Thoughts on dealing with bad runs/losing.

I recently have had my longest and most costly run of bad cards/poor play/losing sessions. I play live cash games only (2/5 nl) and had a run of 9 losing sessions in a row. I can't count the number of runner, runner losses, and nuts on the flop -- money in ---lose to flush/straight. Anyway, I think its over finally, (winning the last three in a row).

Lucky for me my bankroll management is pretty good and I am able to stay at the same limits without really having anything drastic happen. But this losing streak really played its toll on me. I understand the idea of playing poker as one continuous session over a year, or life time span, but when you hit a bad streak, its hard to deal with.

I tried to remain positive, review the good aspects of my play, and then I took a break from playing. I usually play 3 to 4 times a week, I took about two weeks off, kinda refreshed, thought about things, and now have a renewed confidence at the tables. I'm trusting my reads and instincts and my hands are holding up. It always easier when your hands hold up.

What do you other people do when they go on these runs? Tips to remain confident and positive? Anything you do to turn things around?

An idea for dealing with the mental aspect of bad beats

^^^good thread.

Stop checking your cashier during sessions just concentrate on playing.

I prefer to concentrate on the losing hands or sessions and see if i can work out where i was going wrong (whether it was my fault or it couldnt be helped)
Also i concentrate either on cash or tourneys never both at the same time
If the cash games are beating me i leave them alone for a while and vice versa

I personally am terrible with dealing with these runs. I find the best thing to do is to just let it pass over though by taking a break from poker, but i find it hard to do that lol, im obsessed. But usually, the few times I do take a break, I no longer feel like i need action and i play a much more patient and better game. You should also always make sure you are managing your bankroll properly so you can afford to keep playing at those stakes even during a big downswing.

I had a great couple of weeks recently, sending my BR into new territory. I played well and was getting the breaks during that good streak.

Then the hammer fell.

At first it seemed normal. Then a bit out of the ordinary, but still expected. I slowed down my frequency of playing, and started railing a bit more. Just a few minutes before I read this thread I was wondering about this very thing, and how I might start a thread dealing with this topic. My twist was;

How long should I expect a downswing to last?

Figuring that a perfect average at a 9 handed game should give any one person 11.1% of the winning sessions. If I got 44.4% of the winning sessions over a one week period, I can see logic suggesting a downswing would last 4 times as long as my upswing.

My old brain isn't what it used to be, and dealing with that huge bell curve in the sky is no longer my forte', I feel there is some math that can be applied here that might give some standard deviation on a standard deviation over a period of time.

But now my brain is hurting, and I'm getting a nose bleed.

Im going through a bad one right now playing $10nl on FT, my bankroll is in no danger at the moment but Im taking a short break and hopefully it will improve :P Keep running into KK vs AA/AK scenarios and coming off worse nvmd

If you are playing as well as you can do, and not letting your recent bad results affect you, then there is no reason why the next session should be another poor one, any more than if you'd won the last five sessions. The only thing that matters is that you are bankrolled sufficiently to play at those stakes. If you happen to have a long losing run (as everyone does at times), this may damage your bankroll to the extent that you need to move down to a lower limit, rebuild, and then move back up again.

Of course, if you have been mentally affected by your run of bad luck, this is something you need to address before returning to the table.

I talk about this all the time, because it's sooo important:

The first thing you MUST understand... there are no such things as streaks (good or bad). There's only THIS HAND, THIS MOMENT!!!!

Your "streak" happened yesterday, and tomorrow hasn't happened yet. Stop looking in the rear-view mirror, and start focusing on THIS NEXT DECISION!

THIS TOPIC IS EXACTLY WHY MOST POKER PLAYERS ARE LONG-TERM LOSERS, OR CAN'T CONSISTENTLY MOVE UP LIMITS...

These "streaks" kill players' confidence, and create doubt, etc. The ones who 'make-it' are the ones who understand how important it is to focus on...

THIS HAND, RIGHT NOW, THIS MOMENT... EVERYTHING ELSE IS EITHER IN THE PAST OR FUTURE!

Stay focused,
Dayne

That's what I said - except, I'll never make it as a motivational speaker!