Detrimental Short Win Sessions?

[Sirasoni]

Hi everyone, first post on the Pyschology Forum.

Some quick background information: I started playing poker a few months ago and only until recently (end of March or so) have I started becoming a winning player. Prior to this, I would be at .5/1 on Party grinding along, never doing much except for breaking even or having a marginal < 1 bb/100 winrate after much playing (I can't say for sure how many hands because I got PT too late, but I would estimate about ~35k). I would complain about bad beats and bad luck all the time (and yes I have come to the realization now that I was just simply playing badly) etc. and hated the downswings when they hit.

At the mid/end of April I started 2/4 fixed limit and so far I have been doing very well in terms of the short run. My problem however is that I will run up 40BB in a short amount of time and then quit my session. While making 40BB in about 200-400 hands is very exciting for me, I feel like it will have a longterm detrimental effect on me as a player. Back when I was grinding out .5/1 where I wasn't experiencing huge upswings, I would play at least 1000 hands per day. Now I am averaging 300 (except the days where I lose some money). I am pretty much attaching too high of a value to my money.

Am I correct that this will have an effect on me in the longrun? I know that downswings are inevitable, but I just have some natural urge to try and avoid that and leave while I'm ahead. I feel like if I keep this up, I will be emotionally shattered when I hit a typical long downswing at a higher stake, etc. Is there any way to shake off this mentality?

One last note: I have some feeling in the back of my mind that this huge upswing is just brilliant luck, and that I am actually a horrible player. Am I being paranoid?

Thanks in advance, everyone [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img].