Never happy

[Isura]

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Ok, this is my pathetic thinking....

Say I'm heads up and we've both magically got 4000 chips, my opponent pushes and I call with AA. He flips up 32o and wins. I think think about how I wish I was $60 richer and then I cry myself to sleep at night on my huge pillow.

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5 out of 6 times you win and forget about the hand.

[Sponger15SB]

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5 out of 6 times you win and forget about the hand.

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Not lately [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

[jeffraider]

My results only upset me if they're extremely out of line with my play. I don't like playing 10 solid tournaments and finishing OOTM 10 times, but if I get even 1 ITM in the middle there I don't mind at all because that's not so insane. I also don't really care about winning money as much as I do about making good decisions. When I donk off a stack or two I get really upset but if some guy hits a one-outer on the river on me but I played it pretty well I feel pretty happy.

[YourFoxyGrandma]

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5 out of 6 times you win and forget about the hand.

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Not lately [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

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I think it's this kind of response that is triggering what other posters earlier seemingly presumptuous accusations. It doesn't matter what's been happening lately. 5 out of 6 times you win. End of story. It all comes out in the wash.

I'm sure you understand this and I'm sure you're only joking with your response, but the long term is all that matters. Losing $1000 in 2 days, doing badly over 50 tournamnets, etc. is really insignificant. It shouldn't matter to you (assuming you're playing well).

Worst run of my life, I lost a little more than $800 over 250 tournaments at the $33s. It was making me really upset, the bad beats were picking at my temper and I ended up cashing out and leaving poker for a few months. In that time, I did some thinking and reading on variance. I've recently returned the game with a much better understanding of the games fluctuations, etc. I'm still, like before, dissatisfied with my results from day to day, but it's only because I'm impatient and desire lots of money right away. You can't let the bad beats get to you. Be dissatisfied with yourself, strive to be better, but don't be pissed about getting sucked out on.

I feel like keeping stats would be a good thing for you, Sponger. Maintaining a decent ROI over an extended number of tournaments can be reassuring during a bad run. If you can't keep stats yourself with a spreadsheet, get poker tracker.

I don't mean to lecture. Good luck.

[Newt_Buggs]

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5 out of 6 times you win and forget about the hand.

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Not lately [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

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most likely you dismissed it when you were always winning 6 out of 6 times and didn't realize that even a good hand holding up is lucky
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This posts hits on a problem that is very real with poker professionals and poker players in general. The structure of the game itself with different limits, etc. leads to the fact that many players can never truly be happy.

I had a conversation with Michael Mizrachi once and his feels where that when you've won 1000 you want 5000, when you've won 5 you want 10, when you've won 10, you want 100, when you've won 100 you want a million, one million leads to 5, 5 leads to 25, and you are never satisfied.

Think about it. Players are never satisifed.

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I think that this is a really good point that deserves emphasis. Realizing it can also help you control it. Personally, I just remind myself that if I had been told a year ago that I could make $20 an hour playing poker I would have been esctatic. Knowing that I make much more than that now blows my mind and is hindering me from moving up, which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

[Sponger15SB]

Thank you for that response.

[SumZero]

If you take a 5/6 chance 5000 times it is likely that at some point in time you'll lose it 4 or 5 times in a row some time in that 5000. And it is also liekly that at some point in time you'll only win 3 out of 10 in a row. At that point you might be up set. But it is also likely you'll win 10 in a row a bunch of other times. That's poker. [shuffle up and] DEAL.