A winning streak, also known as a win streak or hot streak, is an uninterrupted sequence of success in

games A game is a Structure, structured type of play (activity), play usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an Educational game, educational tool. Many games are also considered to be Work (human activity), work (such as p ...

competitions Competition is a rivalry where two or more parties strive for a common goal which cannot be shared: where one's gain is the other's loss (an example of which is a zero-sum game). Competition can arise between entities such as organisms, individ ...

, commonly measured by at least three wins that are uninterrupted by losses or

ties TIES may refer to: * TIES, Teacher Institute for Evolutionary Science * TIES, The Interactive Encyclopedia System * TIES, Time Independent Escape Sequence * Theoretical Issues in Ergonomics Science * The International Ecotourism Society {{disambig ...

. In

sports Sport is a physical activity or game, often competitive and organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The number of participants in ...

, it can be applied to

teams A team is a group of individuals (human or non-human) working together to achieve their goal. As defined by Professor Leigh Thompson (academic), Leigh Thompson of the Kellogg School of Management, " team is a group of people who are interd ...

, and

individuals An individual is one that exists as a distinct entity. Individuality (or self-hood) is the state or quality of living as an individual; particularly (in the case of humans) as a person unique from other people and possessing one's own needs or g ...

. In sports where teams or individuals represent groups such as countries or regions, those groups can also be said to have winning streaks if their representatives win consecutive games or competitions, even if the competitors are different. Streaks can also be applied to specific competitions: for example, a competitor who wins an event in three consecutive world championships has a winning streak at the world championships, even if they have lost other competitions during the period.

Distinction from unbeaten streak

A winning streak is different from an unbeaten streak in sports where tied results are possible, and so a result is neither a win nor a loss, as in

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

. Unbeaten streaks are still considered significant achievements and their length may be compared directly to winning streaks. It is possible to achieve both an unbeaten streak and a winless streak, with an all-ties record.

Causation

Psychological momentum

Most quantitative studies of winning and losing streaks, and the associated concept of psychological momentum, have failed to find any evidence that "streaks" actually exist, except as a matter of random chance. A team with low ability is more likely to lose frequently, and a team with high ability is more likely to win, but once ability is controlled for, there is no evidence that a "winning" or "losing" streak affects the result of the match. One study of European association football matches using a

Monte Carlo Monte Carlo ( ; ; or colloquially ; , ; ) is an official administrative area of Monaco, specifically the Ward (country subdivision), ward of Monte Carlo/Spélugues, where the Monte Carlo Casino is located. Informally, the name also refers to ...

methodology found that, once ability was accounted for, a team was actually slightly ''less'' likely to win or lose when it had experienced the same result in the previous match. A study of streaks in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

and

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

concluded that the actual results were similar enough to predictions with no momentum effect, that the effect was of limited importance. Despite the apparent nonexistence of streaks in quantitative terms, many scholars in the field have pointed to the importance of understanding qualitative, psychological aspects of streaks. Studies in sports management suggest that some managers are able to prolong winning streaks through managerial strategies.

Team planning

team sports A team sport is a type of sport where the fundamental nature of the game or sport requires the participation of multiple individuals working together as a team, and it is inherently impossible or highly impractical to execute the sport as a s ...

, winning streaks may be achieved through planning a team based on

Steiner's Taxonomy of Tasks In his book ''Group Processes and Productivity,'' Ivan Dale Steiner identified a taxonomy of group tasks to be a key source of coordination problems in groups, contributing to process losses within those groups. These tasks are divided into thre ...

. Teams may attempt to win through using star players (disjunctive), managing their weakest members ( conjunctive), and/or aiming for squad depth (additive). Using one or a few star players, the team can suffer if the player has a bad game, or if they play a turn-taking sport such as

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

Longest streaks

The longest (in terms of time) recorded winning streak in any professional sports is

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

's Antoni Bou, having won 36 consecutive

FIM Trial World Championship The FIM Trial World Championship and FIM X-Trial World Championship are the most prestigious motorcycle trials tournaments of the world, organised by the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme. The outdoor championship is held since 1964 and ...

(18 outdoor and 18 indoor) starting in 2007 and continuing through 2024 (as of March 2025, he is still active in the sport).

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

Jahangir Khan Jahangir Khan (Pashto, born 10 December 1963) is a former professional Pakistani squash player. He won the World Open title six times, and the British Open title ten times (1982–1991). He is widely regarded as the greatest squash player ...

's 555 consecutive wins in squash from 1981 to 1986 is also of significant note. In 2013, the Dutch

wheelchair tennis Wheelchair tennis is one of the forms of tennis Adaptive sport, adapted for wheelchair users. The size of the court, net height and rackets are the same, but there are two major differences from pedestrian tennis: athletes use specially designe ...

player

Esther Vergeer Esther Mary Vergeer (; born 18 July 1981) is a Dutch former professional wheelchair tennis player. Vergeer won 43 major titles (21 in singles and 22 in doubles), 23 year-end championships (14 consecutive in singles and nine in doubles), and se ...

retired with an active 10-year-long winning streak of 470 matches, including a streak of 250 consecutive sets won.Ben Rothenberg
Unbeaten Since 2003, Wheelchair Champ Retires

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

, February 12, 2013

References