Hi All,

I'm a poker player from India, playing poker actively since past 1-1.5 years. Besides playing poker, I'm a software engineer who earns well(in 6 figures). But since last 4-5 months I started playing high stakes online PLO cash games and in live as well. I've never built bankroll playing poker but have lost everything to this game. Sometimes I win around 2-3 lacs in a single day and *boom* lost all in next session. I'm sick of this downswings and practically I'm drowned in debt and depressed and thinking to call it quits. Please share some suggestions or stories if you think that I can still bounce back and can manage to defeat my defeat or is it better to bid adieu to this game at this stage.

Regards,
A depressed, lost soul trying to find a ray of Hope.

http://www.gamblersanonymous.org/ga/addresses

(+ 91) 8826904945

Permanently Self-Exclude from all sites

The shared number seems unreachable.

Never deposit again. After a long period without poker, play freerolls. If you can't build a roll from freerolls/patience, then forget poker. You will never beat meaningful stakes if you can't beat freerolls and micros.

You sound depressed so maybe see a therapist or talk to someone.

Use your job to pay down debt. If you are taking home like 120k a year hell even use 1k per month to play small stakes PLO. You are not gonna go on a high stakes heater and recoup what you lost. You are getting outplayed and with only a year of experience, you should not expect to beat high stakes. Expensive lesson but you had the money to try it I guess.

If you don't enjoy small stakes then poker might not be for you and you should maybe call that number.

I've been studying these damn programming languages like R and Python, things you are probably great at for over 6 months. Finally after 100s of applications and subsequent rejections a recuiter told me the truth: There is no way in hell that I am going to get a high paying software engineer job with only 6 months of study.

Take PLO: Have you read and reread Jeff Hwangs 4 book series on PLO? If not why should you expect to win against people who have put in more study than you? There is no way you are going to beat high stakes PLO by just plopping down willy nilly and hoping for the best. You have to put in a ton of work and study off the table and that's just to beat small stakes.

Same for me with becoming a coder. I don't deserve the job when there are bad ass coders who have simply put in WAAAY more study and work than me.

Remember to seek help if depressed.

Good luck.

Been in your shoes, won/lost 6 figures. There's no quick fix. Chasing it back will not end well. From my experience you have some type of void you are overcompensating for. I would address it. Getting married helped me slow down a lot. Sounds like you have enough to live comfortably in India and are chasing some type of rush. Might be your mind trying to distract itself from other issues. Address that stuff, fix your health. You have the tools it takes to beat the game, income/bankroll + engineering perspective. Winning alone won't make you happy though,it will be a hopeless chase. You have everything it takes to be happy.

Quit playing Omaha. The swings in that game are horrendous. The 2/5 games around me are dying because they switched to PLO and that won't last long.

OP- this seems to be textbook gambling addiction. If you are putting yourself in debt, I hate to say it but you should not be playing poker. Never sacrifice financial security for this game- it will wreck you.

+1
All due respect all I can see in the first post is a "compulsive gambler" and it has nothing to do with "downswing" or even poker!
A true poker player would never want yoy to quite playing (believe me! You are the reason poker is profitable!) but please don't do this to yourself!
Get help.
No such thing as "play small stakes" or "buold up from free rolls" would work with you.. You WILL put 6 figures (hell maybe even more if you could) on a single blackjack hand if given the chance.
Sorry to be harsh but you are an addict my friend

Hi uFishMeShark:

This is something that I wrote about in my psychology book. When you look at losses from a statistical standpoint, even though there is a large short-term luck factor in poker, this luck factor dissipates over time. This means that if you have played a fair amount and have disappointing results, it now becomes highly likely that your strategic game needs a lot of improvement.

Now I'm not a PLO expert, but I do know that there is information out there that should be helpful to improve your understanding of this game. And someone who is able to be a successful software engineer should be able to improve their game through the proper study.

Best wishes,
Mason

Good luck

Do you have your health?

If so your doing better than me, don't care how broke you are

Umm.... I know who you are and everything but are you seriously suggesting that a guy who has lost everything and is drowning in debt due to poker, play more?

Someone who has lost everything sounds like they need help on quitting as they most likely have a problem and it's solution is not to "study more"

Is this a lame joke? The guy didn't just lose a couple hundred bucks he put online - he says he's drowning in debt. He needs to stay away from poker forever.

Agreed- this isnt "oh i shoved on a questionable hand, now money is tight for a few days" this is "oh **** i might be homeless"-

Poker players are not gamblers (or at shouldnt be) so only play with what you can afford to lose, and when youre down cut your loses.

take a break away from the game for a few months. pay some of your debt off. focus on your work.
save up a small amount each week for a smallish bankroll. re-read some of your books and read articles online.

if you don't enjoy losing then give it up. losing at poker gives you a chance to look at how you can play better to beat your opponents.

its a great opportunity.

Hi I like Indian

Do you watch ipl cricket? I real like ipl cricket

For the noobs out there ipl stands for India premier league

I like ipl but I don’t like being put on hold and told to rate good

Do Canada devil worshipper and is it a real country?

LMAOOOOOO Mason just posted the best and worst advice you could possibly give someone in this situation, wow

Honestly I would look into banning yourself from all gambling activity & sites

Then I would look into seeing a therapist

This sounds like a gambling problem but I feel like your problem is probably deeper than that

100 buy-in downswings are not uncommon in PLO. I've also ran 100 buy-ins below expectation over a fairly modest sample.

I'm not sure anyone is properly rolled for high stakes PLO. I don't think you can play enough hands to have any idea whether you are beating the games or not, so unless you have beaten PLO200 for a decent clip over a very large sample (probably >500k hands) then you're almost certainly a fish at high stakes, as many of the players playing there have done exactly that.

Stop playing. Just quit the game forever!
Poker is one of the hardest things to master..Many many people failed and you are one of them. Just realize that fact and the reality.
And stop listen to the people here who advice you to study more. If you don't have the right mind set you can study like**** You will go broke and failed anyway because of you mental weakness....That is why poker is just brutal.Its not only skills is to be mental on the top every session, every hour, every day....

You need to ban yourself from these sites. Then you need to talk to a counselor/therapist immediately & regularly if you can afford it (sounds like you have a semi secure job/income). Even if you're in debt, you'll never get out of it without mental/life stability, which you clearly don't have right now, so think about investing in your mental health & feeling better about yourself/life as an eventual way out of debt.

MM suggesting OP "study more" as a solution to his problems is beyond the pale. Wow.

Poker players are not gamblers? Oh really lol

100% are gamblers, even the best player with the best bankroll management is 100% gambler.....

Whatever. Who cares. Don't derail the thread.

OP needs help/advice. Don't detract for petty reasons.

look at the company he runs. he passed up on probably 500mil+ because he didn't want to interfere with his 50k/yr book publishing gig. he is of course going to suggest this guy study poker despite the fact that he very obviously has a gambling problem.