You need to be logged in to your Sky Poker account above to post discussions and comments.
You might need to refresh your page afterwards.
Sky Poker forums will be temporarily unavailable from 11pm Wednesday July 25th.
Sky Poker Forums is upgrading its look! Stay tuned for the big reveal!
21 gun salute....time to take a break me thinks
After finishing 5th in last Wednesday's Double stack, I have been on a massive downswing which has led me to take a break. This was highlighted by my son who pointed out my performance over the last 21 MTT's I have played since my win. Apart from 12/127 in a £500 velocity which was a profit of £1.15 and 16/196 in tonight's £1500 B/H with a profit of £6.30, I have just not hit any kind of form and lost what I won only days ago.
I feel I am still playing fairly well but I am not enjoying the constant beats or variance at the mo so will have to take a break away to get my head straight again.
Any advice off the top MTT players would be appreciated. I will post of couple of hands to show what I am going through. Please note that this is not a bad beat moan but a shout out for some good advice/help on what to do.
This was my exit hand in the primo......
I feel I am still playing fairly well but I am not enjoying the constant beats or variance at the mo so will have to take a break away to get my head straight again.
Any advice off the top MTT players would be appreciated. I will post of couple of hands to show what I am going through. Please note that this is not a bad beat moan but a shout out for some good advice/help on what to do.
This was my exit hand in the primo......
Hand History #253802641 (20:41 25/04/2010)
| Player | Action | Cards | Amount | Pot | Balance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| x | Small blind | 30.00 | 30.00 | 1776.25 | |
| x | Big blind | 60.00 | 90.00 | 2920.00 | |
| Your hole cards |
| ||||
| x | Fold | ||||
| x | Call | 60.00 | 150.00 | 2710.63 | |
| x | Fold | ||||
| MAXALLY | Call | 60.00 | 210.00 | 1630.00 | |
| x | Call | 30.00 | 240.00 | 1746.25 | |
| x | Check | ||||
| Flop | |||||
| |||||
| x | Bet | 60.00 | 300.00 | 1686.25 | |
| x | Fold | ||||
| x | Raise | 120.00 | 420.00 | 2590.63 | |
| MAXALLY | Raise | 300.00 | 720.00 | 1330.00 | |
| x | Fold | ||||
| x | Raise | 540.00 | 1260.00 | 2050.63 | |
| MAXALLY | All-in | 1330.00 | 2590.00 | 0.00 | |
| x | All-in | 2050.63 | 4640.63 | 0.00 | |
| x | Unmatched bet | 1080.63 | 3560.00 | 1080.63 | |
| x | Show |
| |||
| MAXALLY | Show |
| |||
| Turn | |||||
| |||||
| River | |||||
| |||||
| x | Win | Straight to the 6 | 3560.00 | 4640.63 | |
Comments
And this was my exit hand in tonight's B/H.......
Hand History #253872591 (23:25 25/04/2010)
It wouldn't be as bad if there wasn't a delay while waiting for the river that does you over.
You want advice off the top MTT players, and say tat would be appreciated !
Well they don't come any nearer the top than me...... elo !! what ??
I can tell you now , just playing MTT's online will do your brains IF you dont take the breaks ..or.. play some cash at other games such as 7 card stud, Omaha high, or Hi Lo ... ..
With NL hold-em, the 'swings' are much higher than any other poker game, and with tournaments, no matter what the so called pros tell you, you can only run so good for a limited period...
All the real pros will tell you, they have hit a wall at some time or another... it could last as long as 2 years maybe more..................
Try to get out and play some live events at casinos, or make your own schedule of maybe 3 decent online MTT's a week...
I can tell you this, we all have times when we run well but what never gets mentioned is the amount of players who go skint just trying to be the next 'kid on the block' ...
Take a small break then come back and limit yourself to the 3 decent games as I said for a month or so .. and most importantly with this game , you need your confidence..
I play live , not as much as I should these days but online I play mixed cash(not hold-em) and some MTT's here
I could fill a book with names on the young players over the years who think they can be the next Phil Ivey Or Helmuth ...
Just play the for fun and treat yourself to a few bigger games, and that's when you get the buzz without getting depressed about this wonderful game ....
I hope this helped, your a top man with a good game, just enjoy it..
Oh tomorrow I'm taking a break myself going down to Camber Sands for 5 days, my greyhound wants to stretch her legs on the beach ......
glk Benny
I have been there and got the teashirt. I used to always cash and do well in MTT's on a regular basis but hit that wall. Generally the odds of you winning a MTT are high anyway because of the amount of players so dont always expect to cash at them. But you just have to stick at it because eventualy you will win one and get a nice payout compared to stt games and such like which will last you a long while to play more. 21 games sounds a lot but its not really in terms of not winning, but is probably a lot since last wednesday lol. I have won the velocity half a dozen times, the open i came 2nd and a 5k bounty hunter and the vegas final i qualified for back in the day plus many others i cant remember. But havnt won anything significant for about 6 months. I havnt really played that many mtts because of my bankroll and the ones i have ive just been getting horrible beats. Dont play them consistantly but just now and again! switch your play up like benny says and try new things and if you make enough to play some mtt's then do a couple a week only. Theres nothing better than winning an MTT but dont expect to win them all the time no one is that good and you will just think its you playing bad when it more than likely isnt. Keep at it and it will pay off eventualy. GL
Finally, perhaps leave mtts and try sngs for a while. A series of cashes there may help restore ur confidence and help u get the enjoyment back from poker again.
Having decided (at this stage at least) that I'm absolutely useless at cash games I have at least had some success with MTTs.... but (echoing some what with what Phil says) I try and finance each buy-in with some hard grind on SnGs....that way the bankroll usually keeps on an even keel along with my state of mind.
Hi Alan,
Sorry to hear you are running bad.
You know the score as well as I do - it just happens, we run good, we run bad, but the bad runs are a right test of character. We chirp when we are winning, but we just have to take it on the chin when we run bad.
My Online Form has been horrific all this year, & on both my Accounts, I've dropped a good bit of money. Money I'd won when I was on an Upswing. Fortunately, I play well within my limits, & the downswing can continue for a good while yet before I need to search for the Deposit function.
Typically, I've been running as hot as a hot thing Live, with Finals galore - I actually made TWO Live Finals yesterday, which is a rare thing in Live Poker.
So my advice is don't try to "force it" Online, the form will return when it returns, & not before. Try taking a small break, or playing a few Live games.
The important thing is if you are not enjoying it because of the downswing.....
1) Take a break.
2) Don't force it - if you do, you'll end up Busto.
Good luck fella.
As you know, I went on a BIG downswing too, but, since my second in a MTT my BR has gone from £6 to ... wait for it £44.00, I also know it could as easily change back too, its poker, we take it on the chin
If you are expecting to FT in most games you play you are setting a standard you can't hope to achieve. The approach to tournament play can be one of two things: Play to cash or play to win. Playing to cash will bring more minor successes but will be frustrating in the long run. Playing to win will result in many more early exits but, if done right, will mean occasional big successes which are more satisfying. Expecting to do both is unreasonable and in my experience untenable. As Phil said - play some stt's where the expectation of both cashing and winning the majority of the time is very achievable, and use your success in those to fund your mtt's.
I've played 6 or 7 online, high value, mtt's a week for the past 6 years and in that time I've won 57, or about 3%. I have a cashing rate of 15% over that period which isn't high. So, based on those facts, my numbers of early exits are huge. An important thing to understand is that they don't spread evenly across the board. I have had weeks of success and occasionally many months of no success. Put very simply, that's the nature of tournament play, you definitely can't win them all or even the majority of them.
I know that losing streaks are very annoying, and I curse my bad luck like everyone else when I'm in the midst of one, but the truth is it's normal for all mtt players over an extended period of time.
Hope you're feeling better today kidda, keep your chip up, it'll come good in the end!!!
x
Hand History #254003345 (17:51 26/04/2010)
I run so good man...Don't worry about running bad m8 - happens to us all - I haven't won a flip since 1992 lol
Hand History #254003345 (17:51 26/04/2010)
Play more smaller tournaments and keep the aggression up, if you can win pots without showing hands, the poker gods cant hurt you !
If you stop enjoying the game, stop playing.
x
I cant give any help or advice as it has all been said here but it is comforting to know that you are not the only one, i too am on a loosing streak best hands dont hold up and cant connect with my hole cards but it usualy doesent last to long and i now just shrug it off have a laugh then find another game as long as you are still within your bank roll and still enjoying the game otherwise do as you are and have a break, personaly i find playing through the downswing as i cant not play !!! just play the smaller buy in turnys with the odd premium turny but chin up you will come out the other side good luck
Funnily enough, I was having the same experience as you with the MTT's and losing the enjoyment so I actually went the other way - I decided to try to learn more about Omaha. Nothing big, just a few very low level STT - scary's and DYM. I found it fun and fascinating and best of all it gave me back my enthusiasm for the game and so I went back to hold em MTT's.
Not sure if that will work for all but it did for me (cashed in a few of the Omaha games too!)
S
i only really play the main 8pm tournies on Sky and I went 2/3 months without even cashing, seeing my sharkscope dwindle and dwindle. i would even play the Bounty Hunter tournies and exit without taking a head, it was that bad.
then this month i have ran deep in like 4 big tournies here cashing close to 3k£ on Sky.
Last night I got my first pocket pair since Easter ......... everyone folded 'cos it's been weeks since I raised any hand. My fold button is worn out and my sharkscope looks like a profile of the Mariana Trench. At the last count I have had 10,492 combinations of 94 and 62 off suit. The last time I hit a flop was on the 4th of April and I lost that hand.
Apart from that my game is good