CARDRUNNERS

What's Your Edge

Brian Townsend : Poker Blog

February 08, 2010

Since my last blog entry I have gotten slaughtered. I have lost about 900k in PLO while running 150k under all in EV and getting cooler ed on a few occasions. I am done with playing big for awhile. Its just to frustrating and I am losing to much. Today my play fell apart for the first time during this downswing which made me realize I need to step down. I started off the day running about 200k below allin EV. After being stuck that much I took one beat and slammed a door. I get passionate about poker but I never let it greatly effect my personal life. Luckily no one was around today to feel the brunt of my frustration, so it was only the door which had to deal with it.

I have decided to move down in limits for the rest of the month. I am not going to play above 500/1k limit or 100/200 big bet until the month is over. This is unfortunate as it will effect the possible games I am able to play but hopefully it will help me get through this downswing. I have noticed as this downswing gets worse and worse its starting to effect my life outside of poker which I really hate.

This is my 2nd largest downswing and my largest in terms of time. I don't think I have ever had 2.5 months of this type of brutal losing. I am hopefully dropping down for the rest of the month will help me refocus.

Entry Tags:

Feb 8, 10 06:14:19

That's just sick, no idea to take a hit like that.

GL sir

Disarm

Feb 8, 10 09:34:13

gl Brian I have no doubt you will be back next month.

Taylor

Feb 8, 10 10:06:47

Keep your head up man. No doubt that things will turnaround. Best of luck!

nomo4life

Feb 8, 10 11:28:58

Best wishes your blog posts are always inspiring and I have no doubt you will kill the games very soon. Especially when you're feeling up to it.

SickReadsWPT

Feb 8, 10 11:44:18

Stay strong buddy

ridetime

Feb 8, 10 12:33:15

Bad Karma ...due to lack of integrity...never fails.

rfine48

Feb 8, 10 13:15:50

slamming a door, thats a big deal, keep it up things will change

Playitlikeaset

Feb 8, 10 15:05:28

GL Brian, we all know you're a winner at these games. It's just a matter of time till results come in. If you haven't watched all of Jared Tendler's videos on tilt control(or anything else for that matter) they might be helpful.

Enjoy life.

pjj

Feb 8, 10 17:11:36

Hey Brian,

I lost half my BR over Xmas break (not a scratch on your loss obv.), spent an entire month without finishing a session +EV. I was stressed everytime I sat at the table. I ended up dropping 3 levels for a 2 weeks just to try an regains ome confidence in my game. At first it bored me a little but after I booked a few decent +BI sessions I just started to have a lot of fun.

I'm back playing my regular games again now and playing well but it was nice to play for fun for a few weeks. I think sometime we lose track of why we started playing in the first place and need to get back to that playing for fun to rekindle the love for the game.

To take a positive from a negative situation, when this all passes which I'm sure it will, perhaps you could put together a nice article on how you got past this.

I'm trying to word this correctly so its nots taken badly, but its kind of encouraging for some of us to see that even a super man of the game can lose it occasionally.

Rhys

Celt81

Feb 8, 10 18:00:36

I feel kind of stupid giving advice to Brian Townsend because, what the hell am I gonna say? But, here's my attempt to cheer you up. Below are a few selected posts from early last year:

-I hate poker (The heater is over) January 22, 2009
-poor 50/100 results January 28, 2009
-Bad start... February 08, 2009
-More 100/200 PLO, more frustration... March 06, 2009

And of course:

-A great year January 04, 2010

My point is just that you will do what you have to do to get better and the variance will work itself out like it always does and hopefully a year from now this stretch will just be a little dip in an otherwise great year. Good luck.

ManWithBrisk

Feb 8, 10 18:35:26

nice post

great post man with brisk -- gl

Shrewww

Feb 8, 10 22:29:36

Best way to come out of this down swing is make an "I like to move it, move it" serious for horse/mixed games just saying...

Matt98568

Feb 8, 10 22:29:47

Best way to come out of this down swing is make an "I like to move it, move it" series for horse/mixed games just saying...

Matt98568

Feb 9, 10 00:37:06

I'm with Taylor, you'll be back!! Start working out more or something like that to get more physically fit (if you're not doing so already, that is). MMA training is pretty sweet too... Worked for me. I'm more focused and feel great!! Best of Luck!

vvega11

Feb 9, 10 09:55:12

Not to discourage u from making vids but assuming that a not insignificant amount of your opponents could be watching your vids, could that be somewhat negatively affecting your edge, i.e if they pick up on your sense of reasoning and logic?

Chiptrade

Feb 9, 10 10:08:09

I thought you decided that you liked downswings in your last blog....haha. What a fking joke!

jkipfer

Feb 9, 10 21:00:59

to all those saying he will be back he is the best ect, how lol, time to realise the nose bleeds is a sad state of kids with to much money tossing it around in a sickening degenerate manner as each one wants to prove there the best when infact theres basically no clear edge not to mention there isnt even enough hands played at these stakes world wide in a year to even begin ito see "the long run"

even if townsend is the best (which he isnt) he cud easily keep losing for another 5 years.

this might seem cold hearted but its the only post here offering any geniune help.

get a grip m8 be happy with what youve got and for once in your life live it with some integrity.

arturboruc