How do you guys get through the "down swings"

[ICMoney]

I dropped a few buy-ins today and took a break.

Came back, dropped a few more.

I tell myself that it's good when someone sucks out on me, because I got my money in with the best of it.

If I knew his cards, I would make the same play again.

The luck will even out in the long run.

[Tking4unc]

Wanted to say thanks for the advice boys, I dropped back down to $10 NL where Im about 40-45 buy ins as opposed to around 20 ish at $25 NL, I was up $25 despite still running cold as a cucumber, the Aces hand I think I played to perfection and he spiked a 2 outer on me after the money got in, the KK hand I played super fast pre flop bc I want to get an AK or 2 Queens hand in there pre flop, AJ suited called 2 all ins and hit runner runner flush on me, I guess I shoulda probably just made a normal reraise? I bet I get 2 pushes behind me regardless:

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Tking4unc [Ac Ad]
Tking4unc: calls $0.10
Nacho667: folds
tyt08: raises $0.25 to $0.35
sul the bull: folds
bankerupted: folds
wei7751: calls $0.35
DaNatural22: folds
devon06atX: folds
Tking4unc: raises $1.65 to $2
tyt08: calls $1.65
wei7751: calls $1.65
*** FLOP *** [9s 3d 8d]
Tking4unc: bets $5
tyt08: calls $4.65 and is all-in
wei7751: calls $0.85 and is all-in
*** TURN *** [9s 3d 8d] [Jd]
*** RIVER *** [9s 3d 8d Jd] [Qh]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Tking4unc: shows [Ac Ad] (a pair of Aces)
tyt08: shows [Js Jc] (three of a kind, Jacks)
tyt08 collected $7.20 from side pot
wei7751: mucks hand
tyt08 collected $8.30 from main pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $16.30 Main pot $8.30. Side pot $7.20. | Rake $0.80
Board [9s 3d 8d Jd Qh]
Seat 1: Tking4unc showed [Ac Ad] and lost with a pair of Aces

Dealt to Tking4unc [Kh Kd]
Sevenoutt: calls $0.10
Kuhlke007: calls $0.10
LOLBillFrist: raises $0.80 to $0.90
Jiggy Moe: folds
boutitson: calls $0.90
Tking4unc: raises $13.25 to $14.15 and is all-in
McCount: folds
DaVols2K7: folds
Sevenoutt: folds
Kuhlke007: folds
LOLBillFrist: calls $8.35 and is all-in
boutitson: calls $3.95 and is all-in
*** FLOP *** [3c Qh 8d]
*** TURN *** [3c Qh 8d] [5c]
*** RIVER *** [3c Qh 8d 5c] [4c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
LOLBillFrist: shows [Ks Ad] (high card Ace)
Tking4unc: shows [Kh Kd] (a pair of Kings)
Tking4unc collected $8.35 from side pot
boutitson: shows [Ac Jc] (a flush, Ace high)
boutitson collected $14.20 from main pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $23.70 Main pot $14.20. Side pot $8.35. | Rake $1.15
Board [3c Qh 8d 5c 4c]

[wallenborn]

You played both hands fine. If your downswings consists of bad beats like this, you should be happy.

In my experience the worst thing you could do now is let these beats affect your game. I had a nasty downswing in January that started with a series of bad beats just like yours. They cost me a few buy-ins. Then i began to doubt my game, started to make random adjustments, and ended up with a terrible month. The bulk of the losses came after the streak of bad luck had ended.

If these beats bother you, move down. Play ABC poker. Don't try to force things just because you feel you have to "do something". Then, when you feel your game coming back, look at the losing hands in the downswing. Identify the bad beats and forget about them. Learn from the others.

Bad beats, after all, are just rake. Only less predictable.

[D.L.M.]

To get through them, you must remember other downswings that occured. Realize that this to shall pass, and that the first two days of the month are trivial compared to the last 28. And that in a 10-20 k sample you can run about break even with any sort of variance combo you could think of.

My first two days of march!