I was going to write a long drawn out post but I will keep it brief. Mods, if this is in the wrong place please move.

Also in before noob, fish, etc etc.

I have noticed a pattern developing lately regarding my attitude to poker, and I think it is a mental problem that I need to solve, or else I need to give up completely. When I win or have a good result at the tables or in a tournament I feel good about myself and my game - not to the extent about thinking I am invincible or could go pro (I couldn't and would never wish to), but it gives me a shot in the arm and a confidence boost.

Conversely, if I drop a buy-in or two playing cash, or bomb a tournament, I feel like you-know-what and almost lose my appetite for the game, wondering if I am really as good as I think I am and question if I should even be playing at all.

I am a competent player but could be better. In the last two months I made my first live four figure score when I came 3rd in a two day event for £3,000 - not life changing but it's paid for a holiday. I play 1/1 or 1/2 cash games and £30-120 tournaments. I am 25, have a decent job and I fund my poker hobby from my monthly disposable income rather than having a separate bankroll.

What is wrong with my mental state? If anybody can offer any advice or point me in the direction of any articles or books which could help me with this winners/losers tilt I would be very grateful indeed.

Read The Mental game of Poker by Jared Tendler. Take notes. Profit.

You're going through something most players go through as well including myself. I have just a few questions for you...

1. Are you documenting your win/losses?
2. Are you actually a profitable player?
3. If not, is the reason you're not profitable because you may go on tilt and lose a few buy-ins each losing session? If this is the case I strongly advise you to only play with one buy in each time you play.
4. Do you feel that you could be doing more to better your game? If so why aren't you taking the necessary actions?
5. Are you learning from your mistakes or simply gambling?


As previously stated I struggle with the same problem, but limiting myself to one buy-in per session, constantly reading/posting on 2+2, and attempting to fix simple mistakes in my game gives me the outlet I need to overcome this mental state.

This ^^^^^ a million times over. Jared Tendlers books are amazing!!!! If u do the homework and take it seriously those books will definitely help you with your mental state.

It's a process though and one that never ends but that's the best place to start if ur serious about looking at the game in a much healthier state.

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Ultimately an automaton professional would understand their rou or hourly expectation and variance. They would then simply view volume as volume and ups and downs would be noise.

But as a human (and a gambler) the wins usually begin to not feel as good as the losses feel bad. Everyone I know experiences that. The magnitude of the emotion is certainly something that some mental game work might help with. Tendler or Tonmy Angelo are good IMO.

When I put in more volume I had less of an issue with this. Now that I am playing much less I notice I "feel" this a little more. I think playing full time or near full time volume feels less swingy because the peaks are closer together.

I guess my point being that this in general is somewhat normal in terms of human emotion.

Absolutely document your hours played, wins, losses and expenses. It's such a tilt killer to know you're a profitable player despite the bad loss you just suffered and continue to work on playing high quality poker. I think due to the competitive nature of the good poker player it's normal to feel more bad about losing than good about winning. When I win I don't feel really much happiness about it, and it's kind of a normal feeling; maybe some relief that I didn't lose, but that's about it. When I lose I feel crappy too, but looking at my overall profit/loss tracker helps me realize despite making mistakes on some hands for the session overall I'm a winning player AND I still have room to improve my hourly rate.

After having been on a hiatus from the live game, I just finished Jared Tendler's TMGP. I'm now in the process of taking notes and doing some writing on it.

It's a great book. Although I can't speak for it's impacts on the table, since I haven't sat down at any since reading the book. But it's helped my overall mood and attitudes toward life. I suspect it will have a huge, lasting impact on my game as long as I keep it near, and follow its practices for at least a while until new habits/approaches to the game have become part of my unconscious competence. Highly recommend.

Heh I have a slightly different reaction. When I win I feel like "I finally figured this out and I should come back tomorrow and make some more money" and when I loose I feel like "It was just variance and I should come back tomorrow and get it all back".

I try to evaluate how I feel like I played win or lose. I've found that I can identify winning sessions where I played poorly and losing sessions where I played well and that helps to smooth over the edges a bit.

If I play a typical after work 3 or 4 hour session I can usually remember many of the hands that significant dollar swings either up or down and like to mentally review those on the drive home. For each of those how would I respond if it were a 2p2 post. I wish I had the discipline to record hands on longer sessions. I'd love to record all my VPIP hands and swap those histories with someone to review. Haven't found a good easy way to do that at the tables though.

1. Yes
2. Yes, but sadly on a downswing in cash games so tourneys are bringing me up, which is obviously not sustainable.
4/5. I am studying online but have never branched out into the world of training videos. I have contemplated playing online more to strengthen my game, but I don't really know what games or stakes I should be playing to do this.


Thanks, it's reassuring it isn't just me that goes through this. I have decided to take August off though.




Thanks to both for your feedback, I'll be investing in the book for sure.