Ok, as promised here’s my assessment of how I turned around my losing run.

All poker players go though periods where they lose more than they win. Myself included. My longest losing run previously was around 5 weeks. On this occasion it lasted around 15 weeks. As I’m sure you can imagine, this gave me great cause for concern.

At first, you adjust accordingly. You tighten up and wait for the better hands. But I think this is where my problems started.

For those of you who don’t understand this concept, I’ll try and explain. Over my poker career, I will be dealt the same amount of good hands as bad. Likewise, so is every other player. A poker player then makes a decision on which hands to play. Some like to play loose and therefore play most hands, others play really tight and wait for the premium hands. Working on the law of averages, if you only play the premium hands, you’ll going to have an edge over the guys who play a large majority of their hands. This of course doesn’t guarantee success, but over time, it will give you an edge.

So that’s what I did. I tightened up my game. However, players who already know my game will already be saying “Hey, you already play a tight game.” They are indeed correct. So I’m already in a predicament. I’m someone who plays a tight game and have now decided to play even fewer hands in the hope they produce better results. That in turn has it’s own problems. Because I play fewer hands than the opposition, it means I needed to play those hands more aggressively. This is because I need to earn more money-per-hand. Previously, some hands I would call, others I would raise. Now, it was just raise, raise, raise. Sometimes it paid off, but on the whole, it didn’t. I became predictable and one dimensional.

So you’re now thinking, “Why don’t you just play more hands?”. Yes and no. I could simply loosen up my game and play more hands, but that also means I need to increase my outlay for no guaranteed return. Yes, poker involves and element of risk, but I’m not in the habit of taking risks. The risk takers are the loose players. They give themselves more chance of winning by playing more hands. It also means they risk more money.

I therefore had to consider playing a style I’m was not entirely happy with. So how did I go about it?

First of all, I had to play more hands, but only in the correct positions. I plan to talk in more depth about this subject at a later date, but to sum up, if you are sat on the “dealer button”, you will always be last to act. This is a big advantage as you will always be able to see what the other players do first. I decided to play non-premium hands on the dealer button or to the left of the dealer. Because I was always last to react, I could also loosen my starting requirements. I.e. the hands I decide to play can be weaker, as I get to see how the betting develops before I make a decision.

The third thing I had to consider was my table image. As already discussed, I’m a tight player, who plays very few hands. Therefore, through the process of elimination, when I decide to bet, I usually have a hand. Basically, unless the other players hands are fantastic, the observant players will automatically fold whenever I play. Therefore I decided I could mix up my game more. From time to time, I would play hands out of position, just to keep the other guys thinking.

So that’s what I did. I played good, solid poker with the occasional uncharacteristic play. In fact, it was an “uncharacteristic play” that got me my lucky break.

I’d been sat at a 10 seater $0.10-$0.20, no limit Hold’em table for about two hours. I started with $20 and was down to about $18.40. The table had been pretty loose, but all of a sudden it became really tight. So tight in fact, I decided to raise 8 hands in 10. Sure enough, over the following 30 minutes, I increased my stack to around $27.


The table then became fairly loose and around 4 players usually limped in to see the flop. I then decided to tighten up again.

It was then, that things got interesting. I’d been dealt pocket queens (a pair of queens). I raised $0.60 and got one caller. The flop came AKK, the other guy checks, I bet $2 (as I‘m in position) , the other guy raises $8, I fold. On the following hand I was dealt AK off suit. Once again, I raised $0.60. I also got one caller. The flop comes Q74. The other guy bets $0.20, I raised $1.40, they fold.

(Keep with me, this is where the fun starts)

My table image is now very loose. I have now played 95% of all my hands within the last 45 minutes. Combined with the two hands I’d just played, the players must of thought I was a really manic.

The next hand, I get dealt pocket 8’s. I decide to limp in. (only call the blind bets, instead of raising). There are three other limpers who see the flop. The flop arrives AK8. This is a perfect flop for me as the chances are one of the other players has an Ace or King. Therefore I was likely to get some action.. Player 1 bets $1, player two raised to $3, I call, player four folds. Player 1 then calls the raise. The turn is a 6. Player 1 bets $4 and player 2 raises to $8. My table image is now really loose and I therefore decide to raise (as the other players will think I’m trying to steel the pot with my aggressive, loose play. I re-raise all-in. Players 1 and 2 both call. I end up winning $52.

Player 1 then wrote; “S**t, I thought you were bluffing”. Another player not involved in the hand then wrote “Yeah, so did I, he has been raising all night”.

I hang around for another few hands, then leave the table. My only regret is I didn’t hang around longer, as I’m guessing my win would of made the other players weary of me. I could of therefore continued to be aggressive.

So what have I learnt? That’s simple; Table image. I was always aware of the other players table image, but for some reason never considered how I was portrayed to the others. I will now play slightly looser, which will hopefully disguise my hands more.

I always try to assess the way I play, but only hand-by-hand. Therefore I now also plan to evaluate not only hands, bit also sessions.

I’m not out the woods yet, but hopefully I’m now facing in the right direction.