NA2

We often regret having prolonged the game (to the private glee, we feel, of a few players who led us on). It would have been better, we always realize too late, to have left too early. If we had left earlier, we would have then been tormented by the question of whether we should have stayed, but having lost too much right now is definitely worse, with the last hour having been a grueling experience. What’s worse, we can’t really say why we have stayed too long and so we are likely to repeat the same mistake when next time we inevitably show up at the table.

It is crucial to be able to stay or leave based on a logical analysis of the situation, not an emotional impulse. If logically you have matters to attend to – liking picking up your wife and kids or attending work – you must be able to leave immediately. Sometimes a desperate hope for by now certainly imminent better luck is so strong that you miss dates and business appointments. But, the longer you stay overdue, the worse you play, because you know you are supposed to be elsewhere and that possibly your are ruining your life and career.

Poker is meant to be entertaining. If you are not having fun, that’s as good as reason as any to walk away early before the game becomes a tragedy of poor play and an even poorer frame of mind. A lot of players begin the game of poker for recreational purposes. If the game becomes overwhelming and they cannot leave, but neither can they play a decent game, it ceases to be recreation. They may be staying out of a sort of guilt, doing penance by playing badly and losing. They stay on and on suffering greater losses with every new deal, instead of taking their medicine with maturity, maintaining their good nature and understanding that it is just a game after all.

To overcome such pitfalls, the source of the problem must be discovered, and that can be done by the realization that the problem has nothing to do with the game intrinsically. If you insist on performing a pointless activity of self-torture that you cannot possibly enjoy but neither can you get up and walk away from, you have a problem. If you are not staying at the table for the poker, then you are deluding yourself and avoiding what is really troubling you.

If this is you, I’m sure you will find that this psychology affects other parts of your life and activities as well. Try training your concentration on other aspects of your life when you find yourself pondering the stupidity of remaining in a losing situation at poker hand after hand. Envision yourself in other functions instead of half-assed playing in a doomed game. You may be able to identify the source of your idiotic obstinance and change your game and your life for the better.

The problem may lie in not facing the fact that you hate your job, or owning up to a real feeling of grief that you have suppressed for a long time. If you are able to make a connection, you may be able to stop kicking yourself and enjoy the reality of life and of poker.

The author is a successful limit cash game player. He plays poker online and receives NoiQ Rakeback as well as Minted Rakeback.

Tags: card games, Gambling, games, holdem, Poker, recreation, sport

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