How to recover from big losses and stop chasing

Question

I was on a pretty big heater (+373, +3781, +852) and this was recently followed by some big losses (-760, -1840). I'm particularly concerned because of how hard I chased in the two losses. I went beyond my max loss in the first one (-760) because I brought some extra cash for a friend and he wound up not needing it. I got knocked out of a tournament any played 1/2 afterwards and lost the extra $500 I brought. The -1840 was a home game we have a "line of credit" so to speak. During the heater my frame of mind was in a good place. The -760 was kind of an abberation, or so I told myself. But in the home game I went off the rails and bought in for way more than I had planned. I got it in good a few times and the cards didn't work out. But other times I was definitely playing to get it back. Worst of all, I knew I was not in a good place mentally going into the home game. I wasn't even planning on playing and was planning on taking a break from poker to regroup from the -760. Now I'm questioning everything I thought I knew about myself at the poker table.

My question is: How do I recover from this? How do I regroup now? I know this is a subjective question but I'm hoping to get some advice on how to prevent this from happening again. I plan to sit out for a while and do my best to learn from this.

Answer 1

Some of the things you say in your question say a lot about how you view your situation:

I'm particularly concerned because of how hard I chased in the two losses.

I went off the rails and bought in for way more than I had planned.

I knew I was not in a good place mentally going into the home game.

The first step to managing your bankroll correctly during these losing sessions is to recognize when you are mismanaging your bankroll and buying in for more than you know you should.

It should go without saying that you should have a plan when you go to play, be aware of your bankroll and what stakes you should be playing. Set a stop-loss point where you will stop playing and end the session if you exceed that amount.

I would suggest that you take a step back during your time off and ask yourself why you are playing with more than you were initially comfortable with. Was it because of tilt? was the table really good and you just wanted to keep playing? Is it because you like the gamble? Are you dealing with problems outside of poker that might make your mental state unfit for poker?

Without any knowledge of your play or stakes, also understand that losing sessions are a part of poker. It is more important to focus on the decisions you made during your session rather than the result, including bankroll related decisions.

Jonast92 has a good suggestion to read books about the mental side of things. I am reading one now called "The mental game of poker" by Jared Tendler and I am getting a lot out of it. It discusses all mental aspects of the game including bankroll management and decision making.

I hope you have a productive break and find success at the tables when you are ready :)

Answer 2

You recover by thinking of your next session as position zero, square one.

Heaters and downswings are irrelevant of your future sessions so don't think about them. Don't change your strategy based on a small sample size of winning or losing sessions.

You mention about 5 sessions. That's absolutely nothing. Sure you need to look into your overall graph to determine if you're a winner or a loser to determine where your game needs fixing but that requires a huge sample size. At least 100 live sessions and ideally at least 100k hands if online.

Continually study. You're going to renovate your game over and over again in small increments. Making drastic changes is not very smart.

You should look into mental game books on poker and improve your game. With improved mental game and improved game you'll play better and understand where you should be putting your efforts and worries.

Finally: don't play outside of your bankroll... It's usually the number one reason people feel bad about downswings.