After our previous post on dealing with a downswing, lets be more positive and explore the effects of going on a good run.

If you have played poker for any length of time then you are bound to have been on a bad run. If you are new to the game and do not know what a bad run is, don’t worry, you will find out soon enough by experience. While poker is a game of percentages, these are calculated over a long period of time. Over that long period of time, the percentages become true by averaging out. In the short term however you will find that there are periods of time when the percentages swing wildly in your favor, and we call this running good. In a bad run the percentages swing against you and you may find yourself getting your money in the pot with the best hand and consistently losing anyway. How you deal with your Good and Bad runs will have a major impact on how your poker bankroll fares over the long term.

Smiling Behind a Big Stack of Chips

There are times when it feels like any two cards that you hold pre-flop will appear on the flop or every drawing hand will come in and will also get action and hold up. These are wonderful times for a poker player. Here is a list of some things to keep in mind during your Good Run:

Knowing When to Quit

There are some players that get a little bit ahead and then they quit the game so that they can leave with a win. These very same players will often stay playing through a Bad Run until they have lost everything. Give your Good Run a chance to continue. If you buy in to a game with $50.00 and in a short period of time you now have $150.00 then you are likely running pretty good. Rather than leaving the game at this point you should give your Good Run an opportunity to continue. Now it is important to remember that a Good Run can turn in to a Bad Run without any notice so you should determine at what point you are going to consider that your Good Run has ended. In this example you might say that when you stack drops to $100.00, or less, that it is time to leave the game. This way you will still leave the game with a win but you have given your Good Run an opportunity to continue.

Changing Tables and Limits

When you are running good it is sometimes very tempting to move in to a bigger game. Do not risk losing the magic of a good run by changing tables and limits. If you are unbeatable in the game that you are in then STAY THERE!

Opening Up Your Game

During a Good Run you can open your game up to include wider ranges but you have to be careful about this and not go overboard because it is possible that your good run was caused by the way that you were playing. However when you are winning a lot of pots your image at the table will allow you to be a little bit more aggressive and to slightly widen your starting range.