Downswing

Hasn’t been goin’ so well at the fookin’ tarbles (as Amatay would say). I haven’t gone back to check, but the last week might have been my worst for the year.

Most of the unpleasantness is happening at the 1/2 limit tables. Some is certainly due to poor cards and/or unlucky, hard-to-avoid scenarios with folks repeatedly drawing out them 3- and 5-outers on me. (Cooonts!) In my last 400 hands, I’ve been dealt exactly one pair higher than fives -- KK (and I lost that hand to J9-off). But truth be told, I’ve been making some sketchy decisions here and there, too, no doubt induced by frustration at having to wait for cards. (Have also been playing some PLO and even some PLO8, where things are going somewhat better, though not enough to counteract the LHE losses.)

I’d be tempted to say I’m suffering from that syndrome favored by the tin foil hat wearers and/or the karmically-inclined, namely, that familiar phenomenon of instantly sliding into a downswing the moment you cash some of yr cabbage. As I wrote about a few posts back, I cashed out a decent chunk of my bankroll when I cleaned out my Absolute and Ultimate Bet accounts the middle of last week. Just about the time the losing began.

For the conspiracy-minded, the connection is treated not as coincidence, but deliberate “punishment” by this or that online site for having taken funds out of play, as though making a withdrawal causes the site automatically to set yr “doom switch” to the “on” position. (Of course, I’m not playing on either Absolute or UB -- my losing is happening elsewhere.)

For the karma crowd, going on a losing streak represents a direct consequence to the act of realizing a profit (i.e., that money I’ve cashed out ain’t never going back into the roll, so I’ve permanently added to my overall poker earnings here). There actually could be something to this one. In some instances, anyway. Cashing out -- and thus reducing one’s bankroll -- can possibly affect how one is approaching the game, especially if the cash-out leaves one’s roll in a danger zone as far as the limits at which one wishes to play.

Can’t really admit that’s an issue here, as I still have quite enough at all my remaining sites to play comfortably at the 1/2 LHE tables and the $25 max. buy-in PLO and PLO8 games. A far cry from Amatay’s level, but I ain’t got his roll. Or nads. So it’s all good. As long as I stop playin’ pokay like a fookin’ tard, that is hahahahahaha.

I’m going to bed. Laters, fish.