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Boubben's picture
How well do you handle the swings?

Hi,Im pretty new to husng format and to husng.com. I really like the site, and I have learned a ton over the last couple of weeks!I have a decent amount of poker experience, but I only used to play hu sngs when I was bored or tilted, but I recently decided to give this format a real shot. So I played about 600 reg speed and turbo games on stars (stakes $7, $15) and had very good results, with a winrate of 60%. After that, I decided that it might be better for me to play on ipoker, because of tax-issues. Se I began to play the $21 games, and felt that the edge I had over these players probably was even bigger than what I had over the players on the $15 games on stars. It all went well the first 200 games. But the last session I had was just mindblowing. I lost just about every all in. Nothing held up. I have lost 13 of the last 15 games I have played. I have experienced downswings before, but none this sudden.I realize now that this was bound to happen sooner or later, and that it's a part of the game. I also feel that I might have been running a bit better than expected in the beginning of my "husng-career". I very rarely tilt, but I just couldnt help myself after this last session. Not that I tilted away my money, but I felt like screaming and throwing my computer through the window. I felt like a 4 year old basically. I don't want that to happen again. So I have now ordered Jared Tendler's Mental game of poker, and I really hope this book will help me turn things around.So I gess my question to you more experienced husng-players is: How do you deal with swings like this?

RyPac13's picture
Really broad question here.

Really broad question here. Use the search function for a full list of recommendations, but taking breaks of varying length, identifying what causes you to tilt, better understanding how variance works and recognizing some fallacies and emotional issues is a good list of the best advice I usually see on this topic.Let us know how you liked Tendler's book and ask any follow up questions that you have about dealing with downswings.

Webmaster222's picture
Hi Boubben, The following

Hi Boubben,The following quote helps me a lot when i am downswinging /tilting. This guy is a solid winner at 6max midstakes but it doesn't take too much imagination to apply what he is saying to husng's. 

Most of you guys have no basic technical problems when it comes to this game. You understand pot control, way ahead / way behind, position, equity, pot odds, 3-bet equity, etc. The reason you struggle with the more subtle technical aspects is that they usually require a good and clean state of mind whilst playing and analyzing. If you are on constant subtle tilt you will never understand your own image, your opponents projected image vs the way they actually play, what your history with a specific opponent really means and CORRECT adjustments (as opposed to a couple of 3 bets and now you´re waiting to shove any 2), and what all this basically boils down to; hand reading and putting your opponent on accurate ranges, and knowing what to do with those ranges. These qualities will separate a 2 ptbb winner, from a 5 ptbb winner. I believe that although I display a 4,7 ptbb winrate, I could have easily avoided many situations where I KNEW I was making the wrong play and made it anyway, and could easily have had a 5,5 – 6 ptbb winrate. I take responsibility for these results. Boywonder