blonde poker forum

How to deal with giant downswing
I usually have no trouble dealing with downswings. Even as a beginner, I understood how variance was a part of the game and it never really bothered me.

Recently, though, I've gone on such a downswing that it is really starting to affect me. I had just moved up to 10nl and things were going great when I got hit with a downswing sicker than anything I could even fathom before. Cooler, cooler, suckout, cooler, bad beat, cooler, cooler, card dead, cooler, suck out, card dead, card dead, bad beat, cooler, bad beat, suckout, cooler, cooler. Can't hit a draw to save my life. A in the flop every single time I have KK. We all know the story. I quickly lost all of the incremental progress I had made at 10nl, hit the red, and dropped back to 5nl. The variance did not stop. Cooler, cooler, suck out, cooler, card dead. Since then, over about 40k subsequent hands, I've dropped almost 20 BI at nl5, a limit that I CRUSHED for over 150k hands prior.

I can see it clearly affecting my game now. I've tried everything I know how to do to deal with downswings; first I tried to out-volume it, like I did with every other downswing up till now. That made it worse. Then I took a couple weeks off. The variance was waiting for me when I got back as I was quickly and brutally reminded of why I took a break. I reassure myself that it'll come back. It isn't.

What are some other ways that I can get back to playing my A game under the weight of this collossal swing?

Belief, something I can't do, but you have to believe your draws will hit, or your made hands will hold, otherwise you end up playing too timid and passive it effects your game and you go further into the rut, PMA will get you playing your a game again

You could be playing too many tables

As the old saying goes "feed like a bird s**t like an elephant". Theres no real magic formula really, all you can do is retain some inner belief which will be differcult as your fairly new to the game. All the boring simple stuff applies though, make sure you reduce tables and play shorter sessions. You should look over HH's and maybe discuss them with people who you respect just to get a second opinion.

Take a break?

If you "CRUSHED" 5nl for 150k hands why did you continue to play it?

I got my money on spam

http://www.thehendonmob.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=39064 - magically playing DON's that have been discontinued.

As Longy spotted, he was a spammer.  But he's been banned, so won't be doing any spamming - but won't be answering any questions either.

but how much did you win?

sigh, was looking forward to reading this new diary.

Has anyone called the police yet?

Can anyone tell me how to deal with a sore thumb?

take it out of your arse

cant help sorry.

Surely that would result in a sore arse rather than a sore thumb?

sovietsong is the new bolt

I miss bolt

At least you can deal with a sore arse. You might have to stand up, but you can still deal.

(http://www.sharkscope.com/SharkScope/DisplayGraph?GraphType=UserHistory&u1=Spraggs&Network=pokerstars&Username=benspraggons@hotmail.com&Password=a9105d26a9811ba81073f5ae6c239987&Currency=USD&TimeZone=8&ClientTimeZoneValue=GMT&searchTag=168.67356941103935&GraphWidth=540&GraphHeight=420&nocache=1299158440938&version=355&DecimalSeparator=.&Filter=%20SNG%20Only&GeneralSearchType=SNGO)

Swings are horrid. They can stress you out big time, i'm currently on a big downswing on SnGs on Stars, and just getting out of an MTT D/S on FTP and Party (still in one on Stars (shock))

There was a good article on P5's that suggested how to cope with the swings, i can't find it right now, but will cross post, if i do.

My advice (and what i do):

- Watch Training vids/go through Hand Histories; when running bad, you can subconsciously make changes in your game, these changes are often little leaks, you lose confidence, and start to play hands differently. You call off lighter (because they cant have got there again, right?). Watching videos, really sharpens you back up. (Everytime i have watched a training video or 2 on pxf.com when on a D/S i have hit a nice score (MTT) very soon after, EVERYTIME!)

- Sleep and eat well, does help, kinda standard i know, but when your stressed out, you have to get your rest.

- Excercise, get the blood flowing, I tend to do excercises in breaks, situps etc, punchbags are good too, for fitness and to get rid of pent up frustration.

- Take Breaks. I know when your in a downswing you tend to want to play as much as possible, to get to the other side, and to get back what variance has taken away. However, taking a break (a week-ish) can be SO beneficial, like watching videos, when i have had a week or so off i have always came back so much more motivated and so sharp.

Hope this helps.

fml