How do you guys go on such insane downswings?

[droolie]

Throw out the charts already! Learn to adjust your pfr standards by table texture. With your numbers you are good at coming up with reasons not to raise according to game texture but not seeing the opportunities to raise that every table has. The games you describe are bad ones for isolation raises but in very loose games you will have many opportunities to value raises with lower pocket pairs and suited connectors. When the table tightens up start stealing and isolating (especially from the SB vs a limper) with your offsuit hands with highcard strength that you would ordinarily fold. In very aggressive games you will need to be comfortable with isolation 3-betting pf from LP and the SB or else you will get eaten alive!

The best way to get a more aggro mindset is to play shorthanded. These games vary wildly from minute to minute and adjustment is key. Play some low-limit shorthanded games ASAP and you will learn the value of pfr vs loose players who will cold-call and limp with garbage. Your variance might increase but your bottom line will thank you! You will see maniacs who will be raising every other hand and either you learn to 3-bet their asses or fold your blinds away until you go broke. You will also learn how to make plays for the pot after the flop that you might be letting slip away too frquently now (I suspect that is truly your biggest leak considering the number of time you check and fold the flop. Also make sure you understand implied odds because in the loose games you describe you must be going to SD a lot more) If you go the SH route and really work hard on being a winner in those games your full-ring aggression and looseness will dramatically improve.

Also a note about being too tight pf and not raising enough that has been mentioned but needs reiterating. Playing too tightly will occasionally (sometimes frequently) kill the action for your good hands when others at the table are paying attention. This can add up to a major leak! You must learn to play more hands "breakeven or better" so that your premium hands will get paid off. If at full-ring you play 18-22/10-14/2+ you will be less predicatble and others will play with you more often thus increasing your overall earn when your premium hands get a few more dance partners. You will also become a better player because you will be in more marginal/ challenging situations more often and will learn to handle them better and better as time goes on.

To the OP I have played about 150K hands online and have never had a downswing of over 175BB's. Am I just lucky? YES!!!! In fact I consider myself the biggest luckbox on the planet and have no question that I will have a 300+ one in my future unless I truly am blessed by the poker gods. I swear I have 50BB's swings in a session every other time I play. I'll be hot as a pistol and be up 25BB's in the firt 10 minutes and a half hour later I'll be stuck for 25BB. It's so common that I barely know it's happening anymore. It is so freaking easy to loose 50BB's in an aggressive limit game when you are playing aggressively that the idea of stringing 6 of those together, tilt or no tilt, is ridiculously easy to imagine.