Article On Stopping The Rot

[Burnley Joe]

Stopping the Rot

by Adam ‘snoopy’ Goulding Sometimes when you feel low, playing poorly and losing money, it’s hard to get back into the groove, but having the ability to stop the rot is a crucial factor in becoming a successful online cash player. Last week, I experienced a flurry of bad results, making countless errors and dropping more money than I care to lose in the process. Although I haven’t been at one with the Poker Gods of late, I am experienced enough to realise that it was my game that was at fault, not my luck. So, with this in mind, I set out on re-assessing my game and making some minor adjustments in order to return to winning ways. Whenever I endure a bad run, I find taking a break and studying the game is often a sound strategy. However, if you are focussed enough and able to spot the weaknesses in your game, there’s no reason why you can’t return to the felt immediately. To prepare for the night’s session, I made the following decisions: -- Eat a meal beforehand so I don’t become peckish during the session -- Play one ten-handed and 3 six-handed tables instead of my usual 4 x 6-handed affair -- Raise slightly less with my big pocket pairs -- Stop calling pre-flop raises with marginal and potentially dominated hands like Q-T suited and A-Jo -- Concentrate on avoiding crying calls -- Ensure a break is taken after a maximum of two hours -- Cease play at 7am. -- Focus on every single hand, avoiding any rash decisions With my new strategy set in stone, I ambushed the tables from 1.30am to 3.30am, and then 4.30am to 7am. Although it wasn’t all plain sailing, I played good solid poker, making few errors in the process. The next night, I did exactly the same, utilising the aforementioned adjustments I had made to my game the session before, and, low and behold, I won again. Overall, I finished the weekend a considerable amount up, a cracking result accompanied by an hourly wage that would make Bill Gates’ eyes water (well, okay, maybe not). In online poker, there’s nothing more satisfying than bringing an end to a bad run, but sometimes you have to be careful. With the huge fluctuations that poker can bring, it can only take a run of several losing sessions to place your bankroll in a tender position. The changes I made to my game may not apply to you, but hopefully they will give you an idea of what re-evaluating your game means. If you can identify the flaws that exist in your own personal style, then stopping the rot will become that much easier. After playing semi-professional for almost a year (the first few months of that period was fully pro’), the most important lesson I’ve learned is that of re-evaluating your game as much as possible, even when you’re winning, but especially when you’re losing. If you're focussed and determined enough, you can always fix any flaw. So, keep your head screwed on tight at all times, be aware of the current state of your game, and ensure that you modify it when need be. Continue to ignore the pot-holes in your game and you will surely continue to lose, but be smart enough to be constantly re-assessing the way you play and you will soon return to winning ways. Complacency and disillusionment are a dangerous combination, especially when you’re losing…

Any Thoughts?

[Valiant23]

Re: Article On Stopping The Rot My attitude to 'stopping the rot' was at first to put it down to variance (as I was being told). Then I realised after a chat with someone *cough*Gaf*cough* that it wasn't variance. What happened was this;

1. I suffered bad beats with good hands (variance)
2. It started to affect the way I played those hands
3. It then started to affect the way I played every hand including having the reasoning 'If that muppet can beat me with 74s all in then I can win with 74s all in'
4. I then started to play badly (such as chasing, playing marginal hands, lacking in patience)

How I got out of it was going back to basics. It was for me a very long process, but instead of just stopping (which I'd recommend) I decided it would do me some good to experience the full horror of a bad run. This is a good article and one I'll remember. :ok

[teaulc]

Re: Article On Stopping The Rot a very good article and one i have taken a great notice of especially as i am going through it now:sad ..will see how it all goes tonight in $1 challenge,

[AJ]

Re: Article On Stopping The Rot Agreed it looks good, when I was on a losing run a few weeks back, I dropped down to $0.10+1c stt's and worked through some ideas from Phil Hellmuths book