Time away

Well, this past week I have taken some time off just to decompress from the incredible run of bad beats I took last week. Poker is an incredible game and no matter how many right plays you make, you can still lose. And even if you have played perfectly, losing still takes an effect on your mental state. I am sure the longer a person plays and the more success a person has, the less of an effect a down swing will have on their mental outlook. This probably is one of the last things a winning player has to overcome.

It is just human nature to start to doubt one's ability when you are not having success, even though nothing has changed. A big problem is that often we start to get frustrated and make plays that we would not make had we not had such a bad run. I mean, they can't always hit the flop, and they can't always have a hand that beats us every time they push over the top of us, but when you are running bad it seems they do, and that brings the snowball effect where it gets bigger and bigger and before you know it you are playing bad poker.

I took some time away from playing because I just found that I was not enjoying what was going on and playing was not fun. I played some free SNGs on a new site to me and won, which was nice. I think I only played a couple real money SNGs this week and I did win two out of the three that I played and the other one I bubbled with AK, which I can accept.

All in all, by not playing and just studying up on my game you can reset your mind and come back with a fresh perspective and get back to your game. I would encourage anyone having a bad run to stop playing for a week and just read and visit forums and look at hand histories and watch other poker without playing, and then come back refreshed ready to win.