Prose from a Poshboy

[tikay]

I liked this, by Mr N.....

Gotta remember poker players are usually pretty competitive, most people who seem not at all bothered are actually very bothered but are pretty focused on winning and don't allow a) people to see they are bothered or b) the disappointment  of losing to cloud their focus. I think this is the way to be, if you were truly not bothered whether you won or lost I can only assume you'd be a bad poker player.

You can of course be "not bothered" (on the surface) if you are a GOOD player, it just means you are better equipped mentally to handle the swings.

I spend most of my working time with newbies who struggle to grasp that losing is just part of the game, & if they want to enjoy poker, they'd better soon learn that fact. In most cases, they soon realise the poker facts of life, but some play for years without grasping that bad beats & the like are perfectly standard, & NOBODY can avoid them. Every single session of poker we have will include a few beats. Seems to me that peeps ought to get used to it, & take them in their stride, instead of hooting & hollering, which, surely, must be a negative mindset. 

I write stuff about walls & tractors & other nonsense, which, quite reasonably, most ignore. But is "some idiot made a bad call & so I'm having a hissy-fit" any more interesting? (Don't answer that Dave....). I mean, how many times do you see that over the course of an evening? And I'm thinking, PLEASE get used to it mate, it ain't ever gonna change.....

[atdc21]

Excellent stuff here guys. Suuprlim pretty much on the nail imo.
I am deff in the camp of take the win, feel good come back again for another crack another day (buy something inbetween for extra feel good) This mentality prob goes back to early horse racing days, when a pro gambler said to me, its not always what you win, but what you dont lose that sets you apart from joe bloggs punter, take the win, there maybe an even better opportunity arise 2moro, if you have lost your roll it wont matter how good the next opportunity is cos you wont be able to back it.

[pleno1]

I'm sorry I can't quite agree with all of this.

Cutting a session earlier than normal is wayyyyyyyyy different to playing hands differently towards the end of a session. If you're ever feeling like that you should just snap get out game and go home.

Booking wins is great for morale and part of the overall picture, but playing hands anything other than what you consider optimal cannot be close to being right.

If you're in this game for 30-40 years how much do you think you'd lose if you played the last 30 mins of every winning session tight, I'm pretty sure it would add up.

The argument about sitting out etc is why we have stoplosses, you need to be 100% mentally on your game and focused or you shouldn't play, sitting out when winning is just same as losing, should definitely be done.

In tournaments I can defintiely understand being tighter around bubble, not jamming 33 or something, but in cash especially I really don't think there is enough room for it, especially live cash when we play so few hands an hour.

Think of any random 50+ year old live reg, who does things based on instinct such as, oh i feel unlucky about this hand, or oh i'll play tight for the enxt 1 hour because i'm winning. It's just a small part of exactly why they are not profitable in the games. You will/are/always will be profitable in 200nl live cash games, undoubted, but maximising your hourly and maximising your edge by playing optimally 100% of the time is absolutely key.

1 hour of a 5 hour session is like 20%, well its not like, it is

The "it doesn't matter if we lose a bit more lets 5b all in with k5 being associated with gambling is definitely wrong.

Don't get me wrong I'm not trying to come across as an angel here. I don't make most of my income from live play from you so think its different. Example 3 weeks ago, I went out to casino for entertainment, withdrawing £1k and seeing how far it would get me. Was quickly stuck £300 so went to blackjack and put £300 on, won and continue to splash about in cash, continued till I had like £650 and then put it all on roullete. If you're doing something for fun then I think its significantly different to as part of your income, for example the monthly stats you do with winnings, is this counting 5b all in when you know its bad or just when you're playing optimal?

[tikay]

Not ANY "random 50 year old Live Reg" Patrick.

SOME can play, & very well. There are even some youngsters who are not so good.

[stato_1]

Yeah +1 to people not always showing their emotions. I'd imagine you've probably got me in your head whne you talk about people who don't seem to be bothered by winning or losing, and I probably do have a better tolerance than most, but I can remember times after sessions when I've near enough cried myself to sleep! Definitely wouldn't have shown it at the time though.

[atdc21]

Discussions like this always remind me of the old scenario of :-

Someone offers you 6/4 heads or tails, of course you should snap his hand off its massive + EV.

BUT  you have to bet every single penny you have on it, one spin.............

[pleno1]

Not ANY "random 50 year old Live Reg" Patrick.

SOME can play, & very well. There are even some youngsters who are not so good.

There's probably less than 10 "live cash game regs" who are over 50 that make 1/2 as much as Alex does, or has half as high an hourly/bb/100 in the games he plays. Reasons go past fundamentals and are often psychological as they probably don't think/research/discuss like Alex is here.

[pleno1]

Discussions like this always remind me of the old scenario of :-

Someone offers you 6/4 heads or tails, of course you should snap his hand off its massive + EV.

BUT  you have to bet every single penny you have on it, one spin.............

obv, taking loans out

[JK]

Yeah +1 to people not always showing their emotions. I'd imagine you've probably got me in your head whne you talk about people who don't seem to be bothered by winning or losing, and I probably do have a better tolerance than most, but I can remember times after sessions when I've near enough cried myself to sleep! Definitely wouldn't have shown it at the time though.

You mean on nights you played really really well But still managed to drop 1k in a 1/2 game?

[tikay]

Not ANY "random 50 year old Live Reg" Patrick.

SOME can play, & very well. There are even some youngsters who are not so good.

There's probably less than 10 "live cash game regs" who are over 50 that make 1/2 as much as Alex does, or has half as high an hourly/bb/100 in the games he plays. Reasons go past fundamentals and are often psychological as they probably don't think/research/discuss like Alex is here.

And all "non older" players do? By definition, that is just not possible!

[stato_1]

Yeah +1 to people not always showing their emotions. I'd imagine you've probably got me in your head whne you talk about people who don't seem to be bothered by winning or losing, and I probably do have a better tolerance than most, but I can remember times after sessions when I've near enough cried myself to sleep! Definitely wouldn't have shown it at the time though.

You mean on nights you played really really well But still managed to drop 1k in a 1/2 game?

Nah its been a while to be fair

[atdc21]

Do you really want to bet a massive amount on something that is  a small edge?

[cambridgealex]

@Stato, it was Giblin I was mainly thinking about actually. But yes, you are good at it too.

[pleno1]

Do you really want to bet a massive amount on something that is  a small edge?

its huge 

[pleno1]

@Stato, it was Giblin I was mainly thinking about actually. But yes, you are good at it too.

I thnk nothing wrong with showing emotion, in almost every all in pot I'm super happy/sad depending on the result, even though in the grand scheme of things it means nada.

Emotion is great as long as it can be controlled.