Dealing with a downswing

[Vinny80]

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Seriously, great post az. One of the best I've seen on 2+2. Everyone should bookmark this and read it when they're running bad or even just having an off day.

Paul

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Yes, a must-refer-to post...

[Dave I]

Excellent post. Unfortunately, I am guilty of all at one time or another.

[orange]

bump.

[McGobbler]

Excellent post. I really hope all those hot shot 2+2 who have a sick month at a new limit and think they are god's gift to poker read this because you can't control the cards or hot streaks, even the 90/1 players deserve to win some pots. Eventually everyone will run bad and you will learn yourself what you are made of in that downswing.

[Yoj1mbo]

Great post and very timely for me. I'm currently in a 14 buyin dowswing at NL100, and even lately, I run so below average that I need to stack peoples just to break even in a session. And, yes, some of the most incredible beats in my poker life have occurred during this time. For the record I was a 5PTBB or so winner over 70 000+ hands before I hit this monster just at about the time I was planning to move up to NL 200. Suffice to say, I now want considerably more than 20 to 30 buyins for any level I go at.

[dardo]

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This post is worthy of the:



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LOL

[dardo]

Great post. It.s quite disturbing that this huge downswings can happen playing poker. How many hands till breakeven?

regards,

dardo

[thing85]

Bump because this post just kept me from crazy monkey tilt this month. Currently on a ~14 buy-in downswing at 50NL.

[Psydoc]

Listen to all these losers crying about how "variance" caused some horrible downswing, and it's not cause they suck at poker. Yeah right... Oh...wait a second...what the...oh holy geez...oh sweet mother...holy f*ck you gotta be kidding me...seriously...again? wtf, am I cursed? Ahhh....okay, I get it now...variance!

[wahooriver]

Having just recovered from a plummet, I have a couple of thoughts.

1. I agree that we should all have a magic number for moving down and moving up. I made the mistake of moving down, but then I just believed I could make my comeback faster - BIG MISTAKE.

2. Rather than quit playing, I started playing a few inexpensive SNGs ($22 6 max). I have played many SNGs in the past, and quickly relearned some lessons about patience that I apparently had forgotten. I was risking a very small amount (relative to my bankroll) and had time to reconsider my play.

3. Luck is wonderful - after winning a couple of SNGs, I sat back down at a NL200 with more confidence. I have had a couple of huge days - playing just a bit more conservative.

As I considered my downswing, I had bad luck and bad judgment. The initial post here is incredibly important because if we don't make good decisions during a downswing we accelerate the downward trend. I personally play better when I am winning - by that I understand better when to fold. I minimize my "wish" calls.

This post must become one of my favorites. It is much more important than 99% of the posts I have read.

As others have said - Thank YOU!!!