so I think I need some help with downswings

[meanjean]

I have finally realized my personal strenghts and weaknesses and am now willing to address them.

I'm a fairly good player and feel that I have the ability to be much better if I can get over a few hurdles. One of the major problems I have is getting so mad when I have repeated bad beats. I fully understand that people playing these horrible hands is the reason that I win money. At the end of every month I have more money than I did the month before but there seems to be a point in every month where I go through a 25-100BB losing streak. It drives me insane!!!! and I start to play poorly and lose more than I should.

I have seen this trend and have realized that playing multiple tables is a very bad thing. Titling on three tables cost much more than tilting on one. I need to overcome this behavior. I'm going to guess that I'm not the only person who has losing streaks every month and I'm not the only person who goes insane after several bad beats. So I'd like to ask how people deal with these. The only way I've found to deal with them is to just quit playing. I take a break. Close all programs and try playing Madden or go for a bike ride. While this does work, I'd like to be able to just shrug these things off and keep playing.

Any advise would be great.

[PokerAce]

I've had two major downswings over the past month and a half (270 BB and 180 BB), so I know how you feel.

25-100 BB is nothing. I have 40 BB swings several times a week, and 100 BB swings are typical as well. If you can't handle these amounts, you need to move down.

There's nothing you can do to prevent downswings. They will happen. You will always have 100 BB downswing, most likely several per month if you play a good number of hands per month (15-20k). You have to learn to live with them.

If you find yourself in a situation where you are playing on tilt, just stop. Close the poker application and walk away. If you don't, you're only going to lose bigger.

If you find yourself consistantly playing poorly during the downswings, then stop playing for a while. Spend time studying the game rather than playing it. Once you go back to the tables, you'll be fresh and ready to go.

One pointer that I got from my poker coach for dealing with bad beats is this: Compliment them. Don't be sarcastic. If someone hits a 3 outer on you, say nice hand. This guy is your friend. You want him calling down with 3 outs, right? Think of it that way.

[purnell]

Can you forget about the money, and remember that you are playing a game? Confidence in the correctness of your decisions will give you comfort. Be humble enough to admit the possibility of being outplayed. It is rare for me to review a losing session and not find a hand where I got schooled.

[xorbie]

Are you serious? 100BB is like one or two buyins. That's nothing...

[poker-penguin]

I think he is serious. I'm having issues with downswings at the moment. 50BB at 2/4 plus a couple buyins at a small NL game and I'm starting to doubt my own ability, if I was ever a winning player, and if I should just quit poker while I still have some BR left.

There are some of us who expect to be good at things, and when the world doesn't conform, we get angry / confused.

Unfortunately, being good at poker seems to sit very closely in some people's minds (like mine) with "how much money did I win / lose today".

Yeah, I don't really have much helpful advice. It happens, and eventually it stops happening.

[Dave H.]

Other than playing correctly, avoiding tilt (i.e. discipline) is the most important facet of poker to me. That is, avoiding tilt has a huge influence on my ability to increase my bankroll. As a matter of fact, it may even be more important than playing correctly, depending on how long or how badly I tilt . For myself, when I realized that I could easily wipe out my winnings for a week in one tilt session, I just flat won't tilt any more. I see it as a challenge, just like playing correctly; it's part of it, period.

And I don't stop playing. That, too, is part of the challenge to me...to continue to play, just as if I were a robot, and to play as correctly as I'm able.

It works for me; maybe it'll work for you.

[Shakezula]

when on a down-swing, or when on tilt, certain thoughts arrive to the mind. "I can't believe that he hit that", "What in the world made that happen", "This is unreal, I can't believe it", "That's so wrong, a two-outer on the river and after I built that huge pot".

The thinking mind likes to play with associations. One thought can lead to another; a past action that was the same or similar will come to mind; the same feeling that was there before will become present. A vicious circle will form, and there will be no way out, and you will have to take a break, remove yourself from the table, and get some fresh air.

But the cycle of the mind's associations is created only when you let it bother you, when you are questioning your own skills, or when you hold on to the action that has already passed. A new moment has arrived, a new hand is dealt, the action continues without stopping. The past is passed: focus no longer on what has occurred, but instead on what is occurring now, the new hand. Allow the past to flow through you, and hold onto nothing of it. It is gone. It is over. Undoubtably you did your best, you played your hand as you saw to be correct, and your skills in your own opinion are good enough. Study, as was suggested, may help, but only to give you a break from the action at hand and to help focus your energies on the present. It is the focusing on the present that is important. Another hand comes, and the time to act upon it is now. Your "Now", your present. It is Zen-like, to allow the past the flow through you, and to let it go. Your thoughts make connections to others like it. Be aware that what you think is important. Tell yourself that you acted as best you knew how, that you played it as you should, then move on. To the next hand, the next present moment.

It is the thoughts that bring emotions. If you insist on thinking on their bad play, or the injustice of it to have fallen upon you, or any such preoccupations, the corresponding feelings will come. Think instead that your play was correct and that your action was appropriate, and the corresponding emotions to that type of thinking will also come.

[Dave H.]

[ QUOTE ]
Your "Now", your present. It is Zen-like, to allow the past the flow through you, and to let it go. Your thoughts make connections to others like it. Be aware that what you think is important. Tell yourself that you acted as best you knew how, that you played it as you should, then move on. To the next hand, the next present moment.

[/ QUOTE ]

I quote Shakezula above. In my post just prior to his, note that I stated that I no longer tilt, nor do I need to quit playing after even many bad beats. I was never a real tilter, but I would definitely get angry and was very tempted to tilt and I would walk away for a while to calm down. Shakezula refers to a "Zen-like" attitude. I just wanted to say that, for me, the turning point several months ago which caused the change for me (to no longer have bad beats bother me at all) was the result of reading and applying the ideas in "Zen and the Art of Poker". The book is cheap, you can read it in an hour, and I just can't believe what a difference it made in my poker game. It's a great feeling to be able to sit through, in some cases, beat after beat, and not be affected and to, in fact, just see them as challenges. There's no anger, there's no having to leave the table(s), and even more importantly I am able to play my A-game. The book is so worth it!

[Shakezula]

definitely. i read an article by howard lederer that described the same thing, about how he was able to let the draw-outs or so-called bad-beats not affect him. by letting-go. by not holding on. allowing the past to be passed. to stay in the present moment.

he wrote that his actions at the table, after studying Zen philosophy, became more centered on what was happening now. holding onto a "bad-beat" can make a person want to try to play catch-up poker; or to take risks that are not justified or sound; or to overplay a hand to try to avoid another draw-out.