I hope this is the right forum for this thread.

Recently I have tried to mentor two promising new players. Both have been a total wash. One of them I cannot do anything about because he cannot control his emotions and has a horrible temper. That is a write-off.

The other one is more complicated. He decided to get personal with me. He told me things about his life that invited me to criticize his lifestyle, then got offended when I called him out on it (!?!).

I'm just a simple, direct person who has no problem keeping things solely poker related in that context. I don't really care if someone I'm mentoring likes me personally or not. Nor do I care if I like someone who is a mentor to me and I've had plenty I don't care for in the past 15 years.

But these guys who can't separate life from poker keep freaking out on me. I guess it's better to just dust off my feet and move on, but wow, what potential.

I can't even imagine being offered unlimited success, yet just walking away because I didn't care for someone who is mentoring me.

Your thoughts?

I agree with you. Move on.

As someone who has been in your spot it depends if mentoring is flat $ based or heavily CFP. In some spots you kind of realize person paying you is a complete life fish but might have a chance in the game so you just ignore it. Other spots where heavily cfp you tilt p hard and either tell them to get straight or your done w them.

Usually the mentor is giving a really good deal. Because we kind of enjoy the mentoring and seeing people grow and growing w them. So person has to be aware what a good deal he will be losing a lot of the time to change.

That's how people are. Helpers syndrom and most if not all coaches have it. We want to help others so badly, often more than they want.

In a way we violate their wish, because we believe we know what's better for them, which is in a way arrogant - unless you have their permission and wish to do exactly that.

It's a fine line to walk and even after hundreds of students you can't be perfect.

About your specific cases:

Sounds simply like you picked the wrong guys. Happens to all of us

There is always a reason why somebody is where he is right now. Emotional/mindset is very underestimated, but it is part of the equation and part of being a great poker player.
You can't say in sports "we are the better team, but lost bc we didn't pay attention in two spots" ... well that "paying attention" is part of the whole deal altho most humans fail to understand this.

People say Isildur would be the best player if he wouldn't tilt. Well, and i would be the richest man in the world if well, i had an IQ of 300. Would be could be should be.

Imo also a lot harder to fix than strategy in poker. You're talking about changing a person (hardware) vs changing strategy (software update).
It can be done, but it's the hardest part imo.

Wow, what awesome advice. Thank you so much.

The second guy is actually coming around. I think he has finally realized that it's not personal, it's poker. He can dislike me all he wants, but I will still give him great advice. Once this WSOP lammer race is over and I move on, he will still have a good foundation to continue his own game and will never have to see my ugly face again

You're welcome, glad to help.

Yeah, it's best btw to not be friends with students, even if you really like them. And the truth is that while there is always some % of people who will have a thin skin and will dislike/hate you (i got some haters, it's a badge of honor lol)... actually the people who really want to improve will appreciate you even more.

I hope this is the right place to learn to control my emotion while playing poker