Running good ? Running bad ? What to do ?

[fastplay]

Just passing on some advice Ive had to learn the hard way. Im not a pro or anything so just take my advice for what its worth.

Running good- A common problem people have when there running good is they tend to loosen up there play. After a couple lucky draws it seems alot funner to play more hands,and chase down draws.

Playing .05/.10 NL holdem I noticed my play slipped alot if I got lucky early in a session. I might triple up in the first 20 hands, and start to play way to loose. So I end up leaving the table with $21 instead of $30.

A year later I have learned the importance playing solid poker has in winning consistantly.You need to take full advantage of the times you run good. Dont loosen up and give some of your winnings back.

Running bad- It is very common to play worse when your running bad. It can get very frustrating to go through 100+ hands with all rags. Then that KQ comes,and looks like AA to you. Its not though. You will save alot of money when your running bad if you follow my advice.

Running bad used to be a huge problem for me. I play poker for fun. What fun is it if you fold 40 hands in a row.So I used to tend to loosen up my game. I end up losing a lot more then I had to Playing junk cards, and chasing bad draws.I might lose $20 when I didnt have to lose more then $5

Just keep this in mind when your running good. Take full advantage to make up for the unavoidable cold streaks you will have.

I came to the conclusion that I am going to have good,and bad streaks. A very BIG key to being a winning player is to play solid poker no matter how the cards seem to be falling.

Nowadays when Im running good I keep all my profit,and when Im running bad I lose not much more then my blinds. Overall its been Probably the biggest key to me winning consistantly.

[fastplay]

Just to give you an example of how important it is to play solid poker regardless of the cards you get.

Lets say my average win rate is 20 BBs($2 at $10)/100 hands when the cards are comeing normally.

All sessions are 200 hands.

1st session- 1. I get great cards. I play solid poker, and leave the table up $23 2. I loosen up after i win some, and leave the table up $11.

2nd,3rd,and 4th sessions are just normal I win $4 each time.

5th session- 1.I get rags all night I still play solid poker. I win a couple small pots,lose a few small pots ect.. Im down $3.50 2.I get frustrated, and loosen up. I lose a couple big pots, and dont win much. Im down $18.50.

1. If I consistently played solid poker Im up $31.50 after 5 sessions.
2. I let the cards affect my play Im up $4.50

HUGE differance.

[TheAAce]

great advice, great post! i know exactly what you mean, people tend to give all their chips back after getting stacked up because they feel like they can now afford to play marginal hands, hoping to flop big, and they may hit a few hands, but eventually they will go cold and give all their chips back. When i get stacked up i like to fold a lot. i even throw away ace king, and pocket tens, because if your chipped up, you can afford to sit there and watch everyone else at your table tear each other up.

[FortMyersDrew]

Great post Fastplay. One thing you will notice at cashgames is there will always be that one person that gets up to $20 but then he starts to call,raise, play pretty much everyhand. You will realize he isnt playing solid hes just getting aggresive because hes stacked. This is not something you should do lol. Also when you make $5-10 at one table move to a new table. and start over.