I've been up. I've been down. Some of you know how low I've been and some of you know how high I've been. It's been fun to say the least. Playing and learning this game has taught me so much about people, math, and the importance of a stable mental condition. Well I've managed to maintain a stable mental condition for a few years now and instead of bumping old threads today, I'm gonna share with you my personal poker philosophy. You can thank me later. Maybe it's because I'm dumb that I can be persuaded by such a simple statement. Whenever I lose a big pot or win or lose a tourney, I say "nice hand" or "good game." I think this helps me to rationalize it better emotionally and enables me to go back to having a fun time playing a game that I love, win or lose. Whenever I'm not having fun I say this to myself and I'm often able to go back to having fun:

Keep it simple stupid. It's just a game.

The end.

'It's just a game' is good and, imo, dovetails nicely w/ MM's psych book's 'understand poker better.'

The problem is is that to many players it isn't 'just a game' and don't know how to get there. They are hung up on winning or losing and, in particular, to losing 'badly' by being unlucky esp if it happens a few times in a session. There really isn't any 'losing badly' bec w/e can happen will happen since the way a hand can go down, while large-ish, isn't really that big in a game w/ only 52 cards.

Add in the entitlement issues, taking it personally, letting various behaviors upset them and other things that get posted here, getting to 'it's just a game' can be pretty tough.

GL to all though. If you are not at that mind-set, but can get there, you've really improved your game immensely.

Good posts guys.

What really helps me was a moment when I realize there are more stuff to live and get up for not just poker.

Make a routine, meditate, exactly know why you play and genuinely laugh when bad beats come.

It's just a game!!

Good advice. I definitely let my mental game slip when say someone slow rolls me or talks **** about my game, which in turn only hurts my game because I start headhunting instead of just focusing on the next hand.

There isn't one on one in poker, it's u versus 8 other players, attack one and the other 7 only see a weak spot they can exploit.

I view slow rolling, trash talking, berating and all the rest of the bad behaviors as a GOOD thing. It usually means that 1. the person doing it isn't very good and 2. they aren't really there to play poker. Often enough they are there for 'therapy.'

Let them have their therapy, imo. They are paying for it most of the time.

Thanks for the feedback guys.

This is so true. Players can and will get bent out of shape over the turn of a card. Maybe it's because they have too much of their net worth on the line, or maybe they are not experienced enough to deal with it. Either way, I think that if they are proactive and tell themselves that it's just a game over and over that sooner or later they may start to understand that the game doesn't owe them anything.

Yes, the spoiled entitled attitude is the problem. Famed golfer Bobby Jones had a great attitude on this, but hard to emulate. He was one of the greatest winners and sportsmanship guys ever. He said something like, "The tournament is not here for my glory. I am just one of the players. When I win, it's my glory. When someone else wins, it's their glory."

He lived that creed. Sort of the opposite of Phil Hellmuth who gets all bent out of shape when things don't smile on them. This is a very hard lesson for anyone, so I'm not just slamming Hellmuth. If there is one thing I admire most it is genuine sportsmanship, which is really just the opposite of immature egocentrism.

The topic of sportsmanship is interesting to me because even though an unsportsmanlike attitude may be a minor flaw, having such an attitude doesn't make you any less like able in my eyes. One of my best friends is a real poor sport, but he's funny about it. If I beat him in a big pot he will knock over my stack. The last time he did it, I said, "did anybody ever tell you that you're a good sport?" He replied, "no!" We had a good laugh at that one.

7.6k yo!

That's all, carry on.

This is a very healthy attitude. I feel like I was there when I first started playing, but being frustrated and obsessed with getting to the next level has made it difficult for me to maintain the "it's just a game" attitude. It is war, and you should do everything to win, but war is also just a game.

That's lol.