[Chomp]

I had a 25BI downswing at 50NL about 6 months ago. Mostly due to being horrible at pokering, but also due to running worse than I ever thought possible.

But whatever the exact reason, until you have been to the dark, dark place that is a losing streak this bad, you simply do not know the true meaning of poker pain. It is brutality beyond conception. It is ceaseless and it is nightmarish. And I no longer believe any of us average grinders/wannabees are immune from it.

The worst part for me was when I became Poker Dyslexic. Dyslexics who have trouble reading often report that they see the words on a page swimming and blurring before their eyes. The effect is that the dyslexic can't "get a grasp" of the word, and so it's meaning just slips away from them. Put a series of words together in a sentence and the problem is compounded.

Something very similar happened to me at the table. The cards and chips looked weird - I could stare at them and stare at them but they had completely lost any rational meaning and defied any interpretation. You are so punch-drunk, that you simply cannot process the value of your hand or the meaning of a bet. Everything is kind of a drunken blur in front of you. It is deeply, deeply weird and scary. Very scary in fact.

The good news is that once you have stared into this heart of darkness, everything is brighter afterwards.


Cliff Notes: Stop sucking and take your beats like a man/lady.