[bobhalford]

I don't think I've ever lost money in that many hands since I became a winning player. It makes me a bit nervous to see this, because it might mean that it could happen to me!

However, 250BB's ain't much of a downswing, if you ask me. I've definitely had worse, but they seem to happen in a short period of time. But then again I may be underestimating the number of hands I'm playing. I would check Poker Tracker, but I don't use it anymore.

Your stats look ok, perhaps a bit LAGTAG, so maybe that's where your problems are. It's difficult to play that style well, so if you don't have experience playing straight up TAG, you may be getting into marginal situations that you aren't sure how to negotiate. I think you need to have a handle on TAG strategy first. Then you can loosen up and will be more prepared to handle the more marginal situations. I look at it as having a TAG background, but being slightly looser and slightly more aggressive and image conscious. That's how I try to play. Steal lots, but not too much. Steal lots from the CO, but only with hands that have the proper values. Now I check-raise the turn a lot more than I used to, to discourage my opponents from bluffing at me.

Have you been playing poker long? Do you have experience winning monies? If so, this could just be a rather mild downswing and it's no big deal. I just won 250BB's last weekend. Admittedly it was one of the most memorable short term heaters I've been on, but it happens, just like the 200BB losses. Sometimes I find myself losing 50-100BB's in the first couple hours, only to finish many hours later ahead 50+ BBs. I'll be playing 3 tables when this happens, so it's normal. When you are playing that many hands, you go up and down a lot. It's fun.

Perhaps the 2-4 handed play is causing problems? If that is why your VPIP is higher, perhaps you should filter your stats for 6-max. But didn't you do this by showing stats for both 5max and 6max?

If you are playing a lot 2-3 handed, you are paying a lot of rake and thus would need a rakeback deal if you don't have one. These games are also difficult because the very loose (and often bad) players are playing closer to optimal than they do playing in a 6+ handed game. It's difficult to play properly and that's why I don't do it. I aspire to play heads up and 3-handed. It's only when I feel I've got a good handle on 4-6 handed that I would start playing shorter. In fact, these games are probably the best games to play in if you have a bad player in the game and understand short handed strategy. Then you and some other player can have the one fish to yourselves. This is a better situation than having only one or two bad players in a 6 handed game.

So if this downswing isn't an isolated incident, I would tighten up first and study these boards. If you are playing a TAG style, then you may need to read the boards more and study the game more. But if you don't know why you are losing, you may be playing fine, just unlucky. I sometimes start to question my play during a downswing, but I have so much experience winning that I know it's just a temporary losing period. In these times I try to think a lot about my play, because I don't have the best hand often enough. It's hard to tell what's responsible for this. But generally, by questioning my play more often during a downswing, I learn something to make me a better player.