I receive emails and posts in the Forum all the time asking questions about my book and general poker strategy. One of the common things I hear all the time is “I am in a bad losing streak. What can I do? My opponents play so bad and get so lucky against me!” Unfortunately, this is the nature of Texas Hold’em and happens to everyone. Since this is the case we need to learn how to deal with the bad times along with the good.

The very first step is understanding that large fluctuations are a part of the game. Even a professional player can play hundreds of hours and end up losing money. Texas Hold’em is a game of skill and luck…and luck is often a major factor in the short-term. But how does one define short-term?

An average pot in an online limit game is often around 5-6 times the big bet. In an 10 hour session, one pot can be the difference between losing ½ of a big bet an hour or breaking even. Two average pots can be the difference between losing a big bet an hour or breaking even or between breaking even and posting a one big bet an hour earn rate.

Let's say you have three nut flush draws in a 10 hour session. You should hit 1 on average. On a good day you hit two and on a bad day you hit none. Add to this the nut flush draws your opponents play on you. On a good day they hit none, on a bad day they hit two. On those really bad days, you won’t hit any of your draws and your opponents will hit more than their fair share. You can see how just a little bad luck can turn a good session into a bad one.

That is in a session. Look at the results over a month. Let's say you have 60 nut flush draws. You should hit 20 on average. If you only hit 10, you miss out on 50 big bets (10 pots x 5 x 1 big bet). Now let's say your opponents hit 30 of theirs. That's another 50 big bets you lose on average. That's 100 big bets in one month turning what could be a winning month into a losing month.

These examples are given just to show what can happen in a month. I'm not sure exactly how many nut flush draws one should have in a month but combine these with your gut shot draws, 5 out draws, 7 out draws, etcetera and you can see that a lot of fluctuations can happen even to the better players. So step #1 is be prepared! You must prepare yourself for the long bad runs or it can be very detrimental to your game.

Here are some tips to help you while going through the bad times:

• Losing streaks are a good time to reevaluate your game to try and identify leaks and areas to improve. Yes, maybe you are not getting good cards, but the first thing you need to do is evaluate your game. Is there something you can do to improve your results. Buy Poker Tracker to help you analzye your statistics and compare your stats to the winning players. What statistics seem out of align? Everyone always has areas of improvement.
• Try taking a break for a couple of days or maybe even for a week. Whenever you start to expect bad things to happen you might start to adjust your play and start to make poor decisions. For example, you might become more passive allowing an opponent to stay in the hand and draw out on you because you didn't bet or raise at the right time.
• Try reading Zen and the Art of Poker which discusses some things to consider to help control your emotions.
• Take advantage of deposit bonuses. These bonuses are a great way to provide a little cushion at the lower limits against some bad runs.
• If you tend to tilt easily, avoid playing multiple tables.
• If you tend to tilt easily, set stop losses. I normally don't recommend quitting when you lose a certain amount in a given poker session. As long as the game has some weak players you will win in the long run. Therefore, I don't set loss limits. However, if you tend to start playing poorly, playing more hands, and calling more often than you should just hoping to win that one big pot, setting loss limits may be a good idea for you.
• Never try to get back to even in a poker session. I used to do this all the time. It's late at night and all I wanted to do was go to bed even. When you think like this, you'll play a few more hands than you should and make bad calls. You can always get back to even tomorrow or the day after. I try to think of my results in terms of months.
• Don't dwell on bad beats. This is part of the game and its important to take bad beats with the right attitude which leads me to my last point…
• Thank the poker gods for bad players! Bad beats are a good poker player's best friend. When your opponents make bad calls and get lucky, think about all the money you are winning when they make those calls and don't hit their hand. For example, if your opponent is an 11 to 1 long shot and is only receiving 6 to 1 pot odds, you want your opponent to call. You want your opponent to try and give you a bad beat. This is the reason poker is profitable as your opponents mistakes will eventually catch up with them in the long-term.
  
  I hope these tips have been helpful. Some players with excellent poker skills don’t do well in the long-term because they let short-term results impact their play and strategy. You don’t necessarily have to go on full tilt for emotions to have a big impact on your results. Just playing your B game rather than your A game can be detrimental in the long-term. Stay focused and remember that poker is a game…have fun!