Hello!

I have been playing poker forever and I feel I am quite good. I am in love with 6 hand SNG. During this summer, I managed to sum up quite a bit of money playing SNGs. However, the other week, I hit a bump (cold streak). So far this week, I have played 97 games. I also tend to play 4 tables at once on FullTilt.

I am having doubts whether I am a good player or not. Can a cold streak last for 97 games? Every time I go all in, I have the odds with me, but it feels I lose everytime. FYI, I am also a TAG. I'm not tilting because I'm playing 4 tables at once. Who has experience in grinding out more than 1 SNG at once. How critical would you say reading is compared to lowering the variance by playing more games? Is 97 games saying I am a bad player? I can honestly say all my 85% of my losses come from unfortune.

Any advice would be appreciated.

I'm not a SNG player but I think 97 games is a smallish sample. And variance will affect you in ways you won't believe.

You have to ask yourself what are your goals in poker? If it's to make money in the short term, well you're doing it wrong. Long term you will see a profit if you're always striving to improve your game.

I know it's frustrating advice and a cliche, but if variance is getting the better of you, take a break.

97 games is a tiny sample, you need 1000+ to give a decent indication of true roi.

Thanks for the quick reply Helped raise my confidence and I will continue to grind.

I haven't played a lot of poker (1,100 games of the 45 man) and have had 100 game stretches of ROIs of negative 60% and positive 80%, so expect swings!

Before you auto-attribute it to variance take a step back. It could be due to variance, it also could be due to a leak having appeared in your game. After each session review the critical points in your session. Make sure you made the correct play and if not, work out where you went wrong and what areas you need to study and improve on. If you overall work out that you were generally making the correct play and just got sucked out on, then yes it sucks that youre going through a cold patch but at least you will regain confidence in your game as you will know, rather than think, you are playing well. On the other hand you may well find a leak has crept in so now is the time to fix it.

97 games doesn't mean anything. Neither does the number of tables you're playing with regards to tilt -- you can tilt playing one table or 30, although as you add tables the less likely you are to tilt. You aren't lowering your variance by adding tables, either.

Also, I seriously doubt 85% of your losses come from being unlucky. Everyone makes -EV shoves and calls in SNG's, that's just part of the game.