Cash Game Downswing

I think I can officially call myself in a downswing. After losing a 2.5 more buyins at 2/4 NL I dropped down to 1/2 NL where last night I another 2.5 buyins. Combining that with the previous week, and I am in a 10+ buyin downswing in cash games. This is probably my biggest cash game downswing in terms of buyins in over a year.

Why the downswing?

1. I think part of it is a leak I discovered. At 2/4, at least, I have lost several big pots calling big bets with good but not great hands. I am working on putting in a raise earlier to define my hand, or simply being willing to give up a hand out-of-position. This probably accounts for 2-3 of the buyins.

2. Bluffs being caught more often than normal. It just seems that I don't bluff often, but when I do I happen to get caught. I will pull a bluff in a situation where a player can only call me with 20% of his range, and he has that 20%. That is a bit of bad luck.

3. Horrible outdraws. Last night I had AA lose to 54s when he turned a flush. I had reraised PF and he called, then potted the flop and he called so the pot was about 150 with about 140 left when he hit. I also had a redraw to the nut flush, but did not hit. KJ all in vs. TT on the turn of a QJ9x board and river is an 8, etc., etc. I don't like telling bad beat stories - this is just an explanation.

I will take a couple days off, then perhaps play again Thursday.

The good news - my bankroll is big enough to handle it, although I am dropping to 1/2 NL until I get out of this rut. Also, I have been doing great with satellite tourneys and the number stars T$ and W$ in my possession (over $480 and $600, respectively) and UB T$ (about $750, I think) are all from recent wins and have countered most of this downswing. Now I just need to turn those into tourney wins!