A couple friends and I are going to Reno today to play in a $200 tourney and then hopefully to have some fun tonight. The place has a bowling alley and a driving range and plenty of booze so it should be fun. We are just going for the day and coming back tomorrow.
I have been joined to another skype chat group and I am a poker strat whore so I love talking about the game. One of the guys is going through a downswing and is bemoaning his luck and complaining about how poker is 100% luck and that he doesn't have any and blah blah meow chow. I know I get in this same mindset when I am downswinging as well.
Here is how I responded (I need to come back and read this post when I go through my next downswing):
Take a break - spend a day or two reviewing HHs, ghosting other players, watching vids, but definitely don't play.
Take a deep breath, look at your overall results - are you a winning player overall? Are you simply having a bad year? Or do you actually suck and need to work on your game? Be honest with yourself.
Right now you are in a total whiny bitchfest and believe that poker somehow "owes" you something; you are never "due" in poker; odds don't change depending on how you are running; all you can do in tourneys is play as optimally as you possibly can and let the results come... and they will come.
But when you start equating poker to blackjack which is what you are doing it becomes harder and harder to get out of that shitty emotional state.
gl trying - I am off to Reno
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I am also in my longest downswing (haven't played much in the past month or so) but it goes all the way back to the Sunday Million FT bubble, that was February.
In the past I would never do this:
"Take a deep breath, look at your overall results - are you a winning player overall? Are you simply having a bad year? Or do you actually suck and need to work on your game? Be honest with yourself."
I really try to do this now, it's not always easy to admit that to myself that I am not playing my best game, but if we are not, we are not leaving much room for improvement.
Its easier said then done though, when you constantly watch 2 and 3 outer's flame you out of a solid shot of winning a tournament, its so asrdgqwrgvargtqwrgvasrg frustrating!
But.....
"all you can do in tourneys is play as optimally as you possibly can and let the results come... and they will come."
Poker owes me or anyone else nothing! In fact, my small success in poker has made my financial life smoother.
Great post Chard, thanks for sharing.
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