The downswing isn’t giving up on me quite yet. I’ve moved back down to 2/4 and 3/6 to rebuild, playing 5/10 only when I find a really juicy table. I know you don’t care about my bad beats or my downswing. But it seems to me like when there are posts complaining about bad beats or horrible downswings, they’re usually after the fact. Known winning players don’t often describe exactly during the downswing what’s going on, so this is going to be a little bit of an experiment. How far down will I sink (will I even continue to sink?) and what actions - if any - will I take to safeguard myself.

Well, as I said, I’ve moved down in limits. After losing about $2k in five days’ time, it’s clear that I’m not properly bankrolled for 5/10 anymore, although I will sit in when I find good games. Today, I was good at locating good games but I need to learn to get up and leave when the live ones do.

I’m not going to take a “break from poker,” though. I don’t think I’m tilting at this point, and if I am and am unaware of it, it’s a leak that I need to become aware of.

I’m going to play fewer tables. 2-3 instead of 3-4. It might not seem like a huge adjustment, but I think it’s going to be worthwhile.

What’s important to me right now isn’t to win back the money, it’s to show any profit at all, and to cross the threshold that I mentioned earlier. My confidence isn’t shot to hell (yet) but my bankroll needs some padding. I’m likely to play a slightly lower variance and lower EV game for awhile. Who knows, I might even learn something from it.

Gary Carson likes to point out that stuff doesn’t “even out” in the long run, and he is - of course - right about that. But when I play this game I realize that I’m gambling, so I’m just going to have to suck up this $2k loss, fight it out and win it back. I’ll let you know how that goes.

On the upside, I’m pretty close to buying myself the platinum $650 Stars bonus, so that’s going to provide some nice rakeback, I suppose you can call it. My bankroll needs it.