Books to help w/ frustration at draw outs
 

What books do you guys suggest for dealing with the frustration that comes with draw out after draw out by the 60/4/.4 calling stations? Im really fighting to keep myself from f'in and blinding in the chat window right now. I know that doesnt solve anything and I really want to deal with this in a good way. May be even put it to my advantage if possible, but certainly deal with it in a healthy way that enables me to to stay focused and "thinking about the next hand" as the Lederer woud say.

Re: Books to help w/ frustration at draw outs
 

study zen if it messes with you that much.

otherwise there's no book that can cure this problem. just shrug it off and quit bitching about it. it's MUCH easier done than said. just quit yelling when it happens, breath in and exhale, and move on. there's no two ways about it.

Re: Books to help w/ frustration at draw outs
 

Thanks for the zen suggestion. Its really at the moment while struggling throught a long stretching dip that its affecting me. Of course im eager to get back on the upward slope and draw out prolonging this agony are taking a much bigger toll than usual.

Any other suggestions for books?

Re: Books to help w/ frustration at draw outs
 

I would read " The Psychology of Poker" by Dr. Al. Understanding why bad players play the way they do and draw out may help you to cope. Also, "Inside the Poker Mind: Essays on Hold 'em and General Poker Concepts" by John Feeney should also prove useful. Part four of the book, "Poker and Emotion" and more specifically the chapter titled "A Poker Player in Therapy" should prove very valuable to dealing with bad beats and staying off tilt.

Re: Books to help w/ frustration at draw outs
 

There are problems with the book "Zen and the Art of Poker", but if you have any sympathy for "that Zen thing", I think it might be able to help you out a great deal.

Re: Books to help w/ frustration at draw outs
 

Hi ThePimpulator,

This is actually a three step process.

1. Do a search for a post by Gigabet called "Almost there with success and failure"

2. Read it.

3. Implement the advice in it.

When confronted with this problem again, repeat steps two and three.

Cheers,
Snowball

Re: Books to help w/ frustration at draw outs
 

Here is a link to the gigabet post

One thing that helped me was to think of a Casino. When some schmoe hits the jackpot on the slot machine, they congratulate him/her; take their picture and put it up on the wall to celebrate. Woo-hoo we have a winner!!!! They don't cry that they aren't going to make the numbers for the month because the jackpot was hit. They expect it to be hit, and plan for it. And celebrate when it hits, because it is what represents why the gamblers keep putting quarters in their machines that they clear a nice % on each quarter.

Look at the bigger picture and it's not that painful at all.

Re: Books to help w/ frustration at draw outs
 

read small stakes hold em. Understanding why things happen will help you more. People get frustrated more because of a lack of knowledge than anything else.

Re: Books to help w/ frustration at draw outs
 

I'm right there with you, man. I always thought I was even-keeled about my game but a string of bad mathematics has been hitting me for about 2 weeks. I would be getting my money in with the best hand, sometimes 80% or better and still getting sucked out on. DO NOT LET THIS TYPE OF RUN CHANGE YOUR GAME FOR THE WORSE. Stick to your best game. Re-read the first book that seriously helped your particular game out. Look to exclude emotions from your decisions and make the best one's possible. You can control what you do in a game, not what the maniacs do. Make sure you're not making moves that give weak hands valid reasons for taking a shot against you. Make it hurt if you can. You want the guy to call with the inferior hand or to draw against the odds. Check hand histories for critical hands and work on what YOU can do to put yourself in the best situations.

I'm gonna go check that guy's post mentioned earlier. You can know all this and still be bothered by this type of "black-cloud-over-my-head" mentality. And I did read Zen and the Art of Poker. Lots of what I posted can be found in that book. It gave me a good perspective on the emotional issues in poker. Just be objective when reading it (or any other poker book) and you will get out of it whatever value it has to offer you.

Re: Books to help w/ frustration at draw outs
 

Is Gigabet a Bible Scholar? Based on all those emphasized words I'd say he reads the bible quite a bit.