Surviving swongs

[dalecooper]

What's your technique? Do you have one, or do you just play through?

Historically I am bad with swongs. My first serious one convinced me to move down stakes when I probably didn't need to, and my second serious one (which was really serious, and really prolonged) made me quit playing for almost a year. Psychologically these things can be very damaging to me. A drop of a buy-in or two here and there doesn't trouble me, but when they become sustained and extend through a few sessions, that's where I get into trouble.

The last couple I had I have employed a sort of stop-loss measure: I withdraw excess money from my bankroll except the amount I need to play my current stakes, I take a few days off to clear my head, and then I come back with the intent of multi-tabling more and playing a tighter style than I usually do. This has worked out well both times. Last night was a large moral victory though. Since I came back to poker in Feb., this was my biggest sustained downswing. It was about 8 buyins overall and constituted 4 consecutive losing sessions. The first half of it was mostly coolers and a couple too-thin calls; the second half was definitely tilt-fueled, and I made at least one call so asinine that I was actually ashamed of myself. Once that happened I told myself I needed to put the brakes on again. So I withdrew all but 16 buyins of my roll, took 2 days off. Then last night I came back to play 4 tables (2-3 is my norm) and just nit it up a bit.

The best part was that I had huge early adversity and survived. I lost most of my small and medium pots early and was stuck about 1/2 buyin. Then I got into a hand with AA vs. another guy's KK (he flat-called my raise to trap me) and the flop was K44, and that predictably cost me a full stack. At that point I was tempted to call it quits again and just take out the rest of my money before it all evaporated. But I stuck to it and kept playing my A game, and most importantly I didn't let tilt or fear control me. Probably 5 minutes after the aces hand, a decent player put in a button raise on my big blind; I 3-bet with AK, and he 4-bet to almost half of a stack. This would have been a good spot to get frustrated and afraid of losing again and just let him have it. But I made the right decision and put it all in, and he called me with AQ. Then right at the end of my session, having clawed my way back to even, I raised preflop with A9 and had a guy donk into me on a scattered low card flop. Again it would have been easy to roll over, but I read it as a test bet and so pumped it up to about 3x his bet. He folded, and that put me ahead for the session (if just barely).

Financially this was no windfall, but psychically this mattered to me a great deal. I can't wait to sit down and play again. So that's how I survive swongs - you?

[PapalRage]

if i hit a significant downswing, 3+ buyins, ill usually stop my session and review my play. if i think im playing poorly, ill take some time to talk trouble hands over with poker friends or post hands here to try and find better lines to take, etc.. if all my beats are just suckouts or coolers, ill usually go back to playing. however, if i feel that i might be tilting at all, ill just go run/lift/do anything else.

another thing to note, you should always try to play your A-game. don't change the way you play just because you had a few losing sessions, and then once you win some back revert to your old style. if you think that you will win more consistently playing a nittier style, why wouldn't you play that way all the time?

[dalecooper]

It's because the way I usually play is higher variance/swingy, but I believe it's more profitable over the long run. I make image plays and do things that have thin value at the time, but may set up bigger pots later on. This style is fine when I'm running well (or at least not running awful). But knowing that I'm tilt-prone, I can't keep playing this style when I am stuck pretty badly over my last few sessions and am having that undercurrent of thought that I can keep playing loose/aggressive and win it all back quickly. It's possible that I could, of course, but tilt makes it dangerous - it can turn what would usually be a sound, well-thought-out play into a crazy one (and there might not be much difference between the two, which makes it harder for me to figure it out if I'm playing with too much emotion).

It's often recommended to players starting out to play tight/aggressive as it's a low variance, moderately profitable style in low stakes games. Well, low variance/moderately profitable is exactly what will get me feeling better (and more importantly, playing better) when things have been going against me for a long time.

[Galapogos]

I hit an awful awful downswing starting in April. Definitely the worst one I had been through since last summer.

All I did was make sure I knew I was making the right plays and knowing it would turn around. Of course, I wish it could be as simple as I make it sound. I would freak out at th beats and shit while it happened. But I made sure if I was tilting I'd quit my session.

Also, it's important to make poker fun for you still. I had $30 on Pokerstars so for the hell of it, I made a bankroll building project on there. If the downswing hit me there, boohoo I lost $30. But the important thing is I was having fun playing on there because I didn't truly give a fuck about the $30. Being able to play without concern for the loss once in a while really clears your head.

[dalecooper]

Also, it's important to make poker fun for you still.

I think this is one of the main reasons I occasionally have to take a day or two off. When I'm in a serious swoon I stop having fun and I start just wanting to get even (both in the dollars sense, and the "revenge on this stupid game" sense). That's not a recipe for playing well. A small amount of time off can help me get my perspective back and just enjoy the game again.

[PapalRage]

I guess if you know you won't be able to take the emotion of the moment out of your decision making process than switching your style is smart. Another thing i sometimes do when i have a downswing at 6-max is go play full ring for a day or two. This may not be viable for you since I think I'm one of the few that plays both but i find the grind of full ring relaxing compared to 6-max.

[dalecooper]

Yeah, I think I could definitely do that. I don't play much full ring lately but I have a pretty fluid style and do play SnGs, MTTs, and some non hold 'em games - so switching to full ring wouldn't trouble me at all. And it's certainly a calmer game for the most part. The only thing that relaxes me more is limit, which I really don't dabble in any more.