Poker - Running Bad…

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James McManus reminds that everyone runs bad at poker from time to time.

One version of running bad combines good cards, strong play and hideous timing. Opponents draw to long shots and hit them consistently; meanwhile, you’re making tough but intelligent laydowns just before your miracle card hits the board. And you’re managing to lose 90 percent of the races: A-K versus Q-Q, J-10 versus 5-5, A-7 versus Q-J. Whichever way you want the coin to land in these 11-10 propositions, it lands the other way.

When you do hit a hand, you don’t get paid off. You get dealt pocket kings in the big blind and watch everyone fold. Or you make a hefty raise with the kings, somebody calls you with 9’s, and a 9 flops. (When you’re running good, a 9 also flops, but so does a handsome red cowboy.) Or you turn a set of kings in a four-way pot, make a small bet - fold, fold, fold.
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How long can this go on? Weeks and months. Some folks believe that bad luck (usually their own) can last for a couple of years - how else did they get broke all those times? Pokeraticians assure us that the luck of the shuffle evens out in the long run. The question is, how long? A lifetime?

Like bank interest, running bad compounds itself by making it harder to play your A game. In your mounting frustration, you fail to take into account that you’re in a pot against a very large or a very small stack, the owners of which are less bluffable than the owners of average stacks. You call raises by solid players in early position with hands like 8-8 or A-Q, or call a hefty reraise with a suited A-K; having made these loose calls, you don’t get bailed out by the flop. You start drawing to long shots yourself, trying desperately to get even. Source

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