I was on an insane upswing in Poker during the last one year. Things were going so good that I used to brag to people I played with that I could not even remember the last time I lost.

Then I started losing sometime in January. For last 6 months I have lost more times than I can count. Every thing is going against me. I hit a straight, someone hits a better straight. I hit a straight, someone hits a flush. Of course I am making bad calls too. It is a combination of playing on tilt + bad luck.

When you are on a downswing, you question everything. Am I just a fish who used to get lucky? Should I leave this game altogether. Maybe me winning earlier was not all skill. A lot of luck was involved too. Just like me losing now is not just my skill level. The only thing I can control is the inputs. Variance will be there. But consider a long enough duration, hopefully the skill part will outweigh the bad beats.

A friend also commented how my game has become predictable. When I was winning there was no need to study. Everything was going my way. Losing is humbling. I lost the most I have ever done in my life last weekend. I was close to quitting poker. But I have decided to continue and not let one bad session decide whether I love or hate Poker.

I had blogged earlier about my learnings from the game and how Poker most resembles real life.

It is same with career. One bad career move does not define you. One bad manager does not define you. One setback does not define you. Take enough bets, let variance run its course. And if we keep working on ourselves hopefully by the end of it, we will win.

I will keep grinding and improving.