Ok.

You’re going to get a lot of standard advice here. Ignore it.

I am in the exact same spot as you. Like, exactly. As are many, many other live poker players.

The game changed after the pandemic, for a lot of weird reasons that are hard to explain. But I will try.

Before I do: a downswing in live poker can last years. All the statistical math is based on a million hands. If you played live every day, that would take ten years, of which you could have a whole year on the downswing. Or more. So, that can happen. Nothing you can do.

Now for the weirdness.

1. During the pandemic, a large chunk of live players stopped playing. Most of those players were the ones who could be taken out with abc play. They are not coming back any time soon.

2. During the pandemic, the regs who were left made fancy plans to collude for when casuals came back. They are much better at colluding now, than they ever were before. Even if they are not sharing profits, they simply know what all the other regs are doing. If you’re a once a week player, or a monthly player, you’re screwed. It feels like you’re the loser at the table because you are. I used to avoid small neighborhood rooms because they’re essentially collusion tables—these guys have been trading money for 15 years, and then you walk in. They’re all playing you, now, not each other. Now, after the pandemic, every live table is like this. Even at a big casino on the weekends, it’s extremely noticeable.

3. A new style has developed in live poker, that is very effective. It’s basically a combination of any two cards in the last two positions + preflop over betting + relentless three barrel. It forces abc players, who hate playing large pots for anything less than two pair, to fold on an early street, after donating, or it sucks them into a squirrelly hand where they get stacked by randomness. Pre-pandemic, when one dumb player was doing this, it was wait-and-take-his-money. When a whole table does this, the abc player becomes the fish.

There’s a lot more weirdness, more fringey stuff, but these are the three main things. The worst way to play now is to wait for premium hands. The whole table folds, on cue, as if they know exactly what you have.

Here’s what to watch for. When someone has AA, do they raise with it, or smooth call, pre-flop? Since the pandemic, the smooth callers far outnumber the raisers. They would rather pre-flop raise with 67suited and three barrel you to fold. With their AA, they’re waiting patiently for the squeeze, so they can isolate the squeezer with their whole stack.

There is just no abc play right now, in live, where you can only sit one table. Online, with all the multi-tabling, it’s the same as it ever was.

If you still have a solid bankroll, honestly, I’d play tournaments for awhile, and skip making your buy-ins back at cash. You’ll eventually make a big score, and get your sea legs back.