Help with my rough streak!

Heres a little summary of my poker career.

Started playing poker seriously about a year and a half ago at home games. Then I began playing online about a year ago. I consider myself a strong online player and a very solid live player. I am usually not the tightest at the table and not nearly the most aggressive. I do like to see flops but not for a large price. I play mostly sng's and mtt online and cash games in person. I think I am better at tournaments.

Ever since I started playing I never lost more then 2-4 sessions in a row and I probably had around a 90% win rate. I started playing .25/.50 then about 8 months ago upped to .50/1 and 1/2 games. I had been winning consistently there but now I have lost over $1000 in just 2 weeks. Our home games are 1/2 and buy in for only $100 to start. When I first started playing I played with extremley solid players and had been winning. I think we have one of the better home game crews in all of Jersey, honestly. But then we found 2 consistent 1/2 games we could go to every day. Both games are soft and very aggressive by the end of the night there is a ton of money on the table. Most of the people in these games are terrible absolutley terrible. They are all between 18 and 22 years old. Ever since we switched to these games I have not been winning consistently. I have been running bad and playing bad and I haven't had a hand where I can say to myself "ok I have the best hand let me get some money" and the few times I did I got cracked.

So heres what I have been thinking about...
Take a break clear my mind and then get back at it fresh.
Buy in for $200 rather then the $100 and use it to get the most I can out of my opponents at all times.
Play through it.

What would you suggest? What have you done when your in this kind of slump?

Take time off. I went through two loosing days in a row last week, which was the first time I lost two times in as many days since early May. So, I took time off, which was about 4 or 5 days. It hurt, so I didn't want to play again until I wasn't thinking about it anymore. Also, I dropped in levels to bring up the confidence again.

So, just take time off and play weaker players.

I play in a really tough 1/2 NL game every week, and I have some periods where I hit the skids bad. It really gets me down, and I always take a couple weeks off, so I don't play scared or tilty. Nothing worse than a negative attitude at the table; it will almost always cost you money.

If anyone says they can always avoid these feelings, you are either full of it, or WAY too good for the level you are playing.

Just take time off, get your center and get back in there!

Originally Posted by BankItDrew

Take time off.

This is the single best poker advice you'll ever get in your life. Taking time off allows you to regain your center, your confidence, your mind, all essential to winning.

Running bad happens. It gets easier with time as you grow more confident of when you do and don't have an edge.