How do you combat a downswing?
Almost every poker player makes this experience sooner or later and all hate it, the evil downswing. You play your best game and get the chips and money in ahead but for some reason the poker god is against you and you always lose on turn or river or run into coolers or setups. How do you combat those situations and losing streaks? There are different approaches, however also a lot of ways to make it even worse and bust your bankroll pretty quickly.
The following shall give you a tidbit of information what you should and should not do if you realize that you are currently in a downswing. Most of the content is more based on online poker though, but many points also apply for live poker as well – you just have fewer tools to help you with analyzing your situation.
What you should try to avoid:
1) Tilt
The tilt is the most common mistake that most players make, they loose up in their play and try to win back their losses as soon as possible without even paying attention to the table and their opponents anymore. They just see their own hole cards and fire out as many bullets as possible until either they have the money back or bust their stack / money. Previously existing game strategy and a standard of play does not work anymore and the style becomes overly aggressive.
2) Move up in limits
It is by far more difficult to get all losses back quickly if you just some buy ins on your regular limit. So why not just move up, there is more money involved and this also means that you can get your money back faster, right? Of course that is true, but if you are in a downswing, it will always have a certain impact on your game and you more likely end up busting and destroying your bankroll.
3) Blaming the poker site
Obviously if you don’t win, the poker site has to be rigged. And the more you tell that yourself, the higher your anger and rage will be if you get beaten the next time. It doesn’t matter if it was a setup or if you went in behind, it has to be the fault from the poker site and they don’t want you to win anything. Usually that is followed by quite a few swear words in table chat as well and / or blowing off some steam to everything and everyone near you. But wait, did you actually get your money in ahead or did your opponent just outplay you?
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There is no ultimate solution that fits for everybody, you can try different ways to combat them but there is no guarantee that you will be able to un-tilt your mind. It will always be part of the game and the better starting hand does not always win. But you have to keep in mind that you shall always try to get your chips / money in when you are convinced that you are ahead. Let’s take a look at a few potential ways to combat the downswing in a constructive way.
Possible ways to combat a downswing:
1) Taking a break
Sometimes it just helps to close the software and take a break before you go broke. There is a concept at MTT / SNG poker that also applies here “a good fold is better than a bad call”. If you just don’t feel it, you can still come back to win it. Of course it is hard to declare a defeat, but Rome was not built in one day either and you might have lost one battle but the war is not over yet!
2) Analyze your game
It does help at online poker when you do have a tracking program, because if you want to review your session and just depend on your memory, the opinion will be biased and you just can’t keep all the necessary info about specific hands. One way to solve this problem is to browse your hand history on the poker sites as they are usually saved for a certain period of time within the default settings. This procedure will take by far more time though and requires a lot of manual work.
It is an important step in the recovery process though to review your hands, because it will give you a better understanding of what actually happened, is currently happening and might still happen in the future as well. Most of the time we just see the final result of the hand and keep that in mind, but we barely pay attention of how the hand was actually played until the showdown.
Even if you are on a downswing, it does not automatically mean that you play bad; you probably still get the chips and money in ahead and end up on the other side of the variance. Luck will be a part of the game, it does apply for every card game. There is no need to use this fact as excuse for bad play though, your main goal should always be to focus on playing your best game and getting in ahead rather than depending on luck yourself.
3) Switch to another poker type
Most of the time the cash game players recognize a downswing much faster, because they play by far more hands than a Tournament or SNG player. It does not mean that you shall not play cash game anymore, but maybe you should consider to play on short handed tables instead of full ring.
Another option that you might want to consider is switching from No Limit Hold’em for a while and try out Pot Limit Omaha or Seven Card Stud. Those are the poker types that require more thinking and might also give you more insight on your Hold’em play as well.
If you tend to tilt away your money quickly at cash game tables, try some Sit N Go. They don’t take as long as MTT’s and you will win less if you take it down. But you also just risk a fixed amount of cash and can’t kill your whole bankroll at once - unless you buy into the highest SNG that you can find with your remaining money.
4) Follow BankRollManagement
There are a lot of poker forums and sites that offer articles about a proper Bank Roll Management (BRM), if you follow it you will just risk a certain amount of your bankroll at a time. This requires a lot of discipline though and the temptation is pretty high to just ignore the restrictions because you would have to move down and play on lower limits, even though you know exactly that you can beat a higher one already.
BRM is a more old fashioned approach, but it also reduces the risk to burn your bankroll at once. It is always up to the player how much risk he is willing to take, those restrictions are just guidelines that may help you on the way to become a better player because they always have the long run in mind and not the short term profit.
5) Get rid of all potential distractions
Most of us tend to do other things at the same time as well when playing poker. Do you know how much they influence your play? If you can’t fully focus on the game itself, you won’t be able to play your best game. Just turn off the TV or the music, unfortunately this does not work for family members or “your better half”.
6) Play shorter sessions
It is by far more difficult to maintain the same concentration and play your best game forever, you can use “natural drugs” such as coffee or energy drinks that might help to keep the same level for a while, but they usually just make everything worse after a certain time. Review your sessions and see if you lose a lot after a specific time. If you notice a flaw, cut the sessions down and play more short sessions with a small break in-between to refocus.
7) Play fewer tables
You are the ultimate grinder and play up to 16 tables at the same time, it almost looks like a robot and the screen is filled with poker tables and a lot of action. The problem is that you just play after a certain strategy, as it is next to impossible to pay full attention to all tables over a longer period of time. This strategy might become exploitable when your opponents use tracking programs and they will start to outplay you or play back by far more aggressively after a certain time.
If you want to focus more on the profit, you should reduce the number of tables and pay more attention to your opponents playing style and possible betting patterns. With a tracking program, you will get an idea already, how you use that information though is always up to you as there is no program that tells you when to call an all in with 67 suited.
8) Workouts
Many are not aware that some sports may help to come back totally refreshed, you can release all your anger and frustration in a constructive way and also do something for your fitness as well. It is important to maintain a healthy connection between body and soul. You will be surprised what positive influence this will have to master all upcoming situations. You approach everything with a more positive attitude and are also able to focus the mind and get back to play your A-game.
If you don’t feel well, don’t try to push it and just play because for some reason you think that you have to play. Would you let your star player participate in the next important game even though he has a broken leg?
Which cure or solution you find is always up to yourself, because everybody is different though and has to find the own way to master these situations. The main target is to stay focused and try to solve it in a constructive way without losing the control. Your performance in all aspects of your life and at the poker tables have a certain influence on each other, sometimes by far more than we would like to admit or want.
The most difficult mission is to find the balance, once this has been established it will be by far easier to become a better poker player as well. I hope you enjoyed this article and hopefully it gave you something to think about. Best of luck on and off the tables!
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However, the same rules apply for live games. Stop with the texting, stop socializing and looking around the room, don't read while playing and really get focused on the game. I do however sometimes put a Card Player or Bluff in my lap and pretend to be not paying attention to the game while I am really watching every bet and motion. 
Originally Posted by giveupleasur
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