[Bodhi]

Despite the fact that I've won money pretty consistently over the past year online, I hate the swings and the bad beats from terrible players. No doubt, there are many things that I could improve in my game, but it's the psychological stress of it all that broke my will to continue playing so seriously. I know a lot of people here can sustain it, but I cannot. I may play to clear some bonuses in the future, but I need to take poker much less seriously in my life if I am going to enjoy it.

The origin of my problem is that I'm extremely competitive when I play games. I insist on winning every time and can't even think of going easier on inexperienced players or people I like (whether I'm playing chess, poker, or whatever...). This drive caused me to do the necessary and unnatural things for winning long-term at poker, but the short-term losses to people playing badly drives me insane.