Playing poker for a living (my experience so far) HELP!

[stoxtrader]

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But everytime I get back home, I have to fight the urge not to play if I had a winning day.


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what?

[mmcd]

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Winning avg $1k is enough for me to stop playing for the day. Regardless if its 1 session or 3 or 4 sessions in a day.

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This is stupid. Why would you want to minimize your wins like this. If you play your 3 or 4 sessions and only make 1000, ok, no big deal, but if you always quit after you get get up 1000, you're leaving lots of money on the table. If you're playing several tables, you could get up 1000 in 5 minutes. Why wouldn't you want to continue playing and make more?

[tpir90036]

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crushing some loose-aggressives in "Doom" etc..

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I have always been a weak-tight FPS player. I need to work on this. I think my spawn defense needs some work. My stats for that spot are pretty terrible.

Hey GoodMoneyManager,

Maybe I can add something useful from a little different perspective. I've only recently started playing poker, but have been a commodity trader for several years. Like poker, I have a small edge from my trading strategies. Sometimes I win, sometimes I lose. Sometimes I stare at the screen for weeks without doing any trades (I'm a very bored trader, hence my new poker habit). The real trick to being successful isn't the edge, its the psychology. Anybody can find good places to enter or leave the market but very few people can actually trade well because of the psychology. Anybody can read 2+2 books, but few can follow the strategies well.

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The emotional highs and lows can be overwhelming at times. Not only when I lose, but when I win.

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This is really the heart of the issue i think. I would strongly suggest you check out Ed Seykota's website (www.seykota.com/tribe/). Its a bit hokey at first but it will improve your ability to weather this stuff. It takes a while. Its not a matter of loving the game or some type of self discipline. And once you get it figured out, that 20k will be nothing.

As far as direct advice on sleep, "sell down to the sleeping point" is the trader slogan. Cut back on your play until you sleep well.

I hope this helps. The funny thing is that I picked up Poker to help learn how to handle trading stress; I was hoping the gamblers had it all figured out.

[kidcolin]

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I'm playing for a living.

If i'm tired from playing - i'm simply quit playing. Meeting friends, find new chick, make some business not concerned with poker, crushing some loose-aggressives in "Doom" etc..

If you playing 30/60 - it's easy to be lazy ass logging 100 hours in a month (as i do last 3 months) and having 30K for a fun living.

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Haha, your post reminded me of bang bang bang. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] Tks mate!

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"find new chick".. awesome man. Awesome.

Work is work. If you don't love playing poker all day every day, you should quit unless you're making a lot more money than you could otherwise. Not many jobs are easy and stress free. In fact, if you find one that is, let me know. This past month, I've been happy just to be a small loser, and in months past this might weigh on my mind more than it does now, but you grow numb to wins and losses eventually, you just almost become a robot who is almost emotionless to a motion he goes through 5000 times a week,

[nichtgut]

Get a part time job. I work 60% (3 days a week) as the IT manager of a small company. I meet some people, drink some coffe, install a few patches then I go home, play a couple of hours of poker and make my real money. I too play 30-60, 50-100 and 100-200. The 60% job is just for social reasons.
If I'm playing and I'm bored or losing I start to sing. Just sing about what's happening at the tables. It's a lot more fun that way.
/NG