im finding it so hard too deal with these, I mean once at a time is alright, but this is none stop..

Hand 1:

Poker Stars $1.36+$0.14 No Limit Hold'em Tournament - t150/t300 Blinds + t25 - 6 players
DeucesCracked Poker Videos Hand History Converter

SB: t3545 M = 5.91
BB: t5429 M = 9.05
UTG: t3822 M = 6.37
MP: t2315 M = 3.86
CO: t4614 M = 7.69
Hero (BTN): t5276 M = 8.79

Pre Flop: (t600) Hero is BTN with K A
3 folds, Hero raises to t600, 1 fold, BB raises to t1350, Hero raises to t5251 all in, BB calls t3901

Flop: (t10802) T 6 3 (2 players - 1 is all in)

Turn: (t10802) J (2 players - 1 is all in)

River: (t10802) 7 (2 players - 1 is all in)

Final Pot: t10802
BB shows K 6 (a pair of Sixes)
Hero shows K A (high card Ace)
BB wins t10802


__________________________________________________ _______________

Hand 2

Poker Stars $1.36+$0.14 No Limit Hold'em Tournament - t100/t200 Blinds - 7 players
DeucesCracked Poker Videos Hand History Converter

Hero (UTG): t877 4.38 BBs
UTG+1: t1655 8.28 BBs
MP: t3437 17.18 BBs
CO: t1022 5.11 BBs
BTN: t2750 13.75 BBs
SB: t2278 11.39 BBs
BB: t1010 5.05 BBs

Pre Flop: (t300) Hero is UTG with J J
Hero raises to t877 all in, UTG+1 raises to t1655 all in, 4 folds, BB calls t810 all in

Flop: (t2997) 2 8 5 (3 players - 3 are all in)

Turn: (t2997) 6 (3 players - 3 are all in)

River: (t2997) 8 (3 players - 3 are all in)

Final Pot: t2997
Hero shows J J (two pair, Jacks and Eights)
UTG+1 shows 9 9 (two pair, Nines and Eights)
BB shows 5 5 (a full house, Fives full of Eights)
BB wins t266
BB wins t2731


__________________________________________________ _____________

Hand 3

Poker Stars $1.32+$0.18 No Limit Hold'em Tournament - t50/t100 Blinds - 6 players
DeucesCracked Poker Videos Hand History Converter

UTG: t1201 12.01 BBs
MP: t1060 10.60 BBs
CO: t2090 20.90 BBs
BTN: t1668 16.68 BBs
SB: t2015 20.15 BBs
Hero (BB): t2915 29.15 BBs

Pre Flop: (t150) Hero is BB with 5 5
3 folds, BTN raises to t229, 1 fold, Hero raises to t2915 all in, BTN calls t1439 all in

Flop: (t3386) 4 9 J (2 players - 2 are all in)

Turn: (t3386) Q (2 players - 2 are all in)

River: (t3386) 2 (2 players - 2 are all in)

Final Pot: t3386
BTN shows 2 2 (three of a kind, Deuces)
Hero shows 5 5 (a pair of Fives)
BTN wins t3386


__________________________________________________ _______

How the hell do you guys 'numb' yourselves too this?

Im ok getting hit with these beats, I can kind of shrug 1 off, but im 6 tabling and this is in 3 games..

Is it just as easy for you saying too yourself, that's poker?

Pretty much. If you play enough hands you get used to it. Obviously its annoying but its part of poker like you said.

Here you go

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/32...ntest-1471369/

go through that thread and pic out your favorite pic/meme and make it the wallpaper on your computer or phone...

All three hands you had 70%+ equity (80% for the pp's) so while it's tough you have to just be happy that you got it in with such a massive edge.

It's statistically impossible for you to lose here more than your equity dictates long term so just try to grind through it.

Try to think of the bigger picture. If someone offered you even money to flip your AA versus TT over 1000 hands would you take it?
Would you win every flip, no. Would you profit, definitely.

A few years ago I heard a saying that had a huge impact to how I approach poker.

I think it was Doyle Brunson or Mike Sexton who said, "You can tell a lot about a poker player by how they handle a bad beat..."

This resonated with me. The better you are able to handle a bad beat, the more likely you are to eventually become a really good player.

I can't tell you how many times I've seen a very skilled very competent poker player at a table, just cruising along chipping up nicely-- 150bb, 200bb, 300bb, 400bb and then BOOM, they take a bad beat. They only lose 30bb which is barely just a dent to their stack, but it doesn't matter. They start to steam, they start to mumble about the stupid dealer or lucky river or horrible donk play and that is the beginning of the end. Now every little loss, every time they miss the flop, every time they have to fold is now some epic event. Now they are on tilt, overcalling, chasing, making bad preflop calls just so they can "get the donk back" for that bad beat.

It took them 3, 4, or 5 hours to build their stack up to 400bb but it takes them less than 1hr to bust out. All because they couldn't handle one little bad beat.

I see this pretty much every single time I play. Without fail.

You've got to develop the ability to shrug off bad beats. Otherwise, you will just never be a longterm winning player.

1) You get used to it. You learn to be satisfied when you make the correct plays, not when you run above expectation.

2) Learn that you aren't as big a favorite as you might think. Example: jj v 99 v 55 is only 65% favorite to win the pot. So, ever 20 times this happens, you should lose 7 times. This just happens to be one of those 7/20.

3) Realize that all 3 tournaments combined is approximately the cost of a drink at Starbucks. It's not worth crying or even being bent out of shape about. In the long run, everything evens out.

need too man up basically and stop being a bitch about it..

a nice break from poker is what I need I think,and I know the value of the 3 isn't much, but winning increases my BR.

What doesn't kill ye makes ye stronger I suppose lol

Personally, I think what helps is constantly telling yourself you don't care about the money you only care about +EV play (hence my contest).

It is possible to brainwash yourself. Tell yourself something enough times and one day, you will wake up and truly 100% internalize and believe what you are saying.

Click on the link I provided, find your favorite meme, print it out and stick it somewhere visible where you live and/or work. Write it down as a slogan on your bathroom mirror, across from the toilet, on your ceiling.

If you see that saying, and read it to yourself, and say it outloud 10 times a day, then that is 300 times a month. Around the 1,000th or so time of seeing/saying it you will one day discover that you truly believe it...

it takes time, but it will happen

GL

As others said, it's part of the game. Without variance, poker would be like chess and there are very few opportunities to earn money playing chess.

Hand 1 & 2 you played fine.

Hand 3 OTOH......WTF are you doing shoving 55 almost 30 BB deep?

Since I've recently started playing MTTs I would like to ask a question here.

Its 16bb effective so is shoving here not a +ev assuming we have fold equity?

The way that I use to deal with downswings is that I TRY to stop caring about things I have no control over.

If I bust in a tournament/lose some stacks in a cash game, I will save the hands to review later, see if there is any errors in my thinking, or maybe if the villain had been showing me some tendencies that I did not payed attention to at the moment and if that would've meant for me to play differently. If I played correctly, or if I learned from the hand, there isn't really much else I can do.

Sometimes the lesson is exactly the way that I respond to a downswing, maybe I've been putting off things outside poker that may lead for me to put all my expectations into winning. Maybe I've been overplaying. Or maybe sometimes its just the way things are.

You should put your attention into getting better. As long as you do that, you're on your way. And never forget that poker is a game and its meant to be fun anyways.

Shoving a BTN raise when eff stacks are 16bb when we are in the BB with 55 is the correct play.

We have fold equity and BTN's raising range in this spot is going to be as wide as the Mississippi river...

so yeah, Hero is correct to shove there heads up vs a BTN raise...

I think that the shove is fine with 55 vs a button's opening range, more than not your going to see a fold and otherwise we're probably flipping with 2 overs.

Also I think you need a break, if you're playing within your bankroll then hopefully these hands won't affect you as much. If you aren't playing properly rolled than they most likely will eat away at you.

GL whenever you decide to get back to the tables.

OK, I missed that there were antes. Still seems early to me, but maybe that's a problem I should address.

edit: M < 10 can't set mine, shove/fold, duh

Kinda worked this out two years ago, but so cool to see it here in black and white.

Op, its not BBV so I'll tread carefully here, but I'm just bending out of my worst downswing ever. During which KK went down pre to Ax like 11 times on the bounce...mostly on the bubble and once when I looked like going deep in a $11 MTT.

As the man says, if you want to be anything in this game all you can do is spaz out for a few minutes and then crack on with a clear head and a steady heart. All in a days work.

It's an intrinsic part of poker, there's no way around it. Everyone suffers bad beats and everyone goes through periods where it seems like the universe is conspiring against you. You have to find a way to deal with it in order to get anywhere.

I find it easier now because I've seen so many upswings and downswings but I still get annoyed when I think it's particularly 'unfair', so for example I'm running 10 buyins under EV over the last 10K hands right now and caught myself swearing at the monitor. Just got to stick it out and things will go back to normal.

Hand 1: Open-shove
Hand 2: Standard. Though you may well be missing the real issue which is how you wound up UTG with a little over 4bb. ie; you probably missed a steal opportunities(s) somewhere.
Hand 3: Fold pre unless you have good reason to go for a resteal at stakes where you generally have no fold equity ever.

Hand 1 - in 18 man late-ish stages, min raises are so open too resteals, so I played a trap and just got unlucky

hand 2 - don't know how I got this low, this is just poker

hand 3 - Villain had been noted too 3Bet Q7o, and shoving KXs.

this is due too tilt, this thread I mean lol, was too angry lol

It's only money.

My favorite hand ever was when my 55555 was beaten by KKKKK on 7th street. As she flipped her fifth King, she yells, "FIVE KINGS MOTHER ****ER!!!!" and we all had a good laugh.

lol, I remember I was playing at a house game and faced a bad beat. After the hand, one player commented on how I looked like I've seen it all before. Needless to say, alarm bells ran off that he was solid and obv I was right

Not sure what the point of this post was. Meh

You seem a little tilt sensitive atm. This will eventually improve with time and experience but for now just try playing in games where your wins and losses are smaller. Just lower your stakes. Having tilt tolerance is like being that guy at the gym who is huge. Takes a while to reach that destination.

You have the second biggest stack at the table, why are you "trapping" with a hand like AK vs the biggest stack?

No, it's not. You were dead man walking prior to the hand being dealt. If you weren't dealt JJ you never would have posted this hand. But you still would have been ignoring a potential leak. That you don't remember why you're short - ie; from a steal gone bad or a beat suggests that you're overlooking the real issue here which is how you got in this situation in the first place. Do yourself a favour and go back and look at the previous two orbits. You may be right and there was nothing you could have done. But why handwave this?

So? Why are you inviting unnecessary coin-flips with low pockets and hands like AK when you have comfortable stacks?


I realize you're posting to vent - in the wrong forum - But you've posted three hands where two of them are not played particularly well and the third has red flags. You can continue to tell yourself it's just run bad or you can try to learn and improve. Up to you.

Villain is getting well over 2:1 vs a resteal in a $1 tournament. Fold equity does not exist in this hand.

Yeah good point but even if fold equity doesn't exist in a $1 tournament, you would then find yourself in a +EV situation most times (such as this hand).

So in the long-term isn't this a profitable play? Obviously higher stakes it wouldn't be, as pre-ante you would be dominated by a call off 9/10 times.

Basically when I run ridiculously bad I just quit the tables and shut down my computer and come back tomorrow or in a few days. If you stay, you start getting irritated, frustrated, and you'll lose even more. Everyone knows these days where you can do whatever you want, concentrate, change tables, etc.: you won't win a penny.

The truth is: poker is quite a crappy game to make money at, especially online nowadays. Contrary to chess, you can do everything right and have superior skill to your opponents, and still lose heavily.

I also put myself 'stop loss limits' where if I drop a certain number of BBs or get good hand after good hand cracked, I conclude 'this is not my day' and just leave instead of hoping it will go better.

I don't play hold'em that often anymore nowadays (mainly seven card stud), yesterday I played 3 stud tables, and it was just ridiculous: AA in the hole, I would lose to an idiot drawing out to something like sixes and threes on the last card, wired trips KKK? They got cracked of course. No matter what hands I played, someone would make an even better hand on the last card. On all 3 tables: same thing, no way a good hand could hold up even once. I just left before things got even worse and before I blew my entire bankroll