Downswings
Downswings will happen even to those who play "perfectly". If you want to see what serious downswings look like, without the "other player" causing it, go to a blackjack website and search for horror stories.
You will see there a ton of sad tales where the dealer shows a 5 or a 6, at a huge plus count, and with all guns firing (max bets) the player watches in horror as the dealer proceeds to turn his stiff into a 21. No river rats, no suck outs here; because the dealer does not "play", he is simply following the house rules, which force him to hit all stiff hands. And that's the picture of bad luck, for ya, stripped of "opponents' stupidity".
There are literally hundreds of stories of serious BJ APs (and BJ teams, with combined BRs!) who have gone bust because of capricious luck.
But a point about bad beats and downswings, in poker or Blackjack : More times than we realize, the downswing is not due to bad luck but to bad play. There may be serious leaks in a player's game which he cannot see, and which cause his BR to dwindle, or even collapse, before he wakes up to them. I've seen this happen in Blackjack and I know it is an issue in poker as well.
So that downswing might not be running bad, but me being a donor.
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