I don't understand how people can enjoy losing.

A slot player, just like a losing poker player, flushes money down the toilet and comes back for more.

If they truly hated losing, they would stop, or figure out how to win.

I HATE losing, even as a winning player, and I think this is actually a problem.

There has to be a way to embrace it, even if it's not enjoyable.

I have only rarely been at a table so fun, that I didn't mind being stuck.

AND I realize by now, losing and vairance is part of the game, but it's hard to prepare for that, because you want to go in with positive vibes.

Often, I can predict which way my session will go within the first few hours. It's just one of those things.

No one walks into the poker room EXPECTING to lose. OR expecting to waste hours folding and bleeding to death.

I'm actually quite envious of all these losing players. They are used to losing. They expect it. They are always thinking the worst case scenario. They hate AA or JJ and they "ALWAYS with with 52." And they seem to have fun, which I just can't understand.


They are so naive, its to their benefit. By NOT understanding the game, and thinking its all luck, they are more prepared to lose.

What are some tips or techniques to get into the mindset to prepare for anything?

I know it sounds cliche - to focus on the processs, but no one wants to drive an hour to the casino, wait another hour for a table sometimes, and then proceed to bleeed for hours.

You might look into mindfulness meditation. It helped me develop a more resilient mindset in poker. Exploring stoicism and taoism has also helped.

I still don't enjoy losing. When I get my aces all in preflop and end up losing it still stings.

That being said I've gotten a lot better at just experiencing the emotions and then letting them go. Putting in a lot of volume helps too.

The emotional rollercoaster is part of the game, and I have had the best luck allowing myself to fully experience the emotions, process whether I made a mistake or whether there is a strategic spot to look into later, and then letting the feelings go and refocusing on the next spot.

The key is not mentally dwelling on losses. There are various techniques to achieve this. For example in mindfulness meditation you deliberately focus on something else, like a repeated mantra, an imagined object such as a candle flame, or even your breath.

It's a work in progress and some days it's easier than others. Prolonged downswings are the most difficult, as you can start doubting whether you can still beat the game. On the other hand when you've been crushing it's a lot easier to shrug off coolers and bad beats.

Anyway good luck.

Alcohol and drugs

I've thought about meditation, but can't stick with it. I assume you need to be consistent, and it takes time like anything?

Thank you.

You'll get the most out of it if you make it a regular practice, but it couldn't hurt to just learn a simple practice and try it when you feel yourself starting to tilt at the tables. Even just taking a few deep breaths helps.

Music can be helpful too. Sometimes if a session isn't going well and I find myself getting irritable, I'll listen to a few songs to boost my mood.

i understand hating losing but maybe you need to look in the mirror and ask yourself a question: what am i so afraid of?
the reason i say this is simple..hatred is a byproduct of fear...so you must in some form or fashion fear losing.

A few thoughts:

- You shouldn't go into the game with "positive vibes" in the sense that you're expecting positive results. You can go in feeling good, but in terms of actually managing your expectations, your expectations should be realistic and data based, not just hoping for the best and being upset/tilted/whatever when you lose.

- If you feel like you can often predict how a session will go based on the first few hours, you are probably overly superstitious/suffering from memory bias or worse, letting early bad results influence your play later to your detriment. Every hand is a new hand. If we're talking about cash, the division of play into sessions is strategically insignificant, your entire life is one long session.

- You say nobody goes to the casino expecting to lose, or expecting to just bleed out for hours, but you're wrong about that. The best players absolutely acknowledge this is going to happen fairly often. If you're crushing the life out of your game, you're probably still losing 40% of your sessions or more, that's almost half! And assuming you're playing solidly long sessions, say 12 hours, that's 360 hands. Being card dead for 360 hands isn't even being card dead, that's just something that happens all the time. If you play 7 12 hours session per week, you will very likely go card dead for 300+ hands multiple times per month

- The thing you named as cliche, really is the answer. Being honest you don't seem to have a very good handle on the nature of the game. Focus on constantly improving your game via your short term inputs - study off table, write down every hand you play so you can study it off table, take care of your body and brain physically with diet exercise and sleep, manage your distractions in game, don't drink/smoke/etc when playing, do what you can in game and off table to develop your mindfulness and ability to engage flow state etc, actively move to the best seats at the best tables in the room. If you do all those things, you just don't pay attention to the short term results, good poker players aren't good because they almost always win, good poker players are good because after 2,000 hours of play they have high win rates relative to the rest of their opponents. It's a long term game.

- And FWIW, in 90% of situations where someone mentions a mental/emotional game element that's holding them back, they aren't doing most of the good inputs listed above. And in 99.99999999% of situations where someone mentions a mental/emotional game element that's holding them back, they could improve on their program even if it's already good. Focus on what you can control, and be viciously honest with yourself about your own abilities. Look around the room and realize 90% of the 1/3 and 2/5 players aren't winning players, if you're going to be a winning player, you're going to have to do things differently than all those people

i don't think it's about enjoying it but rather accepting it. when i lose i feel totally numb and it doesn't bother me at all. mainly because there's always another game tomorrow and i have a bankroll.

Don't envy others enjoying losing, just try to figure out your own energies and connect that to your results. Like figure out who you are and what you like and try to acknowledge that a lot of what you like happened in that session and how you can improve etc. Don't fall into the despair of losing. I hope this helps.