Big Losses

I've lost 4BB/100 hands in my almost 3,000 hands this week. It would take several miracles for this not to finish out as my worst week of poker results ever. On Saturday I was actually down $4,000 for the day at one point, but managed to reduce the damage to $2,800.

In the face of gigantic losses, and in spite of nearly continuous cause for frustration, I've generally avoided tilt for the most part, and played reasonably well. Last month's good results buffer me against this week's woes, financially and emotionally. I'm still averaging 3BB/100 at the $15/30 limit. Saying that over and over to myself seems to help when I lose a 5th straight hand where I had to make several judgment calls that didn't work out right. My judgment has been good enough to win most of the time, so I try to learn from the hand but not beat myself up for a play that looks bad in retrospect.

Something I've been able to avoid is the mindset that sounds something like "well I'm down so much already so what's the difference if I lose another few hundred." Instead of wildly risking more to avoid a loss, I remember that even though it feels different, the financial difference between losing $4,000 and $2,800 is exactly the same as the difference between winning $400 and $1,600. The bottom line is all that matters, so I can't fall for an all-or-nothing psychological trap. I've been surprisingly content to just slowly chip away at the deficit, an ability that will no doubt serve me well whenever I have to deal with a big loss.