Dealing with Your Luck
Dealing with situations that don’t go your way can be one of the hardest skills to learn in poker. If you play poker with any seriousness you know that it involves a lot of luck. No matter how many proper decisions we may make, that two outer still hits every now and then. But if you can learn to control your emotions at the table, regardless of the ridiculous suck-out that may have happened against you, you will truly be evolved in your play and your character.
If I go on a losing streak and my bankroll drops down to a level where I have to change the size of the table I’m playing at, then I do so. I don’t stay at the big table and play scared, or tilt out all my money because “I’m just going to lose it anyway”. I know that poker has a win-loss variance where I can expect my bankroll to fluctuate up and down. And if I continue to lose at the lower levels I stop. That’s right, I stop playing poker. I immediately go do something that makes me feel good.
If you love this game then you have to learn how to deal with the ups and downs it will throw at you. When you start to feel negative at the table, shut down the session. It will save a headache and a lot of bets. No one plays to their best when they’re steaming, have the strength to recognize your emotions are flaring up and change your situation. The measure of a person is not what they achieve in life, but it’s how they deal with adversity. I don’t know who first said that, but it rings true with me.
