I started out downswinging from the month previous, continued that trend and turned it around. Then I hit a massive downswing over two days where I lost a lot. (In dollar terms, it's more than I'm comfortable losing. I'll just say while it isn't 5-6+ figures like the higher stakes players, dropping 3 figures at low stakes is rough.) 26 buy-ins in two days is really horrible. Then I started slowly started turning things around, winning my losses back. BOOM! Typical of my month, my last session of the month was a big loser. Here's one of the average hands for the session: I get AA, make a standard raise and the player after me shoves all in. I call, he has AK and flops the straight. Literally, no matter what I had, I COULD NOT WIN. It's beyond frustrating. 7 buy-ins (some after midnight, so they start September on a down) up in smoke.
(Since I played two different limits, the amount of big blinds doesn't add up to the buy-ins lost.)
Up until now I haven't been using any sort of stop loss. I'd just play win or lose until I didn't feel like it anymore. I'd lose 4-6 buy-ins and a lot of times I'd make most of it back, or even turn it around until I was even or lots of times made a profit. It's a commonly known fact that in poker that the more hands you play, the more the luck factor dissipates.
A combination of things led to the big downswing:
1) Running bad and variance. Multiple times getting KK and running into AA that shoved over me pre and calling. Also a few times of the opposite where I'd have AA the other guy would shove with KK and hit a third K, or they'd shove with AK vs my AA and hit a straight or a flush. AK vs AK? The other guy would get a flush. Those were some of my biggest loses. There were also multiple set over sets, people getting a better full house. Every cooler situtation you could imagine and it all hit on the same day.
2) Getting tilted and just playing way way way too loose and aggressive, going too far with marginal hands. Trying to regain ground, instead of just stopping for the day. The biggest losses were mostly the first category though.
So for the time being, until I'm out of the downswing, I'm implementing some ridiculously nitty stop loss rules: If I lose 2 buy-ins (or just over) during a session, I'm done for a few hours. If I go back later and lose 1.5 more, I'm done for the day. I can't imagine playing like that all the time, like I said, some of my most profitable sessions started out as losing and then turning it around. For now though, until I'm in a more comfortable spot with my bankroll, I think this sort of thing is okay.
I also started playing the shallow (50bb) tables in the next level in stakes up from my current level. When Stars introduced the 20-50bb tables, the fish all migrated there. Right now, I'm actually more profitable at the shallow tables. It's kind of weird that the next level up, which should be harder, is easier than my current level.
Like most full-stackers, I was strongly opposed to the shallow tables. "It's not real poker." I also know that playing the shallow tables won't help my growth as a player at all. That having been said, it's a fairly low variance way to recover from my big downswing and I imagine that afterwards it'll be a way to pad out my bankroll a bit.
When I mentioned to somebody that I was losing at my current level but winning at the next, I was asked why I don't just move up to the next level? I guess I'm just stubborn. I'm determined to "beat" each level properly before moving up to the next one as my "regular" level. To my thinking if I can't beat the players at level A, how am I going to be able to beat the ones at level B? (Even if I am beating the players at B already.) Once I move up to a level, I want to avoid having to move back down. That having been said, I may just try the standard tables at the next level and see if they're as easy as the shallow tables. I hear they're nit reg infested.
Trying to look on the bright side of things, even though I had a losing month, I still achieved some of my goals.
I finally played enough to clear more than 15k hands.
I cleared multiple bonuses, just by getting in so much volume.
I did a lot of studying, pretty much reading and watching videos every day. I might've missed a day or two, but I really put the effort in on the study materials this month. I tend to get a little lazy about that since a lot of times I'd rather be playing than reading about playing.
I also got a little better at certain aspects of my game like hand reading, etc. Things that I'll always be working on.
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