Prepare for the millionth thread complaining about a bad streak
When I look normally at the way I think about losing, I like to think its the appropriate way of doing it. I put the loss behind me, don't let it affect me, and move on to the next hand. Its impossible to win all the time, and unrealistic to expect anything like winning even half of the time. Today I looked over my PokerTracker stats (not the session review - but all my previous numbers), and we hit with a wall of depression so bad I immediately quit the table I was on should I induce a tilt.
I started taking poker more seriously about three days ago - my account on PokerStrategy is over a year old, but I just registered and never even claimed bonus cash until the other day when I decided to learn for real. Jesus, this thread already feels like a tilt-whine.
I've read most the basic and bronze articles on Poker Basics and NL BSS, and I'd like to have thought it'd sunk in. My equity estimations on Equilab are improving by the day (30 mins practice daily) and my aptitude at working out odds and outs is improving also. I realise that it'd be completely wrong to assume I 'deserve' victory after this - the practice just makes it a little easier to obtain.
Tonight was my first really annoying night. I'm still on NL2 microstakes so it really isn't a major issue if a few quid disappears in the name of learning. My real concern lies with the whole two-hour session for this evening and the way its panned out.
I stick to the starting hands chart fairly rigidly - there are one or two starter hands outside of that that I'll give a chance to, but the rest of the time, I'm following it. I also realise that there's grey area on the chart - KQo is stronger than JTo and can be played stronger, and I take this into consideration.
The people I played with tonight must have thought I was the tighest rock on the block. Over the course of 180 hands, I have a VPIP of 4%. It seems like Poker770 wants me to have ALL of the salad - clicking 'Fold' is a simple reflex now - and its no exaggeration. Scrolling through my hands on PT, the strongest hand I was dealt all evening was QQ - undoubtedly something that can do some damage - and on that occasion I raised preflop and successfully bought the blinds. Go me. Over the course of the 180 hands I saw 4 aces, the highest hand of which was A6o, which I was forced out of fairly quickly by a LAG preflop.
I know its extremely unfair to complain about playing badly over the first couple of evenings of one's career and losing a few quid when there are people out there losing hundreds of dollars. My BB/100 for my lifetime 1423 hands on NL2 is -52.62. I really don't think that's good, even for a beginner. At this point, I don't know if its bad luck or bad play. I'm comfortable thinking its a mix of the two - I'm far off bankrupt, but it still feels pretty bad. I'm not used to failing like this. My two biggest losses are bleeding blinds while I fold infinity rounds of salad, and beating someone up only to be annihilated by a 40:1 draw on the river and going bust. Anyone have any immediate advice beyond train, train and train some more?
Got that out of my system. Needed a serious rant.
tl;dr: BB/100 is -52.62, across 1423 hands on NL2, not sure if bad luck or just bad player.
Edit: 1423 hands includes a foray into 6-max.
