Adjusting to the 'Cold' streak

Hey all,
I'm right in the middle of what I'd call a cold streak. Consistently card-dead, only getting small pots when i've got good cards, getting the 2nd best hand, getting rivered quite often, suckouts, etc. This is an inevitable part of poker and bad luck can quickly turn to good luck, of course I know this.
What I'm wondering his how do some of you adjust to your cold streak? I'm not talking about just avoiding tilt, but do you move down in limits? Stick it out playing the same things and the same strategy as always? Try to establish a different table image? Play different game or game structures? Take a few days off? Play for 'play chips' for awhile? (haha) Different things work for different people, I'm just wondering how everyone else deals with this.

Thanks for any input

Yes, I like to move down in limits until I get my mojo back. But I also like to find out what exactly is the cause of the downswing. I spend a lot of my time in heavy analysis of my stats and hand histories. I look at my losing hands to see if I could have played them better or if they were just bad luck. I also go back and look at my good runs to see if anything has changed in my stats during my bad run.

IM in the same boat..I cant win to save my life.....My account looked pretty good at one point now it is sick looking.......
I cant even win in play chip games....I am really getting very upset.

Good call MrSticker, I recently got PokerTracker running properly again and have been diving deep into stats, doing exactly what you're talking about. This has helped me see the light on some hands and relive horrible memories (haha) but in general I've heard other players say at least 10-15% percent of serious players' "poker time" should be spent analyzing wins/losses and I agree, and should be doing this more often

Just curious - how do you know it's the 'middle' of a streak, hot or cold ??

That could turn around in one table move, a blind level change, or last for 2 weeks.

Analysis of play and hands is VERY good. If it's just honestly a bad streak and your BR can handle it, I would stay at the same levels. As you say, the cards can change in one hand. If analysis shows some leaks, step down til you find and correct the leak/s.

I guess right in the 'middle' was a bad figure of speech, I'm experiencing a cold streak is the proper way to say it, and the more optimistic way also :-)

i don't belive ive had a cold streak for a long time, exept fo the time i lost a tournament when i went all in on 4 hand, and each time lsot to ace 9 off suit. now that pissed me off.

What is PokerTracker? Is it software that can be used in any online poker room?

I guess we've all experienced this phenomenon. It's certainly frustrating, especially after a run on the smooth part of the road, when whatever you're dealt hits on the flop!

I'd been playing SnGs and winning consistently on one site when it suddenly all went cold. Same thing you mention - every pot I won I had to share, or nobody called my "monsters", or somebody hit quads on runner-runner to my full house...

I spent a lot of time analyzing where I was going wrong, let a lot of hands go in the blinds where I found a drain, tried min raising instead of pot, raising more with good hands, not raising with good hands... nothing worked.

I tried a couple of other sites and didn't find the same problem. I've gone back from time to time, but still can't win a game at my previous level. Down a level, I do fine. I'm now starting to suspect that the regulars just got my number. When I play Stars or FullTilt I seldom see the same players twice, so my moves work.

Or could it be rigged??? (Oh, no! Not that again!)

Cold streaks are really miserable. During these times I play less and just go on freerolls for fun or just take a complete break from the game. Sometimes the distance helps to clarify things. The worst thing during a cold streak is to be overaggressive and bet more to win back what you lost.