Re: what to make of a huge loss
First off, play well within your bankroll if you are adverse to living on the edge of ruin.
Second: Here is something I do that has helped me sleep for a long time even after awful sessions:In my book keeping, next to my net for the day, say 100$, I have a column that will say things like 75% of the time it would be a 180$ day. It's a kind of rough estimate, but I add up all the big pots I lost and how much money I put in as a favorite. In the past half year every negative day I've had has had a negative actual number for the day but a very healthy positive number for the "EV" column. If I get beat the hell down, I still have a dumb grin on my face knowing I played right. I used the technique as basically a pain killer, I hated losing that money, but I'd look at the number that would have been if I didn't get sucked out on, and it makes me feel better. This has helped me a great deal in realizing that a loss isn't really a loss and a win really isn't a win, you just have to be happy with the decisions you make because that's where you make the money.
I play mainly big bet, so it's easier to catalogue such numbers, and it's not totally accurate but I do beleive it's incredibly important to be honest with yourself and keep track of how positive your decisions are. If you honestly have just been beat down by variance, just try and laugh and realize the variance is why these games are good.
I used to lose sleep for days over awful sessions, now I only lose sleep when I make awful mistakes.
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