DEALING WITH BAD RUNS
By CHARLES JAY


You're sitting at the table and it appears everything is against you. You're folding way too many times, any slick "moves" you make seem to get picked up right away by the other players, and you don't find anything you can use in the flop even when you do stay in the hand. Kings over jacks? You get beat by three aces. Nothing works. Everyone else looks like they're getting lucky, and you're starting to develop a bit of a complex about the dealer. You just can't seem to figure out why the screwing you like he is. 

So why are you losing?

I would doubt it's because of a bad dealer.

More likely it's....

1) Bad cards
2) Bad luck, or
3) Bad decisions

Some players want to discount #3. That's because their ego won't allow it to be a possibility. It's a barrier that must be overcome.

One thing that is surely not helpful is to blame other players or the dealer for your misfortune at the table, or to claim other players were just lucky. First of all, you're not going to get better that way, because you'll never be in a position to get down to the root of your problem. You won't go to work to correct your mistakes. And in both the short and long runs, you'll never help yourself psychologically either.

Yes - ego can get the best of you during a session, especially if you figure sooner or later you HAVE to win, as long as you're able to throw enough money at the situation. 

But chasing your lost money can be fatal if you're frustrated or in an otherwise negative psychological state. This might develop as a result of a "bad beat" or some kind of misjudgment you may have made during the game. You need to develop the willpower to walk away from the table. Everyone who's ever played poker, blackjack, slots, craps or roulette knows this is much easier said than done, but the fact of the matter is, it HAS to be done. Clear your head. Go get a sandwich. Don't get together immediately with other players who may have suffered a bad beat. That might make you feel even worse. And don't get together with players who are overly gleeful about their good fortune at the table. That winds up making you feel even worse as well. 

You may want to look at this like a football team has to. They suffer a tough loss on Sunday, then they essentially get back to work after a Tuesday off and have to formulate a game plan for the following weekend. There is no usefulness in sulking over a defeat, because the lack of focus will run the team over like a freight train. 

When you have a bad hand or a bad session, you've got to shake it off and get ready for the next go-around.

When you get back to the table, keep in mind that a session where you quit winners, no matter how small the win might be - may go a long way toward re-establishing a positive psychological state of mind. To use another sports analogy, look at it like a baseball player who is in a prolonged slump, and may bunt for a base hit just to "get one on the board." The way he may look at it, a hit is a hit. 

He's right.

So how can you accomplish this? Well, you may want to tighten up a bit in terms of your play. Don't play with bad cards, or get coerced into a pot when your hand is weak. Trying to bluff with a bad hand can be crushing when it doesn't work. But be aggressive when you feel you have a percentage edge. The challenge, of course, is doing all this without telegraphing your play.

That's why poker's such a tough game.

So get tough - mentally speaking, that is.








Copyright 2006 Total Action Inc.