Why does this happen and how should we use it to our advantage?

[jwvdcw]

I'm almost exclusively a tournament player. I play STTs and an occassional MTT(usually about 4-5/week) full time online.

Anyway, been running really badly last few days. And even though I'm in a good mood and still playing well, I just can't seem to shake it.

So I switch up and go play in the $2000 NL ring games. Multi table 6 of them for about 3 hours and wind up winning about $3500.

Now, I have no doubt that a lot of luck was involved, and perhaps it could just have been a coincidence. But what is it about changing games that can refreshes a player so much? And, more importantly, how should we exploit this? Should one regularly schedule different games in periodicly? Or should one switch games as soon as a bad run begins? Or should one wait until a prolonged losing streak hits then switching up?

[DJ Sensei]

I too have noticed this phenomenon. When i switch games, I generally have a hot streak at the new game. However, I'm not sure if there is a concrete factor causing this effect, or if we are just the benefactors of positive variance.

If anything, I think we tend to pay more attention to factors that were important in the old game, but are also important in the new one. For instance, after playing PLO8 for a while, i became quite conscious of position. When i switched to limit holdem, a game which I may not have previously given as much positional consideration to, I had a hot streak.

Of course, if this is the case, then perhaps running for a different game after a downswing arises is not a bad idea. I think that the more important time to change games is when you find your play to have become stagnant, or uninteresting. It is important to constantly reevaluate and improve your game if you wish to succeed, and playing different games periodically can accomplish this.