Quote:
Originally Posted by haxx
yea, it is actually totally ******ed to whine about it. but i just get so tilted when it happens. any tips?
There are tips and things you can do to make it maybe suck less but I think it's almost always gonna sting and suck. I've put many hours into working on my mental game and even at the best of times whenever that happens I feel that pang on the inside.
One overall tip to help with not only this situation but any situation where you lose money and don't feel great is to work to align your emotions with your level of play rather than your results. The ultimate goal is to have it be that the results are fairly meaningless (especially in the super short term like one session is) and they shouldn't affect your mental or emotional state. Instead you should focus on whether you played well or not. For example if you have a +20 buyin session but think you played TERRIBLY and just ran really really hot, you'll not feel too great with yourself. Conversely if you have a -20 buyin session, or a session where you're +35 buyins and finish up only +7 buyins but are absolutely confident that you played really great poker, then you can walk away feeling happy and with your head held high.
It's hard to do, but I think worthwhile investing in trying to get to such a place. I found rating your level of play in a spreadsheet after each session to be really helpful, whether it's on a 1-10 scale or ABCD scale. That way if you had a losing session or one like yours but played well you can still feel happy that you get to put a "9/10" or "A-game" rating into your spreadsheet.