What is a reasonable "card dead" length

I recently played in a tournament slightly above my normal limit just because I was in the mood for some fun. The problem is that I went completely card dead for nearly 4 levels (nearly 90 minutes) before finally being dealt playable hands. I was wondering if I was playing too tight (possibly because I was playing above my normal level) or if 90 minutes of drawing dead is actually fairly reasonable in live games? I went on to place 31/86, which isn't great but for a game above my league I'm fairly proud of it.

What's the longest you've drawn dead, and how do you deal with it so you don't get blinded out?

You can be card dead pretty much an entire tournament.

I've been card dead for entire tournaments before. Sometimes being card dead is better than being set-up with playable cards. If you're blinding down, at a certain point you will have to start opening up your range against weaker opponents.

I'm working on seven years. Probably make it to ten.

Ha Ha I love the seven years comment! Made me laugh so hard Sure feels that way sometimes.

ive only considered myself truly card dead twice.i was doing really well in the freerolls on a certain site and eventually managed to scrape up a deposit,min was above average....of course instead of practicing any BRM i jump straight into a $17 tourney,i tell you it was the first and only time ive ever been that card dead,lasted bout hour i think,just after break i got a K7 suited and went for it while i had a chance of making it count...to no avail.the best i had that whole hour and a bit was K4 off once and Q4off,no other pictures or even unsuited connectors....nothing lol.if your question was how long before you could start calling it card dead,well thats opinion perhaps...i would say maybe 20 or thirty hands,maybe half hour online or hour and a half live in my thinking.

If you play long enough, you will suffer being card dead for some lengthy periods. Back in the early 80s, before Texas Hold'em became popular, I was playing 7 card stud at the Four Queens in Las Vegas. I was very disciplined, and card dead for almost two hours before I got pocket aces under. My being card dead was interpreted as only playing monsters, so my eventual full house (I kept checking to induce a bet) got me a total of 3 bucks. I quit after that hand and went back to "MY" game, blowing $200 dollars in 15 minutes of blackjack!
In essence, you generally won't recover from being card dead for a prolonged period because a monster hand will bring you peanuts.