Dealing with daily downswings

[PuckinFrick]

I've increased my online poker playing hours to about 8am - 12am daily. My brain feels mangled by the time I go bed. Since doing this I've incurred huge down swings daily, bad beat after bad beat, so many situations of having the very best of it until the river. You name it, it happens. It seems that everyone can see my hole cards, fish call big raises with rags and flop miracles, all ins lose to worse starting hands, I get AA or KK and everyone acts weird n' passive or snap folds when for the last ten hands they have been super aggressive. I set well disguised traps that end up backfiring in the most insane ways 😆

It's a difficult game for sure! Though, one good thing to come out of it is I'm completely immune to tilting off because I'm so used to it.

Although, I am losing money daily which worries me, I've heard that the very best players that have earned millions go on over a year down swing and end up losing a big chunk of previous profits.

How do you deal with the daily down swings?

Accept it as part of the game and keep going in hope that one day a long up swing is coming?

Maybe not play as much?

PF

 

[Manjerica1]

Studying more about the game when u feel u are running bad and playing during the good times

 

[Station_Master]

16 hours of play a day is way too much, try studying to improve your game plus more sleep etc

 

[successlaw]

try to put some hours is study and analyze some of your hands
I find very exhausting 16 hours of play

 

[EarnDAStack]

A lot more information is required to give you a proper answer for your personal situation but if you want to play poker long term sustainably I wouldn't play 16 hour days at least until you're winning and you're going to have to learn that the mental game is often what ends up differentiating two players who are at the same stakes and a weak mental game is going to sabotage your attempts to be successful in poker.

Do you have a tracker?

How many bb/100 are you losing?

What stakes are you playing?

Can you afford to lose this money?

Do you believe you're beating the stakes you're playing?
(From your comment about setting traps I'm going to say you're a micros player because that's not a thing in proper poker strategy, there's boards where you slowplay strong hands due to board texture and range interaction, "Setting a trap" is fancy play syndrome and probably just letting villain draw at equity when you shouldn't be hence why you're losing so often in those spots.)

If you're not beating the games you're playing it would be pretty foolish to be upset you're not winning money. If it then causes you to play poorly and lose even more money well, it's entirely a mental game problem then isn't it.


The beautiful thing about poker is everyone thinks they know how to play, and most people are wrong

If you can't find the fish at the table, you're the fish at the table.

GL

EDS

 

[NKGB13]

I've increased my online poker playing hours to about 8am - 12am daily. My brain feels mangled by the time I go bed. Since doing this I've incurred huge down swings daily, bad beat after bad beat, so many situations of having the very best of it until the river. You name it, it happens. It seems that everyone can see my hole cards, fish call big raises with rags and flop miracles, all ins lose to worse starting hands, I get AA or KK and everyone acts weird n' passive or snap folds when for the last ten hands they have been super aggressive. I set well disguised traps that end up backfiring in the most insane ways 😆

It's a difficult game for sure! Though, one good thing to come out of it is I'm completely immune to tilting off because I'm so used to it.

Although, I am losing money daily which worries me, I've heard that the very best players that have earned millions go on over a year down swing and end up losing a big chunk of previous profits.

How do you deal with the daily down swings?

Accept it as part of the game and keep going in hope that one day a long up swing is coming?

Maybe not play as much?

PF

Man, what I would advise you is, take a couple days off. Reset your mind and don't go back directly at the table, but spend another couple of days reviewing these specific hands where you feel they had an innimaginable amount of luck. Pay special attention to: should these hands be played? Did Iuse the correct sizing? Did I have the correct hand reading/action?

Although it migh be just an unlucky downswing that will pass over the time, there's always one or another point we can improve meanwhile, and the feeling of: "I am acting where I have the control to act" will make you feel better around it.

Another point, focus on what you can control. You can control you raise, reading, size etc, you can't control the river card. Nevermind on those!

 

[antonis32123]

I call ot a day the online poker downswings are not the same as love poker downswings . Results online are crazier by far . So call ot a day , or even take more break . See if you can do sth to change this downswing . If it is because of some mistakes you make or because of bingo rng and joker players

 

[wushibala]

I doubt that this kind of upswing will last long.
Sure, there are days when you go deep in tournaments or even win them,
but I don’t believe such a run will continue for too long.
So it’s not something you should rely on too much.

 

[fundiver199]

As others have said, playing 16 hours per day is way to much. Other than that its impossible to give any kind of advice without more information. Like which games and stakes are you playing, on which site etc. Would be helpfull, if you would share your username(s), so we can look you up on external tracking sites.

 

[hardongear]

You didn't mention your stakes......Anyway below is my advice and how I schedule my poker time as a 20+ year rec/hobby player. You should make a schedule that fits your schedule/life and works for you.

You or most people would NEVER work 16 hours days even if paid good money to do it. Treat poker like a job 8-10 hours a day is more then enough and majority can't even work that much at a high enough level.

Also personally if I was serious about making good money and most of my living playing poker I'd have/make a schedule of when I'd play and best times to play. I'd also play both cash and MTT's.

My schedule is/would be as follows:
1) Saturdays and Sundays are for MTT's. This is generally when most the poker world is online and the GTD's are the highest.
2) Monday studying and hand reviews. Maybe some of Tuesday if Monday isn't enough. Tuesday would be my day off thou.
3) Wednesday, Thursday and Friday are cash table days.
4) Rinse and repeat numbers 1-3 week after week.
5) If you're not gonna bother with cash(a mistake in my opinion) add Thursdays and Fridays to your MTT playing schedule. Those are the next best days of the week for MTT's besides weekends.

** If I was start with almost nothing like say $50. I'd play 2nl and 5nl cash until I reached a bankroll of $500. Once I reached $500 I'd then start playing $5 longer blind(10min+) MTT's on weekends while playing 10nl during the week**

**My bankroll is 50 buy-ins for whatever stakes I'm playing. If you choose to play only MTT's and no cash tables during the week I'd go with a 100 buy-ins for MTT's. Yes it matters/makes a difference**

I'm only a rec/hobby/part-time player. Doing the above I've gone from $50-$5000 a number of times over the last 20+ years. It can be done.

Cheers!!!

 

[Debi]

That schedule is not sustainable. Play shorter sessions and take days off. Poker is such a mental game and your mind needs breaks as well as your body. You can't possible be making the best decisions a high enough percentage of the time to get out of your losing streak.

Find some ways to be physically and mentally active away from poker and only play when you are well rested. When you get too tired call it a day.

 

[Mig32]

It sounds like you're going through a brutal grind — and I really feel that. Playing from 8am to midnight is intense, especially day after day. That kind of volume, without recovery time, can absolutely take a toll mentally, emotionally, and on your in-game decision-making — even if you don't feel tilted. The truth is, even if you’re technically making good plays, fatigue and overexposure can slowly chip away at your edge.

Personally, I’ve learned (sometimes the hard way) that downswings are not just about variance — they’re also about mindset, stamina, and perspective. Cutting down on hours, taking strategic breaks, and mixing in review sessions instead of constant play helped me feel more in control. You're right: even elite pros hit long downswings — but they often have bankroll buffers, coaching teams, and mental routines to sustain them. If you're feeling drained and consistently losing, it might be a good time to step back a bit, reset, and come back stronger and more focused. You don’t have to prove your toughness to the game every day.

 

[pentazepam]

Although, I am losing money daily which worries me, I've heard that the very best players that have earned millions go on over a year down swing and end up losing a big chunk of previous profits.

I guess you are playing big field MTTs.

If you lose almost every day in cash games, it's probably not variance that is the reason.

The second part of your sentence/statement is also often only applicable to MTT players (with some very rare exceptions).

Find a game you can beat regularly instead of hoping for some luck to change. Start at the lowest cash games if you have to.

Unless you just play for fun and can afford to lose the money, you should do a real, comprehensive analysis of what your goals are - and what you can do with all that time if you invest it in something else than poker.

 

[Sunz of Beaches]

Just read some of ur other Posts. U say u play 0.25 Mystery Bounty Royals and 1 Satellites. How many of those do u play in a 16 hours session? Must be quite s Sample.

 

[ROYALROAD]

Why did you decide to play 16 hours a day? Can you tell us the story behind that?
I'm sure there are some things you can get out of that time.