At the end of my tether.

[DasBoot]

Let me say first off that I know that I'm not the best player in the world. Heck I'm probably not the best player in my road and I live in a small cul-de-sac! These last couple of months have been a nightmare for me playing poker-wise and I've given up and can't afford to smash any more keyboards. I haven't had a decent cash or run since October when I won $500+ in the Sunday 200k on ipoker. I was a hair's breadth away from winning a GUKPT seat shortly after (got 3 outed on the river) and ever since the Poker God's have not just been laughing at me but literally crushing me into the ground. Money isn't a problem here as I only play $10/$20 mtts, sometimes rebuys and a few sats. On occasion I'll have a spin up and buy-in larger but I'm quite content to try and sat into those events. I play a bit of NLHE or PLO cash but only micro and only for fun and I'm not worried about that. I also play a bit of DON sng but again, just for a change. I just can't catch a break in the MTT's. It's got to the point where I'm not even cashing let alone final tabling. I know pro's don't talk about "luck" but I'm not a pro and I'd like to know where mine has gone! It seems to go like this. I play solid poker at the beginning, slowly but surely building my stack. Don't get into too many big pots but getting paid off when I do have the best hand. It's the middle of the tournys that the problems start. I leave marginal but playable hands alone and see me flop the nuts. I play premium hands strongly and get rivered by an inside straight. I loosen up and see a whole raft of picture cards hit the deck. The maniac who is up and down more times than a bride's nightie I try to steer clear of to only see time and time again that I would have beaten him and knocked him out had I called. When I do eventually make a stand my pair is no good against his AQo. Tonight I woke up with KK called his shove of A10 and you can guess what came on the flop. In the last two days I have lost races in the middle of tourneys no less than five times which would have seen me take the chip lead (or close to) and each time I have had the best of it pre flop. I get crippled- but don't tilt- and then build up my stack again only to see the same thing happen but this time it's Goodnight Vienna. I know all about variance and "donkaments" but this seems to be following the same pattern in every tournament for the last two months. I play at least 3 a night 4/5 times a week and to not even come close to cashing is demoralising. I don't pretend that I play perfect in every single hand or every tournament and I am aware that we focus on the "bad beats" and forget when we get lucky but this is going beyond a joke. I refuse to believe that I'm such a bad player that I'll never win another tournament again but when I do see some of the players who FT I think how the hell are you there? Any advice from anyone out there? Go back to the books? Give it all a break? Keep ploughing through because it's bound to change soon? As I said, the money isn't a factor because I am a recreational player and am not losing more than I can afford to but when your hobby causes your cat to dive for cover you have to think is it for you? Any thought or comments would be much appreciated. Thanks.

[Samba_SamPa]

Re: At the end of my tether. I doubt I can offer anything you don't already know, like you just got to ride the variance, keep getting them in ahead and you'll turn the corner etc etc. All I can say is how I deal with it. When the 2/3/4/whatever-outer crashes down on the river, I just remember I have 2 kids who are beautiful, intelligent little souls, and, most importantly, they're healthy. And that's the only thing that matters, to me. Maybe it's corny, but it works for me. Aside from a fleeting snapshot of frustration, I never get annoyed / affected by busting out. Perspective. Keep smiling :ok