Even the best of players have experienced a period of time where no matter how well they are playing, they cannot win. In a heads up battle you can start at an 80% favorite only to have a bad hand draw one card on the river to beat them. You can have a dozen or more outs to win a hand and still not catch a card time after time.
Slumps are more than just frustrating. They can negatively affect a players confidence. When this happens even the best poker player will begin to alter their play.
Some players handle slumps by getting more reckless and aggressive while others do the exact opposite and begin to play tighter and tighter. Both manners of play can destroy your game.
The reckless player gets dealt QJ. The flop is J, 2, 3. Out of frustration he bets five times the size of the big blind. Their opponent moves all-in. They become convinced that after a series of losses, this one hand has got to be theirs. They follow the all-in call. The other player has AJ. They end up losing everything. Normally they would have played more cautiously.
The player tightening up their play is getting scared to play after one sick beat after another. They get dealt A, 10 and lay it down. At this point they just want to make it into the money and with the blinds and antes going up fast they know they are close but may not make it. The flop is 10, 10, A. Five other players stayed in and bet wild. The player would have been able to win a lot of money. The winning hand had only one ace. Playing scared to lose never works.
Both manners of play make you feel extremely frustrated.
Slumps are unpredictable. They can last weeks, months or even in some rare cases years. Your best bet is to be aware of the fact that you are in a slump. During a slump lessen the dollar amount of the games you are playing so you will lose less in the meantime but be able to gauge when the slump is over. You may even want to take breaks from playing so that you can go back to it with a fresh outlook and be able to critically gauge if it is your play or truly a slump. You will also be able to critically look at how it is affecting your play.
