Money Isn't Real and is Only Temporary

[nervous]

Throughout the past few months I have been trying to think of a mentality that deals the best with variance and downswings. I think that this one is the key one.

Don't think of your winnings as money and don't think of your $1,000 wins as $1,000 wins and $1,000 losses as $1,000 losses. Keep thinking of your short-term winrate in relation to your overall winrate (nooo - I said think of your winrate). If you run for 8bb/100 for 1,000 hands, don't spend all that money or brag about it. You _temporarily_ have an extra 60BB (for a 2bb winner). On the other side, if you run at -5bb/100 for 1,000 hands, don't sweat it - you only loaned out 70BB over those 1,000 hands and will have it back soon enough. Poker is just a game of loans.

Through this mentality I just went through a 260BB downswing at my new limit with no big stress-outs.

I hope it helps some others out there.