Poker as therapy

[Vega33]

This sentiment has no doubt been posted before, but as this group acts as a personal venting forum, allow me to add mine.

I have read the basic hold em books and am familiar with poker theory. Nevertheless, I don't expect to ever be more than an average/break even player, which is fine as I have a career outside of poker.

I drive to the casino every Saturday to re-charge my batteries and my main goal is not to win since I play how the books say you should play and the cards take care of the rest. My goal is to use poker as a metaphor for life and how I think I should live it.

Specifically, my goal is to play poker in a an almost zen-like state of accepting whatever cards are dealt and any bad beats and my absolute goal is NOT TO TILT. Because if you tilt at the poker table you will tilt at life when bad beats are dealt you there, as they inevitably will be.

To my way of thinking, a good day of poker is one in which I am able to stay cool and collected and enjoy myself even if I'm losing. And on the days when the cards are falling my way, I am happy but I don't go overboard, because I know that I'm just using the same basic strategy I use when I'm losing.

I've found that if I've managed to avoid tilting in either direction then I consider my day of poker to be a good one and it helps me for the rest of the week as I deal with the cards which are dealt to me in real life.