[reecelights]

I asked about your numbers to make sure it is a real slump and not some form of variance you haven't experienced yet.

I've learned to accept variance a lot more lately. I won my first two multis a week apart and then went 19 straight out of the money. Then came in 10th out of 1200. I had my best week ever in SNGs and then two days later my worst day ever. I found it amusing, bceause, as you may remember from the "Where were you a year ago" thread, a lot of people are now accustomed to losing in a night what they lost in a bad week a year ago.

I play a lot of SNGs and have learned to expect slumps. The important thing to look at is whether or not there are any obvious changes in your play. Have you been trying to implement a new concepts? Have you been reading new, challenging material which has thrown you off the basics of your game? Are there things other pressures outside of poker that may be making you distracted?

I went through a 6 week slump back in March/April. I was not analyzing my game, my work was very hectic, and I was playing on Auto-Pilot waiting for things to turn themselves around.

I started losing just before I moved into my first house back in August. We were doing a lot of repairs and cosmetic work ourselves after work and on long weekend days. I started to recognize a lot of the same feelings I had felt back in March and decided to severly limit my play. In two months time I moved, started a new season at work with half of my employees being new, while working on a huge project, and got married. I played 34 hours in two months (inlcluding two weeks when I didn't play at all) what I usually play in a week. I made $183 rather than losing $415 like I did in March. When I came back, my game took off, I worked hard on it, and I have made nearly 40% of my profits for the year in 7 weeks.

You have 4 options which only you can HONESTLY answer yourself. Either play through it, switch it up, go back to basics or step aside for a bit. You have to try to find the root of the "slump" yourself. Not only will it help you now, but will potentially help avoid future controllable downswings,