For all those on a downswing

davidab157 · #1 (**permalink**) 07-01-2007, 05:19 PM

This was posted on another forum (I'll keep the identity secret, lol) by a low-limit pro. It's nothing mindblowing but I think I'm gonna print it out and stick it next to my monitor (along with the various "stop being a fucking donkey" post-it notes). I dunno, it just.........motivated me. Hopefully it does the same for others:

Quote:

Poker is a game with immensely high psychological requirements. It's very tough, very brutal, and extremely unforgiving sometimes. For me most of my poker career has been spent in a downswing despite the fact that I've still made a lot of money playing, I still spend at least half of most months getting two and three outted and setup and having session after session of heavy loss.

Enduring it is really difficult. I don't think most players know what it's like to routinely go through that kind of thing and how discouraging, maddening, and heartbreaking it can be.

But through it forges strength and character and indestructibility. One has to mature through these kinds of experiences and frankly there's very little answer and very little advice that can be given besides: Hold the fuck on, don't give up, and ride it out.

phoenixdan5 · #2 (**permalink**) 07-03-2007, 08:38 PM

is it weird that when you dont play poker for a day you really feel the need to get the addrenaline/seritonin elsewhere?

LordRahl86 · #3 (**permalink**) 07-03-2007, 11:13 PM

Not really.

Anyway, I like to think that I can tell when I'm tilting. I used to rarely do it, but I went ahead and logged in to see how mentally prepared I was for being rivered, and I found myself much more susceptable to tilting than before. I got really angry about some donkey making a stupid call and I had to stop and tell myself that I was tilting.

Who knows? It could be that I'm not used to that stuff anymore, since I've hardly played at all, and thus I've gotten bad with the tilting.

Why do you think some people have a hard time with tilting?

Edit: You know, I think sometimes, it's a bit of an arrogance issue. Maybe you think that, since you are a much better player than the rest, they can't get you every once in a while. I used to play rock/paper/scissors best 2 out of 3 standard because of this. 2 out of 3 it was nearly impossible to beat me, but with just a little better luck than me (not easy), a kid could get the first win. I recognized that, and now I recognize that, if we keep doing two out of three (basically), I'll come out on top.

A lesson from my childhood.

Eclipse86 · #4 (**permalink**) 07-03-2007, 11:42 PM

thanks for this post david.. ive been running really badly this week and got lazy and stopped playing due to lack of motivation.. after reading this post im just about ready again to grind it out again.