Professionals: Landon Tice, Shannon Shorr, and Niall Farrell

Craig Tapscott: Variance and downswings will hit every poker player at one time or another. Can you share some incidents where you crashed and burned and how you recovered to become a better player?

Landon Tice: I had a significant downswing for the first time after about three months playing $1-$2 online. I even broke in dollars, but about 30 buy-in in EV (expected value). It was quite a brutal experience when I didn't necessarily have anything to show for my work other than the yellow EV line that kept growing while my scores stayed the same.

I'm pretty close with [poker vlogger] Joey Ingram. I called him to talk about it, just because it was such a new feeling. I realized that someone can actually make decent money playing these stakes. He just told me not to worry too much about it and just rummage through it and everything will fall into place. I completely trusted his advice and just played and learned. That was about 18 months ago, but I still remember the feeling of despair like it was yesterday. Of course, dips still happen, but the dollar amount is vastly different from what it was back then. Poker just does this to you as you move up in stakes where the stake below just becomes numb and the stake above becomes the new normal.

I first went through an almost six-figure downswing when I started playing higher stakes live and online. I played $ 20 - $ 40 at the Bellagio in Las Vegas and $ 25 - $ 50 and $ 50 - $ 100 online. That was the first time I experienced a significant drop in terms of money. I felt like I was playing better than ever at the time due to a lot of study and work on my game. But sometimes the deck has other ideas and I just couldn't get all-in at those stakes to save my life for about a month in a row. It was definitely frustrating.

I just grinded a few MTTs and studied each day to give myself the best chance of recovering, and ended up winning a lot of online multi-table tournaments and getting those dollars back quickly. I remember thinking it would take me a year to get out of the hole I was in. But I kept putting one foot in front of the other and kept learning and improving and I got out of there in 45 days. Shortly after getting out of this hole I won 1 $, 100 buy-in MSPT main event in Venetian for $ 201,000.

Shannon Shorr: There have been many periods in my tournament playing career where I felt like I couldn't sustain myself and watched in a state of panic as my net worth dropped. The huge key is making sure someone is playing within their bankroll and accepting the reality of how much variance comes with playing MTTs.

I found that during these downswings in the past, I found it difficult to separate my identity as a person from my poker performance, and I often found myself beating up a lot. Sometimes I had tunnel visions and thinking I had to "get out" of the swing. For some time I have practiced meditation, regular fitness training and a healthy diet. All of this has proven to be very helpful for long-term sustainability in this challenging industry.

Niall Farrell: When I do a downswing, I like to take a step back and get some eyes on my game. I want to make sure that negative variance doesn't affect how I play. It's very easy and very human if you're unlucky enough to start changing your game for the worse. For example, you don't pull the trigger on a good bluff because you've been falling for it for weeks, you fail to catch a good bluff because everyone always has one, etc. Pokerstars Spring Championship of Online Poker ( SCOOP ) events are a good example of this. I lost during SCOOP for the first five years, but being calm and reasonable with myself, I can go back and say, “These are very valuable tournaments. I'm a good player and I just need to control what I can control." And now I have two SCOOP high titles and much higher profits from SCOOP generally.

The World Series of Poker is also a great example of this. I lost the first few years, which is easy to do in big tournaments. Then I had a purple patch in 2013 - 2018 where I made three final tables including $ 111, 111 High Roller for one drop. I only played because I was doing well this summer. In 2017 in Europe, I won a bracelet in $ 25,000 and then made it to the main event final table where I fell kings to aces to take a chip lead with five or six left, completing a decent shot at a hilariously improbable Greg Merson win. For the last few years, I've been on the other side of the variance on WSOP but when you look back on my hot run in those years, it's fair enough for me to maybe retroactively pay some of the premiums.

Craig Tapscott: Going on tilt and letting a bad beat or bad decision affect you negatively at the table can ruin your chances of getting in and even cashing in. What are some ways to deal with the emotional swings of poker?

Landon Tice: To begin with, I have to admit that I am definitely an extremely emotional person when it comes to poker. I care a lot about the game. This is why I left college and other conventional pursuits. I really understand the attachment and pain when the results don't go my way and I still do.

I think at the beginning of my poker career (which now includes ), I still have the same, if not more, desire to achieve myself. I still love to measure the hours, go through the ups and downs that poker has to offer, and make the most of each day. I have many successful friends that have been around for decades. They keep telling me that as I get older, my relationship with poker will change somewhat. The need to stay in the game longer and go through many days in the game for extended periods of time. While I think there are benefits to having an emotionless approach to the game and seeing poker as a hand to hand game, there is also a personal pleasure I get from experiencing a game that goes on from moment to moment.

I think it helped me a lot to be able to forgive myself for the mistakes I make and to realize that poker is a long game and I will never be able to play perfectly in every situation possible. The best I can do for myself is to accept the consequences of my actions, good or bad, and move on.

I remember running pretty deep in the $1, 600 Venice Tournament right after my big win where I had a stack of bubble bubble chips and after facing a bet I decided to go for an extremely aggressive bluff all-in. I ended up getting called by the tank and losing a few chips. Instead of feeling sad and upset about losing the pot, I was content to trust myself and take what I thought was winning a lot of EV. Sometimes you don't get the result you want, but the real pain is that you don't take risks if you think something will result in a positive outcome.

The way I deal with difficult issues after the fact is just hanging out with friends, talking about later hands, and trying to learn as much as I can. Then I focus on the next opportunity I need to improve on, be it multi-table tournaments or cash games. Spending time away from the computer is something I do now more after hard days, and having a community that truly supports me is incredibly amazing. I am very grateful for that.

Shannon Shorr: Being tough is everything when it comes to concentration in a game where you are constantly experiencing disappointment or testing yourself. I've found that taking a deep breath from time to time at the table is great to bring back to this moment. It is very important not to get caught up in previous hands as mistakes can be very costly, especially when playing no-l
imitation hold'em.

I think trying to take care of yourself in your personal life can help you deal with your emotional control issues, which will be costly in poker. Something I can't recommend more highly is that poker players should force themselves to sit with their emotions. Sometimes after poker sessions, instead of trying to always escape them with alcohol, sex, weed, etc. thoughts. Such a wide range of emotions will be experienced by the individual every day. It's nice to know where you are with things and what you can do differently to improve your game.

Niall Farrell: It's very important to me that you feel comfortable at the stakes you play. If everything is cool with your bankroll, then running a little bad is not the end of the world. I think it mostly has to do with the experience of getting out of the other end of Downswings a few times. Mainly because you become a little more laid back knowing you've done it before and will do it again. I can take some time off and go out with friends and stuff and come back hungry and ready to go. . Sure, I'll have a 15-minute tantrum if I get two outs too much capital, but after a little party of self-pity (and a few beers), I'm feeling good again. You can only control what you can control, so it's pretty pointless to lean over things like that. If I thwart a big tournament by mistake, I usually go straight to the pub and don't think about it for a while. The next day I will analyze this hand and hope to become a better player for it. Nothing trains the mind better than working in a lab with a hangover. ♠

Landon Tice started playing pro early in 2019, jumping from micro-stakes to cash games and mid to high stakes tournaments. In November 2020, a resident of Florida won MSPT Main Event at Venetian for $ 201, 529. He is also a trainer for Matt Berkey's Solve For Why.

Shannon Shorr featured in the tournament in 2006, final tabled the Aussie Millions main event and won the Bellagio Cup main event for another $ 960,690. The University of Alabama graduate has many other final tables including a 2019 runner-up WPT Garden Poker Championship. He now has over $8.2 million in career earnings.

Niall Farrell was the eighth person to win the triple crown of poker by scoring WSOP bracelet, WPT title i EPT main tournament championship. Scottish poker pro beat 2015 EPT Malta main tournament, 2016 WPT Caribbean Poker Party and €25,000 high-stakes 2017 buy-in WSOP Europe. He has just over $6 million in career earnings.