Poker players hate that word. Downswing. It describes the fact that many poker players like to forget forever and want to banish from their game, namely the variance, which turns on a downswing against one. But first we need to clarify a few terms. Every action has an expected value in poker (Expected Value or EV shortly). Such a fold is basically an EV value of 0, because you can not win or lose more chips when to fold. If, on the other hand, for example, with two aces before the flop, you have all of his chips against any two cards, a 80% chance of winning. If you are now a stack of $ 5 over and the opponent has even $ 5 in game, the pot after the call is $ 10 large. After the EV should now be expected to gain $ 8. In essence, this is a concrete example will not work because you either win the $ 10 or they lose. If you play through this situation hundreds of times now but it would make on average $ 8 profit.
In a downswing is running under this expected value and wins over a certain period, less than a "want". One must, however, a downswing to distinguish from normal variation, as it (almost) never quite wins the thing you should win, according to EV. This difference stands out over days or weeks but again, while a downswing on Full Tilt Poker can persist for several months and usually entail a lot more with it. This is because that in a downswing and your own game almost always suffers a bit, so you no longer play his best game.
What can you do against a downswing? First of is keep it quiet, and one should avoid "tilt" that is to get excited and start to make bad decisions, for example, play too many hands and calling too much, because you think that you win so at some point. This sounds of course easier than it is, but it is an essential component in the proper handling of the downswing. Furthermore, one should, if necessary, take breaks, poker, and stay in limits if your bankroll is not enough for the current limit. With proper bankroll management, and a lot of patience, you can play through with just about every downswing because you always win in the long term, what can be expected from the PA. And the opposite of the downswing, the upswing is determined and could literally waiting around the next hand.
