[SteveL91]

[ QUOTE ]

Just play winning poker and you will win in the long run.

Cheers,

deacsoft

[/ QUOTE ]

This is, I think, the simplest statement in this entire thread... and for a new player, the hardest to define. That's what I struggle with when I'm in a downswing. Mentally, I know they'll happen. I also know that no matter how pissed off I get after suffering suckout after suckout, I'll be fine within minutes.

There are, however, a few reasons I (and maybe most other new players, but I'll only speak for myself) get so discombobulated by downswings:

1) There doesn't seem to be any logic behind it. It doesn't matter if we expect them. It's hard to wrap my head around the fact that I can be hitting one minute, and literally within minutes, not hit a thing. The hardest part about poker to master for me will be the dynamics between skill (the long term) and luck (the short term).

2) I'm still learning. I have no idea if I'm a winning player. I don't know if I'm wasting my time. I don't care how many hands I've played and I don't care what my winrate says. It doesn't mean anything to me without the confidence that I'm learning and getting better, and I still don't know for sure how much of my ineptitude is masked by a good run of cards.

3) The most obvious one: I just hate to lose. Obviously I don't expect to win every pot. My background is trading the markets, so I'm fine being wrong; it's when it reaches the point where it feels like I can't do anything right that I start to get irritated. I don't necessarily tilt; my decision making isn't impacted, but I get too upset over a stupid game and that, to me, is weakness.

I've gone through downswings and come out of them. I'm currently going through one and I know this too shall pass. But, knowing it doesn't necessarily make it easier to deal with without the knowledge that it is just varience, and not necessarily my play. Once I reach the point of believing I'm a winning player, I'd like to think I won't bat an eye when I hit a downswing. I guess we'll see.

Thanks for starting this thread. It's given me a few things to think about.