What is a normal downswing ?(or upswing)

I've just recently started playing poker again after not playing much for the last couple of years. I've been a winning player in the past while admittingly not following any sort of BR management. (Just play and take a cashout every now and then) I've decided to take it a little more serious and follow a BR management plan. Now that I am paying more attention to the fluctuation in my BR, I tend to get a little stressed during the downswings and I am wondering if they are normal or If I am just playing poorly. (minus a couple of tilt moments, I really don't think I have played poorly) Right now I am playing 10NL & 20NL on Doylesroom. In the last 7 days I have had a net loss of 8 buyins. Is it reasonable that I could be playing solid poker and still experience this kind of a downswing? What would be an extreme downswing at these limits?

An extreme downswing... when your roll is gone.

8 buy ins is a pretty good indication that you're leaking chips though. Don't play for a bit, instead spend the time analysing your play for small leaks.

Also, those couple of tilt moments, I'm assuming they're minor but if they're not then they could be having a bigger effect than you think. I mean, sure you made that one loose call but what about the five times you played a hand in a position you wouldn't normally.


Players who're crushing their game can have some enormous swings (bigger than 8 buy ins), but it's a matter of probabilities and unless you've got a long history of beating your game then it's much more likely that you're playing badly.

Thanks for the response. I should have said that the downswing came right after an upswing of about 18 buyins. I believe I then loosened up my game...starting playing marginal hands out of position(as you mentioned), had a few bad beats, and then it snowballed.....