Aaaarrhhh Freaking Donkeys! aka: coping with downswings and bad beats...

I posted this on the PokerVT forum but felt it was worth repeating. Below I have posted links to some great posts from 2+2 poker forum archives that every poker player should read.

I have been playing poker seriously for about 18 months and I have gotten to know many poker players through various forums and I have seen so many of them give up playing due to their frustration with the downswings and beats they suffer. The thing I've noticed most are the people who seem to have the worse problem with tilt and post the most bad beats seem to give up the fastest. Not everyone has the psychological stamina to play poker even for a hobby much less a living but with the right attitude anyone can develop the psychological stamina and ability to be become a good player.

Another thing I've noticed is the better players who have continued to play the longest post the fewest bad beats and tilt the least. Not that I'm a great player by any means, but I don't even remember the last time I even thought about posting a bad beat and for quite awhile I only posted them because they were humorous in some way.

Not to say I never tilt because that would just be lie, I do tilt but the intensity of the tilt and length of time I say tilted is getting better and better. We all get momentarily pissed on those nights when we've suffered one too many bad beats and we fire off a bit of profanity to friends on Skype, take a few deep breaths, get over it and move on. Good players realize that it's all just part of the game and if you get it in good and played correctly that's all that matters. When we let bad beats change our mood and change the way we feel about the game then the negativity will take over and you will lose because you've allowed yourself to become a loser, or should I say to think you are a loser.

There are two types of players who will have two different reactions when reading this blog and the 2+2 posts and their reactions will be either:

1. Wow this is good stuff and so true and I'll do better if I can just keep this in mind
or
2. This is bullshit I play well I'm doing everything right but I just run like crap and can't ever get ahead

If your reaction is the later then good luck and I imagine you won't be around here too long. If your reaction is the former then I don't look forward to running into you at the tables.

2+2 posts:

Post 1

Post 2

Post 3

I just changed my signature on the PokerVT forum to something I posted in the poker quotes thread, we often need to check our reality. I changed it to read: "The world economy is in the crapper, soldiers are dying in battle in the middle east, kids are going to bed hungry all over the world and I'm freaking out and going on tilt because my aces got cracked in a $5 sit-n-go." In the grand scheme of life having aces cracked is so insignificant.

One last thought: Getting your head around poker in the proper way takes time and it takes experience and it takes patience. If you don't agree with or understand my post or the linked posts you eventually will if you don't let your unbalanced brain get in the way. Realize that if you have only been playing a few months and don't have 1000+ games or 10K+ hands of cash yet you're just not there yet. Your play may be correct but your mind is probably not right yet nor do you have the experience it takes to win consistently yet. Poker doesn't come easy, it's hard work and it takes time and experience and patience to get it right.

Personally I'm just a little above break even right now but the changes in my thinking now compared to even 6 months ago is drastic. I believe over time and another 3000 games and another 25K hands of cash I will be a winning player if I can get and keep my mind straight and focused.

A new breed...

I'm seeing a new, or revised, style of play in online poker. Players are hyper-aggressive often shoving up to 40 or 50 big blinds from various positions. They play the exact opposite style of poker to small ball. They raise 5X, 6X and up to 7X or just open shove even in the high blind levels.

Why this blog post? Because I'm having trouble adjusting to this type of player. I let them put me on tilt and because of their erratic style of play it's very hard to put them on a range or figure out any pattern to their actions.

Last night in the women's league game I was at the final table with one of these players and I let her put me on tilt and busting her became more important to me than winning the game and because of this I ended up finishing in 4th. There was no excuse for this, at one time at the final table I had 3 times more chips than everyone else. I need to learn how NOT to let this type player tilt me and how to best play against them. This is my very biggest leak and this is the big question, why does this style of bullying, hyper-aggressive play tilt me so?

I believe there is definitely merit to this type of play. The erratic style makes it hard to get reads on them. Their aggression tends to put others on tilt. They are able through their aggression to get and maintain control of the table thus giving them a real advantage.

Admittedly I creeped on this player and found her by googling her username. It seems she attended "The Maven's" bootcamp and this is where she learned her hyper-aggressive style. However, the way she plays is like she learned lesson C and D on being hyper-aggressive without learning lessons A and B on hands to play and basic betting techniques. As I said, she is a big ball bullying type player. With her huge raises 3 betting her without getting it all in is difficult. So question one for anyone reading this, how to combat and adjust properly to this type play when I'm a small ball player. And question two, how can I incorporate some of this playing style into my game while still using the overall small ball concept.

Everyone is talking about how much tougher the games are getting online and I think this aggro-style of play is some of the reason. There is definitely training of this type going on and it's so opposite of small ball style (not that I'm not aggressive when necessary but just not all the time) it's hard to know how to adjust to these players. If I don't learn I can't expect to win long term.

Pokerstars Women's League monthly standing...

Well not only did I have a decent month and finished with a small profit overall I finished 8th on the Women's League tournament leaderboard! I was really hoping for the top five and had I not made a couple of silly spite calls in Monday night's game I might have made it. Soon I will learn to leave my emotions off the felt. Anyway pretty decent finish overall. I'm not sure exactly how many ladies played in these games in August but most nights after the first couple of weeks there were usually around 160 to 180 runners each night. I believe overall there were probably a little over 200 women who participated at one time or another.

Kudos to all the ladies who made the top 50 and special congratulations to Gwyneth and Massiel you two ladies are tough competition and deserve the top two spots. It's nice to see that the better players are the ones who finished in the top places! Good luck to everyone for September!