[Lefort]

There were some really good things said in this post, especially cero's. I really feel like very few players can fully wrap their heads around the implications of "variance", instead of just thinking of it as a reason for their downswing.

I also wanted to add that I've only been playing NL cash seriously for about 14 months, but in that timespan I've definitely seen the game change. A year ago, the nature of the game lent itself to smaller variance with some good game selection. Nowadays if you are playing high-stakes 6m, you are rarely at a table with less than 3 other "capable" cash game players. They may have leaks, but they still force you to be putting your chips in the pot much more frequently. The new tables create far more variance and thus, larger downswings. In fact, I think the games nowadays can also create some upswings that may not have been possible a year ago simply because the chips were not "flying" and thus their weren't as many opportunities to get stacks, regardless of your equity.