Motivation

[dun_noo]

I have a problem, which involves the intracies of the game of poker. I've been playing for a long time. I fully understand the finer points of the game, which involve standard deviation, winrate, sample sizes, etc.

However, this causes a problem. When I think about playing poker, I think about winning money. I enjoy winning. It's the reason I play poker. Yet, I feel like this is a foolish way of thinking. I should be worrying about making the +EV plays, right? Playing my best, regardless of results.

When I load up 4 tables online ready to play, when I feel like I'm going to win because I'm going to play well and make money, I enjoy playing. However, this leads to the ocassional dissapointment when I lose; I was expecting to win. When I go into the game thinking I'm going to play my best, regardless of the outcome, winning becomes somewhat trivial and playing poker feels like a chore.

Is there a mindset that I can adopt to rid me of this style of thinking? Just as a recap for people who don't want to read the whole thing, when I don't worry about results and don't think that I'm going to win, poker feels like a chore. When I go into the game thinking I'm going to win, I'm actually motivated to play poker, I play more, yet am more prone to tilt. Which style of mindset is best for a poker player?

[Coffee]

Short answer: Whatever works.

Long answer below, if you want it:

My football coach always used to tell us to do whatever we needed to do to get ready to play...it was his way of tacitly approving our superstitions, rituals, or whatever else we felt we needed to do to prepare for the game.

My advice: if you win because you believe you're going to win, or you win because you think you're going to lose, or whatever...if you win because you wear socks on your ears...it doesn't really matter...do whatever works for you to be able to play your best and win. Everything else is just scenery.

[dun_noo]

Well put. Thanks.

[fatmanpoker]

everyone is rooted in self interest and power...don't worry about it. it's good to keep that mindset because the rest of the players are thinking the same thing. you gotta know that, and want more.