I'm a microstakes tourney player and I'm on the biggest heater of my life. I've cashed in or won I think 5-6 tourneys in a row. The last one was the biggest...I just finished 7th in a tourney and got $106.

That wouldn't be a lot back when I was low-to-medium stakes, but I went busto and took a long break, easing my way back in with <$5 tourneys, freeroll and SNG's and I'm just crushing them over the last few weeks. That 7th-place tourney I just referenced finished less than half an hour ago. I got up, made and sandwich, and my legs shook the whole time. I've never been on a streak like this and I am not sure of the most optimal way to handle it.

But, I know that even the best tourney players only cash around 15% of the time, so I know this streak is not sustainable. I'm afraid I'll crash harder when that inevitable variance kicks in.

So I thought I'd make this thread. I'd like advice for preparing for the downswing and playing from an optimal mental place while I'm still in the rush.

Thanks in advance.

sounds like what youre doing is working fine. Id suggest taking a couple shots at bigger tournies though.

Reading http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gambler%27s_fallacy might help

Or put simply: the profit line has no reason to fall harder after a big unsustainable rush; it has no "memory" of what happened before.

Easy: Don't even think of it as profit yet!

Forget about the rush and just concentrate on playing more and finding your longterm winrate/ROI... Then you can tell yourself "if I play X hours, on average, I'll make $Y", etc and rushes/downswings won't bother you so much.

Juk

To clarify, I only meant that the downswing would take a greater emotional toll on me, not that I believe the gambler's fallacy.