The Brutal Reality of Downswings
If you grind Pot Limit Omaha for a living, you must accept a very harsh mathematical truth. The game owes you absolutely nothing. You can study the solver every single day, perfect your preflop ranges, and make zero mistakes postflop, but short-term variance can still completely destroy your session. Check out our free variance calculator for reference.
In a recent video, Run It Once founder and high-stakes legend Phil Galfond discusses the psychological toll of coaching players through massive downswings. He notes that if you track a group of winning players, statistics dictate that someone will eventually fall into the bottom 1 percent of luck. They will experience a downswing that defies all logic and feels completely unfair. As a mentor once told him, you will eventually run worse than you ever thought was mathematically possible.
🔥 VIDEO TEASER: We embedded the full Phil Galfond YouTube Short at the very bottom of this article. Keep reading to learn how to bulletproof your bankroll, and then scroll down to watch his breakdown.
Bulletproof Your Bankroll and Mindset
Hearing that you will eventually face a soul-crushing downswing might sound grim, but it is actually the most empowering concept in poker. Once you accept that swings are simply a mandatory tax you pay to play this game, you stop playing the victim.
You cannot control the cards’ runout. What you can control is your mindset and your bankroll management. When the downswing hits, weak players panic, punt their stacks, and move up in stakes to chase losses. Elite players drop down a limit, review their hands, and trust the math. A strong mindset paired with an unbreakable bankroll strategy guarantees that you will survive the variance and eventually realize your true Expected Value.
Control Your Edge With Run It Once
The absolute best way to make your downswings shorter and less severe is to widen your technical skill edge over the player pool. A higher winrate acts as a mathematical shield against variance. If you are a 10 bb/100 crusher, your downswings will be drastically smaller than a breakeven player’s.
To build that elite technical foundation, you need structured, world-class coaching. Run It Once remains the premier PLO training platform for serious players looking to plug their leaks and master advanced Omaha theory. Do not wait for the next downswing to wipe out your bankroll before you decide to study.
Take control of your winrate today. Use the official Run It Once discount code PLO365 at checkout to get 10 %off your Elite or Vision membership. Stop bleeding EV, stick to the process, and crush the games.
Watch: Phil Galfond on Variance:
With over 12 years of Omaha Poker experience, Lebi is the Head of Content at PLO365. A dedicated PLO specialist, he bridges the gap between complex GTO theory and practical street poker. He leads our review team, stress-testing PLO solvers, HUDs, and training courses to ensure they meet the demands of the modern grinder. When he isn’t auditing poker room RNGs or writing strategy guides, you can find him grinding PLO cash games and Turbo MTTs. Check here how we review.
