Not built for poker...

[ElSapo]

These are some thoughts I had last night, after some beats in my weekly home game. They're mostly random musings, but maybe someone will find them interesting...

Is poker my golf?

Everyone loves golf -- not everyone, obviously, but it's sort of "that game" that a ton of people play and a few play very well. It's got this aura of being mystical or spiritual or stress relieving, and yet plenty of people [censored] about slicing balls into the woods and throw clubs and work for years on improving at a game they'll never really play well.

The thing is, as much as I love the game of poker I'm not emotionally wired for it -- I've always been emotional and wear my heart on my sleeve, and the ups and downs kill me. I love the game, but I'm not built for the long-term of it. Which is the reason I've never consistently played higher than 5/10 (despite some tilt-backed trips to 10/20 and 15/30)...

It's not that I'm good at it -- I've just learned how to do it. I have no natural talent for the game, but I've learned how to play it well enough to derive a secondary (or, for the moment, primary) income from it. But that's because one of the biggest things in poker is game selection — in most games, you look for the opportunity to play with good, better or the best players. In poker, I win because I actively look for people who suck so bad they can't help but lose money.

In some ways, I'm exaggerating. If you could list all the poker players in the world, I'm probably better than many of them. But that's not saying much.

Who knows. I'm rambling for no reason. I hate that I get frustrated by the game, that I'll probably never play even medium stakes, that I devote so much time to something which I'll never probably master and which, emotionally, owns me.

Blah. A 3-outer stung last night, even though I get 3-outed every single day. Every day, and I'm still not accustomed to it. Someone rivered trips and that stung. And twice I made crappy plays that cost me half the pot last night (we play NL and PL, and split games), which mostly doesn't happen in limit poker because it's a different skill set for the most part.

I do love poker, and it has been good to me. It's just a great game. But it frustrates me to no end...

[idrinkcoors]

Finally Elsappo. Finally.

You are now officially welcomed into the poker community. We've been waiting for this post from you.

Enjoy.

Seriously, though. Everyone goes through this. Except maybe Bicyclekick.

[lehighguy]

This is exactely how I feel. I try so hard, but I feel like I'm just at an edge I can't cross.

I'm now $5000 into my last downswing, $1000 tonight. Profits for the year are down to $19,000 (/w an $8k multi cash) including rakeback.

What hurts the most is I feel like this is really what I want to do for a living. I love it so much. It's all I think about all day. On top of that I hate my day job so much I wanna kill myself and I haven't played poker in 3 months because I'm so tired when I get back from work.

I know exactely what I want to do, but I can't do it despite my best efforts.

[tek]

If you think you have potential, then don't give up. Money lost in the beginning of a career (whether poker buy-ins or entry level pay) will receive dividends if you persevere.

I used to compete in amatuer bowling tournies. When I first began (probably a little too soon...) I was just overwhelmed by the competitions' ability and speed of play versus league speed. My cuts were big minuses (bowling and golf have opposite cuts, so in bowling you want a plus cut score).

But I kept on practicing (with guys with high averages), reading books, watching PBA telecasts, and took lessons. It all paid of and I started hitting the finals regularly.

Same with poker. For awhile I couldn't make a final table to save my life. Soon I was making final tables regularly.

Now I am starting to play cash games in addition to tournies. The learning process begins again...

[darydarling]

Only time will tell man.

I came to the conclusion awhile back that maybe I'm not a "winning poker player."

So I really started to look at my game from the perspective that I would have to come to a point in my life where I would have to make a decision.

a. that I would continue to study to try and become the pro that I would like to be.

b. that I would study to improve my game but play mainly for entertainment...and the reason for studying would be to minimize my losses.

I chose a.

[aucu]

When I saw the title of this tread ¨not built for poker¨
I emediatly thought of the first time I quit the game, which was I started feeling too sorry for the losers. Obviously it was B&M play pre-internet in a game where I got to know all the regulars well and a couple of them were big time life losers.

I knew them well enough to see how the loses were hurting their family and kids.

Then I just stoped playing for about 10 years.

[ElSapo]

[ QUOTE ]
If you think you have potential, then don't give up. Money lost in the beginning of a career (whether poker buy-ins or entry level pay) will receive dividends if you persevere.

[/ QUOTE ]

Hey Tek...

..I've been playing about four years now, and I'm not losing. That really wasn't meant to be my point - over time I'm a winning player who's done what a lot of low-limit players have done: managed to grint out thousands of dollars in profit, despiet having little natural ability.

I guess I mis-wrote earlier. The long-term of the game is fine, it's the short term fluctuations I can't cope with. Well, I can and do, but lately it's getting harder.

ElSapo

[tek]

If you've played for four years, then why lately have short-term flucuations become a problem?

[ElSapo]

[ QUOTE ]
If you've played for four years, then why lately have short-term flucuations become a problem?

[/ QUOTE ]

Short handed play against better opponents. My fluctuations have through the roof -- all aggro, all the time, it seems.