Activities with a high degree of complexity require introspection to raise them to a level where they can be considered "art." This principle certainly applies to playing poker and even not playing poker. To play or not to play poker requires an intimate knowledge of oneself, more so than most people are willing to learn. Self-evaluation is the basis of introspection and this is very difficult to take on. We struggle against inward knowledge and find it much easier to obtain knowledge of events and circumstance outside ourselves. Accurate self-criticism of our characters is anathema. In poker, lacking introspection can make you play way more and way longer than you intend, but you don't know how or when to stop.
You may have come to poker because you had no idea what to do with yourself in the first place. Persons without purpose regularly engage in pointless activity. If you just won't take any introspection, but still want to deal with the problem, a possible way is to deliberately focus on the idea that poker is about winning and that nobody, including yourself, despite what may have been happening for the past year since you had taken up this accursed game, nobody likes to lose.
Focus on the fact that your decision to stay or leave directly influences your profits from the game and that you just can't afford to lose. Then it will become apparent that the only reason to stay in a game is because there is a good chance to win. Reason broadly with this ultimate goal and ideology in mind. It does not matter whether you are wining or losing at present; it does not matter whether you are being lucky or suffering a bad spell; what matters is the final overall gain; and if you see clearly that the current game, however great it is going, will in the end translate into overall loss, leave the game.
If you wish to play safe and adopt a hit-and-run strategy, go ahead. If your goal is to win, though, you must play with clarity of mind, and know when to hold and when to fold.
The plain truth is that in poker, all hands are dealt to all players by pure mathematical chance, having nothing to do with the goddess of luck. It is just foolish to get sweaty nervous when your cards are bad and totally elated when they are good. It is true though that self-fulfilling prophecies have been proven to have some psychological validity. If you have played a hand well and have had luck on your side, your success impresses upon your opponents that you are a player to be reckoned with. This makes you play even better, with confidence and the courage to take calculated risks, while your opponents are beginning to feel weak and cowardly, and even worse, they feel disheartened and unlucky.
The important thing is not to let the same happen to you - you will have to allow at least this much introspection and admit that you are afraid of chance and have a tendency to demonize it, but that it is only a quirk of your nature and should not control either your game or your life.
You may have come to poker because you had no idea what to do with yourself in the first place. Persons without purpose regularly engage in pointless activity. If you just won't take any introspection, but still want to deal with the problem, a possible way is to deliberately focus on the idea that poker is about winning and that nobody, including yourself, despite what may have been happening for the past year since you had taken up this accursed game, nobody likes to lose.
Focus on the fact that your decision to stay or leave directly influences your profits from the game and that you just can't afford to lose. Then it will become apparent that the only reason to stay in a game is because there is a good chance to win. Reason broadly with this ultimate goal and ideology in mind. It does not matter whether you are wining or losing at present; it does not matter whether you are being lucky or suffering a bad spell; what matters is the final overall gain; and if you see clearly that the current game, however great it is going, will in the end translate into overall loss, leave the game.
If you wish to play safe and adopt a hit-and-run strategy, go ahead. If your goal is to win, though, you must play with clarity of mind, and know when to hold and when to fold.
The plain truth is that in poker, all hands are dealt to all players by pure mathematical chance, having nothing to do with the goddess of luck. It is just foolish to get sweaty nervous when your cards are bad and totally elated when they are good. It is true though that self-fulfilling prophecies have been proven to have some psychological validity. If you have played a hand well and have had luck on your side, your success impresses upon your opponents that you are a player to be reckoned with. This makes you play even better, with confidence and the courage to take calculated risks, while your opponents are beginning to feel weak and cowardly, and even worse, they feel disheartened and unlucky.
The important thing is not to let the same happen to you - you will have to allow at least this much introspection and admit that you are afraid of chance and have a tendency to demonize it, but that it is only a quirk of your nature and should not control either your game or your life.
About the Author:
The author takes advantage of the Highest Carbon Poker Rakeback. Please visit Rakeback Solution to also sign up for Carbon Rakeback.