Don't hope your opponent bets the turn so you can checkraise. Don't get mad when he pots the river when you have 3rd pair. Don't pray for a King to flop.

Every card that falls, and every action that your opponent takes is simply another opportunity for you to make the correct decision.

Does that work for anybody?

Why can't I get it to work for me? (Prob because I play nosebleed stakes underrolled and every pot matters too much)

Edit:

To explain further, I'm not saying that you shouldn't call for 1/3 of your stack preflop with 55 praying to flop a set. We all know that.

What I'm saying that every time we miss a card or hit, or they c/r, we shouldnt care at all. It's all the same thing; Just something that happens that we have to respond to.

what about when you have A 10
and you get it all in on a 10 7 2 board vs your opponents 3 4 and you lose?
can you care then?

I belive everyone feels like this when playing too high for their comfort zone. The stakes will be different from person to person. I got this feeling playing 25-50 and can relate. When feeling like this I belive it's almost impossible to play your A game since you react so differently to everything that happens

I really like reminding oneself of this idea. I mean, it really *is* one long session with bajillions of decisions. The context surrounding them is important in evaluating the correct play but it doesn't have any richer meaning behind it unless we infuse it on our own.

What you're talking about reminds me of something I've taught in chess called "hope chess." It's the idea that people play do things "hoping" for a certain response. When not faced with that hoped for response, often, there is no real plan or solid thinking and the next play will be poor. You want to know what your opponent will be likely to do and the mistakes you may be able to engineer him/her into....BUT you should always know what you're going to do if they throw you for a loop and do something unexpected.

Okay, this may be a bit convoluted since I haven't been playing as much poker recently but there definitely is a very good insight in jman's post.

Yugoslav

I like this a lot.

For a guy that plays stakes you play (and shows interest in this kind of stuff) you might find it worthwhile to explore whether or not seeing a CBT therapist/ sports psychologist would be finincially profitable (as well as intrinsically pleasing) for you.

jman i feel like i know what you're trying to say, but i'm not so sure. lemme know if you agree with this?

if you're saying what i think you are, you're basically just saying that everything evens out in the end...so hoping for a certain card to fall/complaining about a bad beat is a waste of time/energy? or in other words, wrt to the, 'Don't hope your opponent bets the turn so you can checkraise.' statement - you're saying as long as you are making the play you think has the highest EV, if it doesn't work out one time it's really nothing to be mad about again because in the long run it will work out and show a profit?

it might be helpful to look back at what games/times you were hoping for cards. was against a certain player or type of player? maybe when you were stuck? maybe playing with too much of your roll?

also, most people when they flop, say, a flush draw, their first thought is usually "i'm going to hit this 1/3." if you frame it as,"i'm going to miss 2/3" it can help you chill out when you miss.

This is basically waht gigabet said in his sucess/failure post. might want to reread it.

Isn't it almost like, situations are just that, situations. If you have a preconceived notion of what is about to occur, you won't be able to make the correct decision in the instances when that preconceived notion turns out to be false and therefore this will affect your ability to continue on with the hand as it is intended to be played.

Just because what you hoped would occur does not happen doesn't mean there is not a way to continue on playing the hand correctly and for +EV.

The thought is a pretty simple notion, and I´m guessing anyone with a mathematical/logical mind has thought about it at some stage or another.

I´m not very well informed on the matter, but I heard recently that the human brain can trigger the thinking, rational side, or the emotional side depending on the situation. Perhaps this has something to do with why people struggle with the O.P´s point.

If someone checkraises you repeatedly, or if you can´t flop a single pair with AK against the same crazy fish who doesn´t fold a hand it changes nothing.

However, poker is a collection of situations. Some are pleasant, others will make you ecstatic. Then there´s a tonne which make you want to throw up.

I think the reason why ppl struggle to adopt the point of view that Jman talks about is because after a while of coping with a string of ugly situations, their brains switch from the objective rational thought process, to the emotional side...

jman studied in the analytic and continental traditions of philsophy, not that weird Eastern [censored], .

Personally I think jman should reread his own posts, lol. Like fallacy of running bad and the others that are actually pretty spot on in terms how one's thinking towards poker needs to be solid.

Yugoslav

If you have the skills of David Williams you can do this profitably.

link?

I basically think that way since I play in games where I have 100+BI bankroll. Its the only way for me to acvheve that state.