Downswings Break Most Players (This Is the Skill They Lack)

No matter how good you are at poker, at some point you are going to go on a brutal downswing. A one that has you doubting yourself and questioning if you are still a winning player.

If you don’t possess the skill I am about to teach you today, you are going to crumble.

Having worked with hundreds of poker players around the world, I’ve distilled the one skill that you need to not only survive a downswing, but to become better because of it.

The good news is, it’s learnable and you can’t start training right away.

So when that downswing comes, you are ready for it.

The skill that you need through a downswing, is resilience.

I am going to teach you the 3 principles that this skill is built on.

And 3 ways you can get in daily reps to strengthen this skill.

Principle 1: Adversity Reveals Your Character

A downswing is where you find out what you’re made of.

Most players resist it. They want it over, they want a winning session, they want the pain to stop. That resistance is what makes you fragile: adversity makes you weaker, and all you want is to escape it.

Resilience is the opposite. It’s learning to lean in when things get hard, to find a way through the suffering and say, “bring it on, I can handle this, this is making me tougher.” It’s a simple shift: am I hoping this ends, or am I leaning in and asking how I get the best out of it?

Think of putting your hand in ice-cold water. Resist it (“this is freezing, I need to get out”) and you last seconds. Same water, same cold, but tell yourself “I can handle this, it’s just cold water, no big deal” and you last far longer. One mindset makes you weaker, the other makes you stronger, and the only difference is the story you’re telling yourself. When you lean in, you can also get back to what you actually control: your studying, your grinding, your attitude, your habits and routines.

Principle 2: Mental Toughness Is Forged Through Hardship, Not by Avoiding It

If you’re used to easy, then when the downswing comes it will be too much for you.

It’s like walking into the gym for the first time, loading up a heavy bar, and trying to lift it. No chance. But add a little weight every day and keep straining, and when the heavy weights come, you’re ready. Mindset works the same way. The big downswing is the ultimate challenge, so you have to train in advance. You’re a poker athlete in training.

The rep is simple: do one uncomfortable thing every single day. A workout, a cold shower, meditation, journalling, a hard study session. Something that stretches you and, for whatever reason, is a genuine challenge for you. You’re voluntarily taking on discomfort, and every time you do it you add to a bank of evidence that says, “I can handle hard things.” Skip this, and by the time the downswing hits it’s too late. You can’t do all your training at once, any more than you can lift the heavy weight with no build-up.

Principle 3: The More You Prepare For Adversity, the Less It Can Hurt You

You’re most vulnerable to a downswing when you’re running hot. Confidence high, expectations through the roof, expecting the winning days to keep coming. Then the downswing arrives out of nowhere and blindsides you, and because you never saw it coming, it really hurts.

So prepare for it on purpose. Picture your worst-ever downswing, then add about 25% on top. Imagine it playing out over time and sit with it. Let the fears and frustrations come up. Then ask the important question: if this actually happened, what would you do? What actions would you take to get back on track?

For most players it’s practical: move some money around, maybe take a stake, drop down in stakes, cut spending for a while, and grind harder than you have in a long time. Not pleasant, but does it wipe you out? Not really.

I once had a client with a deep fear of going broke.

Every time he lost a chunk of buy-ins his mind would spiral. So we went there. “You’ve gone broke. What happens next?” He sighed, then worked it out: friends who’d stake him on good terms, move back in with his mum, turn her basement into a grinding room, and grind for three to six months until he was back to where he was, or ahead. The only genuinely uncomfortable part was one conversation with his mum. The grinding itself? He said he’d love it, undistracted, just building his roll back. His biggest fear in the world turned out to be one awkward conversation followed by six months of doing something he’d actually enjoy.

That’s the point. You’re not visualising the worst case to attract it. You’re doing it to prove to yourself: even if this happens, I can handle it, here are the actions I’ll take, and I’ll move on. It puts the mind at ease. Now when a downswing comes, you already have a plan. Lose this much, drop stakes. Lose that much, take a stake. You realise you can handle it, so instead of panicking you just think, “here we are,” and stick to the plan.

3 Things You Start Doing Today

• Lean in. When a downswing hits, remind yourself “this is happening, and I can handle it,” instead of trying to escape it.

• Train in advance. Do one hard thing every day, physical or mental, something you have to overcome resistance to do.

• Prepare. Visualise the worst case, build your plan, and if the downswing starts, don’t panic. Just stick to the plan.

Ready to Actually Train It?

You now know how resilience works. But knowing how to handle a downswing and actually playing your best when you’re deep in the hole are two very different things. What gets you there is training the skill before the downswing arrives, not scrambling for it in the middle of one.

I’ve helped 100+ players build a bulletproof poker mindset and become crushers in their games through the 8-week Poker Athlete training camp. If you’re tired of learning about mindset and you want to work closely with me to actually start training it, this is where we do exactly that.

→ Click here to apply for The Poker Athlete Program

Adam