Psychology in Poker: Dealing with Poker Losses

Approximately 30 minutes ago, I stood up from a 1/2 NL game after losing $200. How do you think I’m dealing with that loss? Here is my psychology in poker.
I’m sitting in the lobby of Starbucks at Harrah’s Cherokee with my laptop and writing an article. After that, I’m going to add a chapter to one of the poker books I’m working on: 19%, which will consist of 100 Texas Hold’em poker tournaments with the goal of only seeing 19% of flops. It’s not a poker strategy book. It’s a poker experiment book. All my other books are based on poker adventure, poker strategy, or psychology in poker. This will be my first poker experiment book.

I’m not trying to intentionally market my poker books. Shoot, that sucker won’t be ready for at least six months anyway. Last night was tournament #40. I’ll drop a teaser by telling you that I finished 2nd of 36, but it was a small buy-in of $45. Therefore, the payout wasn’t very big. I’m only mentioning it because it helps with the two 1/2 NL poker losses I have suffered since being here.

I shouldn’t use the word ‘suffered.’ That word should be saved for people who are truly suffering, and it’s not suffering anyway. It’s motivation.

Poker Losses = Business Motivation

When I ‘suffer’ poker losses, I use it as motivation on the business side. You don’t need to own a business or have a brand to take the same approach. While I think I have always had a good imagination, prior to 2006, I couldn’t write worth a lick.

If someone told me in 2005 that I would have to write a grammatically perfect article within two hours or have to walk the plank, I would have been walking the plank. I hope I would have thought of a way out of that mess, but that’s not the point. The point is that even if you have no side income whatsoever and you can’t write at all, you can train yourself to write and there are literally dozens of freelance writing sites that need writers.

You’re not going to get rich by writing freelance articles, but wouldn’t you like to have that income? You can write whenever you want from wherever you want. For instance, I’m currently typing in a laptop in a casino. You can one day do the same. All you have to do is start the process. And getting rich by going this route isn’t impossible.

I’m not rich. I am far from it! However, certain things are taking place that could lead me down that road. I don’t want to elaborate, but if you have been paying attention, then you know that I’m referring to two things in particular. This all began with freelance writing.

Poker Side Hustle

Let’s say you hate writing. There are many people who fall into that category. If that’s the case, no sweat. There are still other ways to make money online, or offline. You can build your social network in order to become an affiliate with a well-known business, create and sell items, or go straight into sales.

I have been in sales over the phone from home. I excelled at it for one simple reason: I wasn’t selling. Pick up the phone, offer a brief hello, and say, “Hey, it’s Paul from XYX Business. Look, I’m not going to waste your time. I’m just calling to see if you have 15 minutes to talk next week to see if we can help you out.”

This will come off as non-threatening, and they will see you as friendly, which will usually lead to an appointment being booked. In order to increase the likelihood of them keeping the appointment, send an email reminder the day prior to the appointment. When you finally get on the phone, don’t be salesy. Just like in poker games, be you!

People know when you’re full of shit, and they know when you’re genuine. You won’t always win being genuine, but you will win a lot more than you lose, and you’re going to feel a lot better about yourself. This, by the way, fits into our poker rules for winning. There is a reason I’m telling you about sales, you know.

Psychology In Poker: Finding Money Outside of Poker

You can make money on the side in many different ways. All you have to do is try. When you have money behind you, you’re going to be a much different poker player because you’re not going to play with fear.

I’m not saying that you should play like a maniac in traditional poker games and Texas Hold’em poker tournaments.

I am saying that you won’t hesitate to call an all-in when you know you’re ahead and your opponent has a draw. The reason for this is because you know that if you lose, there is a way to recoup that money. This is also why savvy sales companies want to hire gamblers. They’re the most motivated salespeople on the planet.

Finding money outside of poker is a unique yet important poker strategy, I’m sincerely trying to help you. There is no other site that writes about poker hands, poker tournaments, and poker tips that will also tell you to find money on the side. That’s because it’s a different kind of psychology in poker for them. They want you to be locked in to the game at all times so they can sell you the dream. That’s how they make their money.

I’m too honest for that, and I’m never going to promote anything I don’t trust. For instance, someone on a freelance writing platform just asked me if I was willing to write articles about dogs. I said yes because I love dogs and the pay was good, but when they sent the article, it was about shock collars. I politely wrote back to this client and told them that I couldn’t write the articles because I don’t believe in what’s being sold.

I’m telling you this because there are ads for poker tutorials within my articles. They are all legit, and some of them can also help you deal with poker losses. You might find some information on psychology in poker, but you’re not going to find as much psychology in poker as you will here.

Psychology In Poker: Ease Poker Losses

I will always admit that I’m a decent math player. I’m certainly not a math genius. I know what I need to know, but not beyond that. But when it comes to psychology in poker, I’ll put myself up against any player in the world. Therefore, I think I can help you a great deal with psychology in poker. Understanding psychology in poker is immensely important and definitely fits within our poker rules for winning.

Obviously, I have made it clear that the best way to deal with poker losses is to make money on the side. This is going to make you feel more at ease at the table, and you’re not going to worry about losing as much as if you didn’t have a side gig.

If you have a regular job and play poker on the side for fun, that’s a whole different ballgame. You’re not risking your entire bank account on what happens on the felt, but you still get upset when you lose in traditional poker games and poker tournaments because you worked hard for that money. I understand because I’ve been there. That’s a completely different type of psychology in poker when it comes to dealing with poker losses.

Dealing with Poker Losses: The Employed

It can be frustrating to take some money from your account, bring it to the casino to play poker, and then drive home not long after without any money in your pocket. Don’t freak out!

There was a time when I used to freak out after losing in poker, but one of the best poker tips I ever received was that you only learn when you lose. When you win, you’re almost never thinking about what you did right or wrong in this spot or that spot because you’re in celebration mode. I would rather win, and so would you, but losses are necessary because they lead to self-education.

That self-education leads to adapting. When you learn and adapt correctly, the winning sessions you used to have now become much bigger winning sessions. Think of it this way: Without those previous poker losses, you never would have improved enough to win big.

It’s often said that experience is everything, and that can be applied to many things. The reason this saying exists, as well as the reason it’s true, is because you learn through trial and error. It can take years and years to become great at something, but would you really enjoy the wins if you won every time from the beginning? No. You would get bored.

The money would be good, but if you don’t enjoy something, what’s the point? Think of how much of your life you would have wasted. Some people say it’s about the journey, not the destination. That can be applied to poker as well, but for poker, I would say it’s about the process, not winning all the time.

The Difficult Ones

Some people never see the positive and instead focus on the negative. I’m not saying these are bad people. They’re not. It’s just the way they’re wired, but they are most definitely the difficult ones. They aren’t easy to spend time with because they bring your mood down.

If you were at Disney World’s Magic Kingdom and went on all the best rides and had a great time, they would tell you that they had some fun, but the ice cream they ate after all the rides was dripping over the cone and onto their fingers because it was warm out.

I’m going to assume that some of those people are reading this article. These people have the most difficult time dealing with psychology in poker because negative events are the end of the world to them. If you happen to be one of the people that fit into this category, then I would highly recommend physical activity after a poker loss.

Outside Activity

I know these types of people well. I can’t say why. No, I’m not one of them, but I know them. I have found that physical activity often leads to them feeling invigorated. It leads to a monumental shift in their mood. They even become happy and excited after that physical activity.

I’m not talking about running a marathon or climbing Mt. Everest. It can be a walk in the park, a gentle but long bike ride, a 2-mile hike through the woods (go with a loop trail if possible), canoeing on a lake, or swimming in a river.

The reason I recommend these activities is simple. When you do these types of activities and put yourself in a natural setting, you begin to view your poker loss as a blessing in disguise. Without that loss, you never would have ended up on a bicycle, hiking in the mountains, canoeing on a lake, or swimming in a river.

And even though I love poker with a deep passion, you’re going to remember those experiences more than sitting at a poker table, excluding big poker tournament wins, of course. Therefore, you don’t just feel like your poker loss was a blessing in disguises, it actually WAS a blessing in disguise.

When you establish and buy into this attitude, you can never lose. If you can never lose, nobody can ever beat you. If you beat that guy across from you by hitting your flush after shoving all-in, you win. If you lose to that guy across from you missing your flush after shoving all-in, you win. That’s the way you do it.

Final Thoughts

If you want to know how to deal with psychology in poker, set yourself up to always win. You can do this by establishing a side gig, realizing that poker losses are educational, and getting outside for physical activity, which will make you feel alive.

♠ pokerjournal.org

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