Feel like crap when I win and go on a heater, wondering when it will end
Feel like crap when I lose, feel sick when I make a bad call. Have a headache right now after making a bad call on the river this afternoon.

Still left up $130 bucks at a 1-2 game. Poker's the only game where you can feel like utter crap after a winning session.

If you're wondering why do i play then...

I am a winning player and feel that poker can supplement my income and provide for some wealth accumulation if only I can overcome these feelings and be more zen about it.

Any tips or pointers guys?

Doesn't matter if you're a winning player.
If it's making you feel like crap, you should probably go and look for something that you enjoy which you can earn your bread with.

If you don't enjoy it, don't do it.

What exactly is making you feel like crap? The down time between hands?

No Fear. Next time you're up, rather than stagnate at 1-2 take a shot at a high stakes tournament or 2-5 just to see if it feels better giving it back that way.

Think you misunderstood what I was saying. It isn't the size of the win at 1-2 but rather the feeling when I make huge mistakes or get outplayed, or if I'm up 3-400 bucks and lose one 300 dollar hand and leave up only a 100 bucks. I guess I just need to play better.

cheers

I think working on your mental game will definitely solve the problem. Its easier said than done and will take some time. I think starting with knowing the problem is a huge step. You said you need to be "more zen about it" which is the mental game. reading some books will get you to a good start. I think it will help you see things from a different perspective. Good luck

I think it feels bad when you lose because you always feel you could have made more, it's pretty tough to cash out at your peak. So if you make a bad call for a large portion of your stack it is reasonable to feel down even if you're in a winning session. But remember, reducing loss is also a win. So if you take a loss of say $100 but you should have lost your full $200 then you should walk away from that session feeling good. Maybe you made a great flat call on the river with a K high flush and the other guy had an A high flush. You still lost, but you saved money by not raising.

So in short, a lot of it's perspective. You may feel bad after a winning session because you could have won more. But by the same merit, make sure you pat yourself on the back in losing sessions when you should have lost more.

Perhaps set a goal for yourself before the session starts. That way if you find yourself way ahead but then give a little back it's still better than you expected going in.

It will help a lot if you study the mental game a bit more, there are some concepts you have to understand when it comes to how learning works, how performance over time works, and how your brain reacts to certain things.

The thing is when you make a call you know you shouldn't have made, you think you know the correct way to play the hand. But what it is is your mind is saying it needs more proof in that spot, you have not done enough work for your mind to really know that you should fold in that spot.

You should also understand, that for any performer in any competitive environment, there is a natural fluctuation in the level of performance, sometime you play your best, sometimes you don't, it's the way it goes for anyone who plays often enough, and not only when they feel tip top and 100% perfectly.

You need to learn to accept:
#1 Variance in your performance, it WILL happen
#2 Poker is about learning, if you spotted something you did wrong (a leak, mistake), you have a great opportunity to do more work on that particular aspect, you review more hands on a daily basis that all go about these spots, and that is the way you train your mind to really know better next time.
#3 Accepting both these things, will take a lot of pressure of your playing, and it frees up mindspace you can use on your decision making (because you aren't frustrated, or get emotional from not performing your absolute best all the time), thus will automatically also increase your level of performance overal.

Hope it helps

(p.s. if you always feel bad after feeling poker, no matter how you performed in quality or results, you are probably better of like people mentioned before to do something else with your time/for money)

Thank you very much for a well thought out post. You've given me a lot to think about.

You need to divorce yourself from money.

OP, in your first post and your follow up response, its all about money to you. This is flawed thinking, and w/ this flawed thinking you'll never get past the basic ABC's of small stakes poker against weak opponents.

Losing is part of poker. Unless and until you accept losing you can never grow as a player. I know this first hand, all too well....because it held me back the first year I was playing live full time.

First, understand that losing is part of the game and strive to become a good loser; second, educate yourself on what it takes to become a long term winner, third -keep accurate records and take poker as serious as you would any other small buisness -because thats exactly what it is, a small business. By keeping accurate & detailed records it makes it much easier to evaluate trends and your long term win/loss rate.

In all likeyhood you're not near as *good* of a player as you may think you are. I know that may be hard to hear. However playing basic poker and waiting for some dumb azz to make a huge mistake when you have a good hand just doesn't happen that often...not often enough to make you a solid long term winner. IMO, if you truly want to be a better player you need to dedicate the time, effort and energy to becoming a good player.
Catching some dumb azz making a huge mistake can and will make you a "profit" sometimes, however as you have already experiecned some dumb azz can keep betting into you w/ a dominated hand and get lucky on the river and then it cost you that "profit".....the point is- a few hands doesn't make you a poker player and certainly doesn't provide extra long term income for you.

Best wishes to you sir....

PS...and as others have said, maybe this game ain't for you. Obviously you don't like the game of poker, you don't enjoy poker, and by your own admission you "feel like crap, or sick" regardless of winning or losssing. If it were me I'd take up chess or some other hobby/game..