Dealing with Downswings Elliot Roe Dealing with Downswings

Elliot Roe Hypnotherapist since 2010 Qualified in Hypnotherapy, NLP and EFT Member of the American Board of Hypnotherapy Worked with over 400 professional poker players, including those playing at High Stakes, SCOOP, WCOOP and SHRB winners. Clients include many MMA fighters and multiple martial arts world champions Focus MP3s are used by 1000’s of poker players world wide

What is a Downswing?

What’s a true downswing in your game? Cash or MTTs PLO vs NLH SNGs Spins

Under EV Downswing

What to look out for Drop in volume A belief the world is against you Increased emotions around bad beats Deterioration of game Loss of love for the game Inaccurately judging villains range

Drop in Volume Volume is your friend, poker is a long term game and your EV is strong keep playing through whilst you’re winning Set a playing schedule or if you struggle with structure choose a weekly volume target Place realistic (and small) prop bets with friends

The World’s against me

How is this happening This could be called entitlement tilt You’re over assessing the mathematical edge your positive EV is giving you in a short period of time How are they beating me? It may frustrate you terribly when a fish or bad reg takes down a pot, especially is if a bad beat. Watch the video when you feel unlucky https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZyUWLW7kEI

Loss of love for the game Studying stops or becomes far more difficult Volume becomes a struggle Video games/DFS/Sports take up what were poker hours Conversations/messages about the game become negative

Degradation of game Where was the majority of the win rate earned? How do the last 10k hands look Be honest with yourself this could be the most important moment of your career. Has your professionalism changed? Distractions, Drug use, Drop in study, Change in posture etc

Loss of love for the game

Bad beats feeling amplified The extended run under EV can create sometimes almost a physical response to bad beats. Tilt is more likely the longer the downswing continues if not approached correctly The emotions can lead to reductions in volume

Inaccurately judging villains range (pattern recognition)

Pattern recognition and ranges When on a downswing it’s likely you’ve been seeing the top of your opponents ranges for a period of time. The human mind has an excellent ability to recognize patterns, usually this is a useful in poker. However we can start to subconsciously adjusting our perceived villains range without realizing it.

This can lead to the difficult situation of your play looking like it hasn’t changed although it’s now actually far weaker than before. I believe this is one of the reasons downswings can last much longer than they statistically should.

Downswing following EV line How long has this been happening Have you been staying ahead of the curve in your game Have you been table/game selecting with the same vigor as in the past How is your focus/confidence at the table?

Hypnotherapy for downswings Can allow you to view your play from a third party perspective. Can help bring back the higher levels of confidence you had prior to your downswing. Helps to resolve background confidence issues that the downswing may be amplifying.

Next steps Take a break Study, study, study Consider a new coach Life balance to limit D/S impact Meditate and move forward If emotions are out of control consider mindset coaching

Contact www.pokermindcoach.com Skype elliot.roe