I have a problem in my game that I need to fix. This problem only hits cash games, and it’s all mental. I know going in to a cash game I may only win 10 big blinds in a session, I might lose 10 big blinds in a session.

Where the problem hits is situations where I might call an all in in a session and double up and, with the way the game works, lose some of my profit. My stack will always grow and shrink as I play hands but in the back of my mind I get this feeling of “if only I had quit sooner” which outside of the table is clear to me that it’s part of the ebb and flow of the game, but in the game how do you shake that “gamblers mentality”, for lack of a better word? I know this effects my game when I start to think like this.

Maybe I should just keep a post-it on my monitor with a reminder?


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Phil Laak often talks about 'being down' with respect to his peak stack during a cash game. It's another form of 'scared money syndrome' and it obviously has an affect on some Player's games.

As a general rule, when you start to sense that you are playing differently than 'optimal' then you need to either address it or cash out. If you are playing on a site that has nicknames then you may create a reputation for the 'cash-n-dash' and it could affect your action.

There is no profit until you cash out but another way to look at it could be that this is 'free' money to play with and work on your game. It's very obvious that when you play in a tournament that you play differently with a short v big stack. The same can be applied to cash games to a certain degree.

Are you short to begin with and then double up to the other Player's stacks? If you cover the rest of the table then you can't lose all your chips anyway.

The biggest thing in poker is moving on to the next hand. You should become more comfortable playing with bigger stacks with each opportunity to do so. If you think that a 'normal' session is +/- 10bb then you need to look at that as well and how you are approaching the game. You need to move more towards each session being +/- 3 buy-ins, not bb.

Being self-aware is huge in poker ... being self-aware and knowing how to steer things back on course comes with experience and the right mental processes. If you mind is creating a bunch of background noise, then you can't focus on the hand in front of you. GL