The final truth about down swings.
 

I'm going to campaign for the reality of the situation here. Every day I see tons of threads about "running bad" and "down swings". More and more 2+2ers seem to be feeling sorry for themselves whenever the cards just don't seem to be falling they way they would like. They want to know if it will end. They want to know what to do next. They want to quit poker all together. The truth of the situation is they might as well quit.

There are a couple things many of you have failed to acknowledge when you decided to start playing poker.
1) Downswings happen! They'll happen to you. They'll happen to me. They'll happen to anyone who plays the game enough. They'll even happen to the best players in the world. It is inevitable. If this was realized by those of you who are thinking "I knew that" right now we would have all these sob stories all over the forums.
2) The cause of the down swing may be you. I'm not going over the line by saying more than half of the members of this forum are losing players. Quit blaming the seat, luck, the deck, the fish accross the table from you. If you can't put the blame where it will most often need to be (on your own shoulders) you have no business playing poker.

The most common answer I see to these questions about what to do and when will it end are met too many times with "Take A Break". This is insane. Taking a break may be the way to go in some of these situations, but the truth is this...
If you were aware of the the items mentioned above and by being aware had the correct mind-set it wouldn't be an issue. You don't need a break. You don't need a nap. You need to wake up and accept the realities of your situation. Once you've done that you need to do the following.
1) Stop feeling sorry for yourself.
2) Evaluate your game. Study hand histories, post hands here on the forums, ask questions.
3) Study up. Read and re-read your poker books, read posts here on the forums, take dvantage of the 2+2 Magazine.
4) Get on the tables and correctly apply what you've learned!!

It's time to man up everyone. Put the blame where it belongs. Get your mind in tune with reality. Expect down swings and bad runs to happen. Deal with them and get through it. Continue to improve. There's no need for a break because you can't handle these things. If you need to take a break because of these things give it up. Poker is not for you.

Cheers,

deacsoft

Re: The final truth about down swings.
 

nh

Re: The final truth about down swings.
 

Very good post. Perhaps instead of all the focus on where the blame lies, what you really mean is that there is no one to blame for down swings (a lot of the time).

Anyway, everyone has their psychological breaking point. It's our job to make the threshold higher than the varience we experience.

Re: The final truth about down swings.
 

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I'm not going over the line by saying more than half of the members of this forum are losing players.

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You give the members of this forum too much credit, I think.

Re: The final truth about down swings.
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I'm not going over the line by saying more than half of the members of this forum are losing players.

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You give the members of this forum too much credit, I think.

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Where do you guys come up with these numbers? No way half the people here lose.

Poker just isn't that freaking complicated a game at the low limits.

Nigel

Re: The final truth about down swings.
 

Nice post, although I disagree with one point:

[ QUOTE ]
The most common answer I see to these questions about what to do and when will it end are met too many times with "Take A Break". This is insane.

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I understand your point, which is to be brutally honest with yourself about your game. If you are playing badly, simply taking a break - then returning to the tables to play badly some more - isn't going to help. But still, I think that for many players in the midst of a rough downswing, taking a break is a very good idea. Especially if the downswing, originally caused by variance, is now being fueled by poor play due to lack of confidence and/or tilt. I've found that taking a break has helped me come back to poker with a better frame of mind after a bad streak. True, maybe everyone doesn't need to do it, but it's good advice for some people.

Re: The final truth about down swings.
 

Good post - but not a "final truth".

Re: The final truth about down swings.
 

Nice post, however...

The first time someone goes through a big downswing it can feel very isolated. Many times people will post on here just to know they aren't alone in going through it. Regardless of the obviousness of it. Especially when they're not really seeing the long swings of other people directly around them. They see the idiots dragging pot after pot, read on here how everyone has an 8bb/100 win rate and wonder if they're the only ones experiencing this.

I think your post is more relevant to those who've been through the swings a couple times and came through it. Not for someone experiencing the swing for the first time or 2. For them, taking a break is the thing to do because they don't understand the concept of it from a 1st person view and could be more subject to tilt. Is it really fair to hold them to a standard when they've never approached the obstacle before? Or don't have that much personal experience with it? Not really. I know it took me a couple times to really get the hang of it.

I, for one, have always found it at least somewhat inspiring to read how someone overcame a swing whether during a session or a longer dryspell. The latest one being clarky digging out of a huge hole during a wild 20-40 game. Even though it was a small response in a big thread, it helped rejuvinate a little something in my game.

Now posting about bad beats in general is another thing...

b

Re: The final truth about down swings.
 

My point was more that taking a break wouldn't be necessary if it was fully understood that these swings happen. Therefore, you would not be upset or on tilt because of one. The problem needs to be understood before a proper solution can be decided upon. In this case there shouldn't be a problem in the first place.

Re: The final truth about down swings.
 

[ QUOTE ]
My point was more that taking a break wouldn't be necessary if it was fully understood that these swings happen. Therefore, you would not be upset or on tilt because of one. The problem needs to be understood before a proper solution can be decided upon. In this case there shouldn't be a problem in the first place.

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Come on man you could say this about road accidents, sometimes it's just so brutal a break is needed if only just to work out whether its you doing stupid [censored] or bad luck. People should do whatever it is they need to get their head back in the right place, if its taking a break then take a break.

Mack