from early adapters and invest. I wanted to join, but there I was with no money. At that time I had some crypto already, but I had to sell as otherwise I wouldn't have had money to live from.
1 week later the market exploded which was very very lucrative for my friend and I was very happy for him, knowing how much work he had put in in order to reach the position where he could invest that sort of money.
However, hearing the stories at my university and hometown of random guys having portfolios of 20K and even 90K, while starting with like 1k, was pretty hard to swallow, as I missed the boat because of my own mistakes and am now less worth than some random guys, while I have dedicated 3 years of my life to poker.
Again, I understand that this particular event was almost historic and unlikely to happen again in this form, but the truth is we never know what will be next. I hope these stories make it more tangible for you.
I never really thought of it that way: that it's more difficult to spew off an entire bankroll live compared to online. I guess it makes sense though: the highest games that runs 7 days per week at my casino is the 5/5/10 NL or the 1/2/5 PLO, both with a $1k max buyin. At each of these games, you're lucky to see 35 hands per hour, so it would be tough to lose more than $5k in a night at the casino if you stuck to poker.
Whereas online, you could lose $50k in a single night if you went on tilt whilst multitabling 2knl and 5knl games, which seem to run 7 days per week on most sites and sometimes even 24/7.
I also never considered that shot taking would be -EV, but it makes a lot of sense once you consider the human element. I'm definitely guilty of losing interest in the lower stakes games once I take shots at the higher games, and that's something I need to fight. It's like doing a drug for the first time and now suddenly, it's not a big deal anymore when you do it for a second, third, fourth or hundredth time, since you've already broken your "virginity" for that drug. It's so much harder to have the patience to fold every hand for 2hrs straight when you're card dead at a 1/2 game, compared to when you previously had premium hands at a higher frequency at the 5/10 game. You kind of think "if my open raise sizing is only $10 then f**k it, why not open A6s UTG?"
Yeah I always feel guilty when I play at the casino either tired or tilted and don't want to talk to anyone. It's like I'm missing out on so many key opportunities to network, make friends, get invited to home games, talk strategy with the winning regs (off the table ofc), keep the whales entertained, etc. I want to start making some changes and come to every session fit, healthy, energetic and refreshed. I want to be able to play my A-game and be social too, not play my D-game with a bored face and sitting there silently.
I missed out on the cryptoboom too unfortunately
Oh well, I almost see it as missing out on a winning lottery ticket or missing out on a winning bet at the roulette table. It's only a bad thing if we had done enough research to confidently determine, at the time, that the cryptos were going to rise as rapidly in value as they did, and the majority of people investing in cryptos were just gambling and did very little actual research. They made a -EV decision and got lucky.
