Ugh...

[HomeBrewin]

I am on a terrible downward spiral, it is sick. I have dropped 25% of my stack in the past two days... I really want to give it up. I am not only getting horrible beats, I am making dumb betting mistakes and even (accidentally) betting way more than I mean. It is sickening. How do you deal with down swings?

[gnk2727]

I am on a terrible downward spiral, it is sick. I have dropped 25% of my stack in the past two days... I really want to give it up. I am not only getting horrible beats, I am making dumb betting mistakes and even (accidentally) betting way more than I mean. It is sickening. How do you deal with down swings?

Take some time off. If you absolutely have to play, join a few freerolls and try to work on somethings. At least that way it wont cost you anything to play.

Another good idea to minimize the damage would be to play the $1.25 Matrix games at FTP. I know youre gonna say that since it only costs .25 per game the variance will be huge and thats good. You wanna get back to the basics. Play nothing but the top 10 hands. Hammer AA, KK, QQ, JJ etc hard preflop and suck those fish in. Its a good confidence booster.

The only thing is you can and will get sucked out on. The point of this exercise is damage control to your bankroll. Ive been in your shoes many, many times. It sucks, but the good news is that it will pass.


PS. Read my signature..............think about it!

[VanMorisson]

Quit beating yourself up. There is always another tournament and more cash up for grabs. Also the players are getting better and you gain the experience of playing better as well...

[amagic]

Bankorll control is very important. You didnt play if you lose money on the CG table..
Didnt reload on table! You angry or nerveus, tired dont play.
Said your hand history you made mistake, you learnt from your bad play.
Play freeroll, all player in the world get bad serios.You dont panic.

[HomeBrewin]

Thanks everyone. Great advice. I decided to take the weekend off, and maybe a few days this week. Just see where I am at when I get back to it. Thanks again.

[Nerice]

The most import things to remember when your hitting a downswing (if it is a downswing), is to stay within BR management, and to see if your playing correctly.

You said you was making some bad plays, so that tells me you do look at your play so concentrate on correcting what you know your doing wrong or figure out why your doing it and solve that.

If its variance, then plowing through it is about all you can do and do not let it get into your head your losing.

I can lose all day long, but at the end of the day, if I look over my hands and know I played correctly, I am not worried about the loses, as over time playing correctly will make money. No one will ever always win, so... we are going to lose some days, and sometimes for a while longer.

Your psychological mindset will make a huge difference, if you have the wrong mindset going in, there pretty much is no way you will win no matter how good you are, or how well you play.

[wixx]

This is where I am at right now as well. I have a small roll at a few sites. Too small to play the games that I want and I am tired of low limit losers calling with junk and hitting to suck out on me. Then it gets topped off by losers calling with K9 and flopping two pair to beat my aces and then talking trash like they are a good player. Sick of it too

[HomeBrewin]

I hear you. Guess I am just trying to ride it out...easier said then done

[barara]

Poker is about making money. And making money is about money management. You should determine the amount of money that you wish to invest in your poker-playing. When that bankroll increases, so too should the stakes that you play. When it decreases, you need to play smaller games until you can re-build your roll. Managing your poker money in this way takes some tracking. You don't need to be an accountant, especially with this easy tool to help you identify the stakes you should play based on the size of your bankroll.

[HomeBrewin]

Well I am happy to say I have hit a high...Won a tournament last night - 88 people, and finished 3rd in a 6K out of 300+ people. Good night