So my current ‘downswing’ continued through the WCOOP and is now approaching the dreaded 200 ABI territory. I couldn’t be less stressed about it, which is a very refreshing feeling.

Why? I’m not entirely sure, but there are probably a couple of reasons. One reason is that I feel like I played some of the best poker of my life throughout the final five days of the series. It felt like I was reading hands and situations well, finding ways to exploit villains’ leaks in ways that I often wouldn’t consider, and making a lot of disciplined laydowns.

However, I think the more important part of the equation is my perspective. I can only put this into words thanks to KB sharing that Gary V video, it really crystalized a vague feeling that I had.

I had to take a break on the final Monday/Tuesday of the series because I really burnt out and felt like I wasn’t playing well the previous weekend. I was having a bunch of the typical ‘downswing’ thoughts like: 

“How often can I make a good 4-bet shove and run into the top of their range?” and “How often can I check-raise shove a 12-outer vs an aggro player’s turn cbet and not only get called but miss my draw?”

After taking a break, those thoughts stopped troubling me. I would ask myself the same questions but with a totally different perspective. I realized that if I keep making good 4-bet shoves, it doesn’t matter what happens in this hand, or the next 20 hands, as long as the shove is good. How often can I run into the top of their range? A bunch of times in a row, but sooner or later the opposite will happen.

It is very helpful to realize/remember that whatever happens today is completely meaningless in the long run (assuming I am playing within my bankroll) as long as it doesn’t make me play worse. I can simply focus on “how well am I playing?”

I can safely say, for someone down ~8k over the past 3 months, I’m playing fucking great. That’s all that matters.