How To Deal With Downswings In Poker

[@giovannigarcia165]

I'm going through a difficult time in my personal life, loss of family members, etc. Along with these problems came a downswing. This video helped me. I wish all the best to you who produce these contents. thank you

[@prith152]

Hello, Hope things get good for you soon

[@blazeron12]

My cat died and 3 days later I took the biggest loss of my poker career. It was tough and I didn't want to get out of bed let alone go lose at poker. I just took a break for a couple weeks and now I'm back on a big upswing.

[@andypower2455]

Yeah you must Play neutral Poker or Trading when you gets emotional its over Happens to me by Trading 🫣🥴i dont wanna loose think i get my losts Back with more Hebel/leverage and destroy my Bankroll complett 🥴🫣🙈💸💸💸after that i stopped i think Trading and Poker have similiar mindset. By Poker i lost (selfexplained by this Game also by Trading) yeah also but by way not so much as by Stock Market and Trading 🫣

[@andypower2455]

Yeah mental Thing is big when you Play it professianaly (many Players dont think about that) its not a normal Job where you earn so Long as you do the Job every month the Same Money, without good mentaly you win No Money by Poker and Trading maybe in some Others Jobs also (dont know)

[@wompwomp7177]

Life downswings are real

[@tofftof1675]

Easy to say but soooo hard to do... Poker is such a hard mental game, such a cruel game...and downswings are the final bosses...you have to accept and be prepared for the mental challenge! THANK YOU for everything you said :)

[@hyunfromakl4025]

Watching this every time im on downswings, constantly losing AA all in pre. Flopping 2 pair and getting runner runner backdoor'd. Im not playing microstakes either alot of these are for thousands or tens of thousands. Reassuring me i made the right move and we at the end all play the same game. Thanks for this video Fedor you are truely one of the GOATs in this game we all love to play.

[@alexl2512]

I am experiencing a downswing right now. It has been a year and half. I lost 80% of sessions on all levels from 10/20 to 1/2. My win rate dropped from 100$/hour to 10$/hour. This gives me the incentive to spend more time to study solver. Now I feel that I am much better. I am ready for the upswing.

[@sebastiankotke5725]

Poker is hard , are u shure u played ur best game. If so fine!

[@Buz-Lunch-Punx]

Dude, there is no way you can get unlucky for 18 months!

[@carlharris5986]

​@@Buz-Lunch-Punx oh you most certainly can

[@Buz-Lunch-Punx]

@@carlharris5986 Really? How does that work? because I rarely lose two session in a row

[@carlharris5986]

@@Buz-Lunch-Punx In short, losing all in after all in. I play mtt and sit and gps online. For a year or so now I have lost the overwhelming majority of my all ins pre flop. Getting my money in comfortably ahead on average but winning only around 20% of my all ins. And this is over tens of thousands of hands. Fortunately because the players I'm playing against are making tons of mistakes I've managed to break roughly even despite this but I should be up so much more than I am if I'd just ran even.

[@Vikich2904]

I find it difficult that during every downswing I can't escape feeling like I'm a horrible player that's not actually winning and that this is my reality just because I can point to times when I could've put in more effort or I can recall making mistakes at the tables. All this still happens eventhough I've been through it multiple times and even after analyzing my game myself or with a friend i would see that i did for the most part play to the best of my abilities. I wouldn't say that I'm bothered by negative feelings during a session, but periods between sessions are filled with negative emotions and it feels like it will never end. It does eventually end, but feeling hopeless until it does turn around.

[@sirpaddlesworthiii5933]

Beginner low stakes player here. I think the thing I find frustrating is I feel like I'm making all the right decisions and still lose. I watched a guy call me with T-7o last night, hit a T, turn trips, river a boat and he stacked me waiting in the weeds. I can open bet big with JJ-AA/AK and get called by 4 people and one will flop 2pair or higher. Just feels like I keep showing up with the second best hand even when my decisions are leagues above the others at the table.

[@BryanSmith-bn3wq]

Raise to an amount where you don't get called by 4 people.

[@sebastiankotke5725]

Guys Respekt to anyone who made it, just wanna say all you guys need to be so good in many aspects. Theorie, Disziplin hard Grind, accept loosing alot etc..Trust in ur play reflection on your play and Opponetns. Just wanna say top players are realy tougher

[@CJ-uu3lk]

This video really helped. I’ve only been playing for about three years and I’ve experienced a couple down swings and I’m in one right now. Just in the last week I find myself playing tighter and yet losing 90% of hands when I have other hands dominated and haven’t been able to catch a win despite playing ungodly tight on cash.

[@junak-ix7bp]

Hi, recently i started to ern money just by playing Poker. On the past, i had another job and i playid poker much less than now but with a really cool profit. For now im facing a really tough time with downswing... Im slowly starting the feeling, that the money that im trying to win is soo necesary to pay the bills ect. It is definetly one of worst experiences i had...

[@murmanzach3643]

Thank you Fedor for your open words 👏👏👍

[@theconvictsliveband5802]

Went on a winning streak for 2 weeks, 8 wins over 9 sessions of Cash Games was $4,000 up. Half went over the next 2 weeks due to altering my range and lack of patience. Now I am going back to tournaments to re-set for a while and back to playing my range of hands that have worked for me in the right position. Seeing tournaments are cheaper hopefully this stops the downswing but I kind of know what I am doing wrong 👌

[@e.a4578]

I've been on a downswing almost the entire year. The most frustrating part is, that my chip graph is steadily going up and I am winning at 12bb/100. Just been running like garbagge in the last 2/3 tables in MTTs with huge fields. Just the other day in a span of 2 orbits in a 6max FT, I ran -150bb/100 under EV and came from a big chiplead to finishing in 5th. However, I now look at downswings as an opportinity to get better. I have been studying way more and I feel like my game has improved quite a bit. Let us see what SCOOP may bring!

[@sebastiankotke5725]

12bb Ranking bad?

[@matteo89992]

What abi?

[@e.a4578]

55usd. Well losing ~400bins ain't runnig great.

[@mkader2494]

Thank you ever so much for the very insightful content. All the best, Fedor.

[@myperspective7735]

Mine has been over a month of NASTY SUPER BRUTAL bad beats. Its so depressing. I hope things change soon.

[@kennethnielson3644]

Another great Video Fedor. Mindset is vital to poker and life. Love Elliot roe. While I have not had the same access as you this man has helped me a ton. now LFG.

[@learn2letgooo]

You sir are very wise man. I love ur style of play too!❤

[@DeMcgrann]

Yeah been in a downswing for about 4 months now...I took a second job cleaning bathrooms...yes life's in the shitter...but on the positive side...working 7 days 2 jobs...gives me the chance to build my money back up at 2800 in my hand a month. I'm thinking of changing my venue...and play bigger events and buy ins... I may take 6 months to a year. I thought of talking to a sports physicist...

[@TimeHandler]

I'm getting absolutely fucked over by this game.... It's every session the same thing... Starts of great, redline up, blueline up, feel like i'm playing my A-game... Then without fail... Every session... I just start getting into spots that seem completely unreal... over and over and over again, villain has 1 combo of value, and a million possible bluffs and just has the nuts 100% of the time. Every bluff i make gets snap jammed on. Every value bet gets a snap fold, or im just beat. When i get aces i either get a walk or end up getting stacked, no alternative. Their line never makes any sense... I have no clue what to do, because it seems like whenever the hand reaches a showdown i'm beat 100% of the time. This downswing has completely ruined my game. I used to have a neutral redline, massively positive blueline (in cash games).... But now my redline is tanking because i just don't bother bluffing or calling down. Because i'm literally always getting fucked over somehow. I've worked on my balance... I've worked on exploiting... I've reviewed every spot that seems to be concerning... And no matter what i seem to do. It just continues... Session starts great, then turns bad and just doesn't recover at any point.... I've tried playing through it, it doesn't work... I must just be a losing player, but almost every player in my pool is not just bad, but terrible and i'm actually working hard on my game. How can i still be getting crushed like this? I'm winning 20bb/100 half the time, and losing 21bb/100 the other half of the time, but it feels like there is absolutely nothing i can do... I'm just fucked either way? Is every game just a rake trap or something? I'm struggling to find other explanations. I just don't see what i can do at this point... I'm trying absolutely everything other than getting a coach because i cannot afford that currently. Taking time off seems to make it worse.... I'm not planning on quitting... I just want to see something good happen for a change. It's literally EVERY TIME im in a hand i'm just drawing dead. Best case scenario i take down a small pot on the flop with the flopped nuts. If they call me, nuts change and they always have the new nuts and bet/raise uber small, a size that i just never fold to because my hand is like the 3/4th nuts... Every time i just end up feeling like an idiot. I should be calling small raises more frequently in theory, but in reality, they're just always nutted and have 0 bluffs on ANY board. Doesn't matter how over-bluffed the situation appears, they just have the nuts.... Literally 100% of the time, thus far..... But i keep trying... Most of the time i only need like 17% equity to call their stupidly small raise and i have a close to nutted hand... If i have a flush, board pairs and they have a boat 100% of the time, its always the nut flush too, im not calling down these spots with like Jhigh flush or something...... If i have a boat... They have a bigger boat or a snap fold... And i'm not even betting huge... If i have a bluff, they have a snap call/ snap raise. When i flop top pair, i'm always vs a set... When i have AA and the flop is paired they ALWAYS have trips.... It probably sounds like i'm MASSIVELY zoning in on every hand i lose... But i promise you, this is actually how it has been for about a year. I don't put in a tonne of volume, but i've played something like 200k hands over this period, and it just DOES NOT STOP. Like i say, the session always starts out great, i take down a 200bb pot off of some noob, and i'm like "yeah this is the right time to play" NOPE.... ITS NEVER THE RIGHT TIME TO PLAY. Just needed to vent about it... It's been so brutal and it doesn't appear to be changing at all, despite working on my game a tonne.... Everything i learn just loses me more money because i end up in more pots. I'm sure im not supposed to be running bad in cash games for this long... I was a 6bb/100 winner last year... Like wtf happened? This year i'm not even beating the rake... My bb/100 is around -0.5 and dropping gradually... The opposition certainly hasn't improved. The rake hasn't gone up.... It honestly just feels like i must be bottom 0.01% in terms of luck. At the end of the day though, despite all these feelings... I know it's just a numbers game.... I know i have to keep going... Just checked my PT4 and i've literally won with aces 4% of the time at showdown. kings are losing in ev... Queens are winning though... This is a 200k hand sample... I've never seen this in my life from another player. I see other players getting emotional over 1 bad session. I've had 200 bad sessions in a row essentially. I have to say, it's finally gotten to me. I'm definitely losing hope at this point, despite all the time i've spent in the game, studying, working on mental game... I just don't see a light at the end of the tunnel... Any kind words or advice appreciated. My only glimmer of hope is that maybe a coach will find something that i haven't been able to find... But they're all so bloody expensive. I just don't have the money for it.

[@teacher_bryan_japan]

right mindset 😁👊 before I sleep now...thank you Mr. Holz

[@aaronpateman6227]

I emotionally can’t handle these downswings. It’s been a year. I’m a low stakes rec player. I’ve studied quite a bit. But if I win for a couple weeks. I end up giving it back. I play GG. I feel the site is a shit show. Way too many issues. It’s a huge issue in my game. I’m so emotional when it comes to poker.

[@11coronaking]

I feel you brother

[@BusyCard]

Great video man. Thanks for sharing

[@javag4995]

Great video. Thank you.

[@Brazz27]

I need to start using discord more if you have a full screen dedicated to it 😅

[@onegod7257]

Well said and done Fidi.

[@guilhermeaguiar6978]

Great content, ty Fedor

[@vivekjac]

going thru a downswing past 4 months and depressed

[@BPMa14n]

Needed this. Basically 14 buying downswing. Never had that happen. Oh well AA should be the most profitable hand so hope It can make back and more everything it lost for me

[@panpoul28]

THANKS FOR THE VIDEO. YOU HELP ME SO MUCH !!!

[@АлександрЕрмаков-э8ъ]

Play 200 buy in bankroll and don't worry little unlucky, of course if u play 40 or 20 buy in bank roll u really desire to win because it depends on ur bank roll.

[@Dannykilgorebeloil]

Thanks man , really needed this I’ve been losing on NL100 on daily basis it just sucks ( I went all in with a pair of AA almost 500 bucks. On the table and this fish beat me up with a 5 9 of different Color

[@theconvictsliveband5802]

WTF!! $500 was the guy drunk? Or did you limp Pre-flop?

[@viewerted]

Helped a lot. Thanks

[@pavlinpetrov8854]

Is it correct to think that for some people the bad luck can outweigh the skills in the long run?

[@Denis-mw2jh]

Super Video Fedor❤! Dann würde ich sagen: Abfahrt!

[@markd4813]

Love the video, especially the points with sharing your feelings, I thing it helps you free up and get your mind and emotion clear up- The other Point see this moments as an opportunity, because i believ in every moment you can find it! Thanks for sharing, Fedor! :)

[@toniweigl9783]

Very interesting Insides into the mental Game of Poker, reminds me of the topics of the books of Jared Tendler. One thing, that comes a bit short in my opinion: I‘m running bad since several months. After 7 (!) months, I figured via a database analysis, that I have Made fundamental mistakes (e.g. 3betting way too much). Would say, I have a strong mindset, but challenging only the mental game might be too easy, the reasons might be multidimensional

[@petja6549]

Im going through long long downswing my mental is unhealthy now im so sick in my head i think. Im going to take a break from poker for a while.

[@losyart]

Im Just on 1.5 month devastating downswing losing 70/30 and so on and i needed that . Thanx

[@K0rbendal1as]

You’ll get it back !!

[@losyart]

@@K0rbendal1as I had like 6 Final tables lately in recent 2 hundo tournaments so after you think u cannot run worse and u r unluckiest person of all times there are times when u sunrun unbelievably well and u can actually make profit but it takes a lot of volume

[@sebastiankotke5725]

Can somewone make a Video pleease when the loose 10 buyins in 30 min?

[@bebla8381]

inject the logic. loved it

[@firstname2072]

Variance is a bitch. This year I’ve gone up 5/6 buyins quite quick only to drop 3-4 buy ins over a couple months. I’m happy as I won more than lost

[@teacher_bryan_japan]

i felt that even in small stake haha i wanted to win and it's not always winning its how we accept it and enjoy the nature of the game

[@jdnation9326]

You right

[@PositivePoker72]

Awesome mindset 🔥🙂

[@sebastiankotke5725]

Poker is so underated in Society. Everyone i now from nl 400 . I dont know all these guys are crazy , Stefan Viktor etc. Just Respekt the wrote in the Chat the will crush and the did. Even Viktor plays more hours as a normal nl 100 grinder.

[@paulpena5040]

I hope to one day need a video entitled "How to deal with an upswing".

[@JACK_1892]

Damn fedor. First of all I admire you as a human being. Love your mindset, your attitude in general but especially your calm appearance. It’s so relaxing to watch your content because you never give ur viewers bad vibes and I really try to copy some of those “thought processes”. I am glad you are doing fine at and off the tables. Btw love the content on this channel in general. Especially the current VLOGS you guys shot at Madrid. Regards from your home country 😜

[@JoseBenitez-go5os]

Sometimes I feel like can't even get up I'm ashamed of losing money they just talk my friend it is tough

[@craigsmith3741]

I feel sick right now. I've been the front runner for tournament after tournament the last couple of months. I get in good against the short stack with AK vs AJ and similar situations and get rivered over and over again. I play small stakes, but it's soul destroying. It feels like I can't win. I know the comments are gonna destroy me here and tell me I'm a bad player, but assume I'm actually good and just can't beat the variance. What motivates you to keep playing during these down swings? It's fucking souk destroying...

[@666Zerschmetterling]

There must be players with the most horrible downswings, not being able to get ahead EVER. I played over 50k tournaments on PS, average buyin around $4, ROI 30% and once had a downswing that lasted for 3 years, 2014 to 2017.....almost 6000 games, lost around $3.000. BUT there must be players who had even worse stretches, who never really get out of their downswings. I think Poker is a lot more about luck than many realize.

[@kevinkennedy5076]

I WANNA TALK ABOUT WHAT COLOR OF LAMBO TO GET

[@Yumbara]

Great...

[@evgenyzakharov5551]

When you have a downswing after a massive upswing that hurts less then when you just have a massive downswing You won millions of dollars to can have those elite mental coaches and so on. there are people that can't afford a year of massive downswing.

[@PhilBot4OOO]

If you can't afford a downswing you are not managing your roll correctly. If you don't have a 'bankroll' then I suggest that you either save up a bankroll of a couple hundred or thousand of whatever currency you use. Deposit that online or if play live keep it separate to regular life money. Learn about bankroll management, variance, ev, and most importantly learn to game select with discipline, playing outside you skill level or outside your bankroll is a 100% guaranteed way to go bust. Bare in mind if you want to play large field mtts online it is not unreasonable to structure your roll around 500+ buy-ins. That means you need $1200 to be grinding an average buy in if $2.20 for mtts. If you are loading $100/200 in to your account and firing 10/20/50 dollar tourneys you are literally guaranteed to go bust. On top of good roll management, make sure you are learning, truly learning!

[@brianpechin3959]

I don’t know what the fuck to do with myself, I am in back to back sessions. Now are the best hand I’ve had was a low straight that was beat. It’s like everyone around me gets playable cards, tonight i looked down at 82o, 10 times in a 3 hour session, I love playing this shit but it’s like for almost a month now I can’t get a hand to save my life I got Aces twice, was given 0 action, I’m so fucking annoyed

[@EFRANEED]

Imagine having no one (poker people) to express your emotions and situations... that sucks!

[@mitchmana201]

I agree but it's a absolute f#@ker when your going up n down every 30 mins. I can't for the life win a tournement or even a sit n go for that matter. I can run hot and build a nice stack then loss it all very quickly with situations like the aa vs kk you mentioned... or worse lose to absolute junk! But years ago I could win often. Its so annoying now to have polar opposite swings every 30 mins

[@Michael-hr5wf]

IT'S just insane though when you just keep losing these dam all ins when ahead, sometimes u think, is it me, am I just a unluck box, where's the cut off, either we suck and it will never change or we grind and maybe soon it will turn around, but to be honest I haven't seen a run good in a looooooooooong long time. But thanks DR Holtz.

[@Michael-hr5wf]

Maybe it's because I play on ACR. Lol..

[@Jacob-ud9fe]

I’m a low stakes sng grinder because it’s just the format I’ve gotten good at. I’ve got a 10% roi sample for 18k games. The last 2 months I’ve lost basically every all In that was for a significant sized pot. It’s been absolutely disgusting for thousands of games with no sign of slowing down. Poker is crazy as fuck!

[@TheMartinTD]

@@Jacob-ud9fewhat site do you play on?

[@defaultuser1]

Got AA 4 times last night. Woo hoo. Played TAG, isolated to heads up or 3 handed. Lost all 4. Lucky get AA 4 times or unlucky get stacked repeatedly. Variance is inevitable.

[@luckylenny87]

How to deal with downswings is easy. Use proper Bankroll management

[@ezpzlmnsqz940]

kids with cancer die from chemo and starving children in africa. gratitude. forgiveness. u can choose (after u vent a bit)

[@B0bi_007]

whenever i am unlucky in poker and get tilted, i remember things like this... there are people without food, there are wars, there are homeless people, and i am here gambling some people's rent money... then i turn my sadness into gratefulness and happiness

[@ryanhendriks]

Never focus on luck, accept the variance and play the best you can.

[@wujke]

This time next year we will be ...

[@virgincnr5601]

Just won 2300$ 10$ mtt and I have a downswing ATM losing almost everything in a month, can someone help?:(

[@Pokercode]

We have plenty of members who can relate to this. If you want to work on your game, sign-up to our platform - bit.ly/3BcRPcJ

[@Normal-k6b]

every time I play poker was happy Until I touch GG poker

[@MN-mt2eq]

how to deal with downswing that keeps downswinging lol.. worst run of my life after playing pro for 5 years i want to quit.

[@CJ-uu3lk]

I’m going through this now… I even stopped playing tournaments often and dropped stakes and have lost for weeks straight. It feels like there is nothing I can do I lost 3 days in a row 95 percent of hands over and over and over… it’s hard and I been playing for few years and know this happens but damn

[@Init369]

Losing flips is not being unlucky Losing AA to AK losing top set vs turned straight losing flop nut flush vs rivered Fullhouse losing flush over flush Getting KK into AA at a high frequency That's unlucky.

[@dumifati-kh6ez]

Wtf you know about downswing Fedore?

[@sebastiankotke5725]

Im drunk i want comment now. I know realy good Players which always run bad. For 10 years plus. Have graph to Proof.

[@i30-r6q]

can you show graph please

[@benjaminlatham6669]

I honestly feel as though I'm cursed. Tonight's beat really hurt. When will my hands hold?

[@kellydawson4965]

Is this a meme? You can’t have the worlds luckiest poker player talk about downswings, this is the equivalent of bullying. No one cares about your downswings fedor.

[@frankwalker1715]

FEDOR JUST PLAY LIVE ONLINE IS RIG/ YOU WAS THIS FISH

[@cleeblatt13]

Fettes merci

[@Buz-Lunch-Punx]

I've played well over ten thousand hours of cash game poker over the past 10 years and I cannot understand how run bad can last for months at a time. The only logical explanation is that the player is playing bad. It's impossible to get unlucky that many times.

[@MinhSoSexy209]

It's MTT poker. Can definitely run bad for months and months at a time.

[@RosvStudios]

aha, so after a certain time, luck is gonna be back in your favour? You are just sunrunning the whole time then.

[@Buz-Lunch-Punx]

Really? How? Makes no sense

[@RosvStudios]

@@Buz-Lunch-Punx How doesn't it make sense? Do you really think that most pros didn't sunrun to the top? There's a lot of pros who were on a heater and still are. 'played thousands of hours' how many hands did you play? There were pros that went for 2 milion downswing hands. If you can't understand that some people can run bad months, then you didn't have a real downswing which means you are probably or was on a heater all this time.

[@K0rbendal1as]

@@RosvStudios he’s right it happens to everyone if ur a consistent player You prolly just Been running hot n staying even

[@kevinkennedy5076]

THIS IS LOSER TALK

[@nagaexplore619]

So basically i have been losing 1 year straight. Cash and tournament. Made me bankrupt. And brought debts on me 😢😢😢. I dont how how will i get out of it

[@best7993]

Thats messed up man. But always remember that what does not kill us makes us stronger. Try to work on your bankroll management so it doesnt happen in the future. Dont let it get to you Keep playing keep improving start crushing. Good luck my friend life isnt easy

[@nagaexplore619]

@@best7993 man than you so much buddy o don't know who you are but. I'm glad you replied positively. Absolutely hoping to come out stronger . Let's hope for a better results in future 😊

[@redman958]

Never play with money you can't afford to lose. Have a day job that pays the bills and use some money on the side and follow a conservative bankroll strategy and build up slowly from there. It's boring but it's the only way really.

[@lucabossi7253]

🙏

[@andypower2455]

Im Not in big Cash Games or Tournaments active Low Stack but i can Tell you from my broken Trading try its nearly the Same mindset necessary. Gier in German by both and gets depresses by downswings that can destroy youre Pocket (Happens to me i stopped since my Pocket is by 0 €😶‍🌫️🫣🥴after that i make a necessary Break and Take Hebel/leverage down that was by Trading a very good and necessary step also by Poker, i angered me way to much with bigger Pocket and Same Levels i Play healtyer with way - Anger) so Trading and Poker is nearly compatible from my View and the mindset Standpoint.