12.07.09
Dealing with a Bad Run
You’ll go through it just like everyone else. You are not that unique and special snowflake at the poker table your parents told you that you were when you were little. And inevitably you’ll get dealt a long stretch of bad cards that are just unplayable.
So this little ditty will tell you how to deal with that, both strategically ad emotionally.
First, let’s talk emotionally. Don’t let it get to you. The poker gods don’t hate you, and you didn’t do something wrong in a past life to get this bad run. It’s just something that happens when you’re dealing with random shuffles. So don’t fret about it. Learn to not care, and while you’re at it, learn to love to fold.
Now, let’s talk strategy. A bad run of cards can ruin the strategy of even the most seasoned player. They start to get impatient and start wanting to jump into pots and play. After all that’s why you’re there, right? To play poker online? Well, yes and no. You are there to play, but you’re there to play solid online poker.
Sure you may be able to mix up your game and after folding for three orbits straight pull a 3bet bluff with a marginal hand on the cut off, but don’t start trying to chase and play like a fish. It’s just not profitable.
I actually saw a man the other day that was the perfect example of playing with a bad run of cards. He played about 8 orbits losing of his stack folding. Finally he wakes up with a pair of deuces that end up tripping on the flop. He shoves all in, calls his round, quadruples up, and leaves.
I tell that story to remind you that there’s always the option of leaving if you’re totally on a bad run. So just remember, no one hates you, it’s just another facet of the game.
