Dealing with ugly downswings and running badly

[kaboshedx]

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Martindale your losses until you get your money back.

Otherwise go broke.

Start again.

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Aren't you the guy who put his whole roll on the Raptors to beat Golden State? Ya, you're someone who should be giving such sarcastic advice.

[pokerisme]

John Feeney's book "Inside the Poker Mind" is a must read. There are sections on precisely what you are looking for.

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THE GOLDEN KEY (to consistently good poker) - The awareness of the need to focus not on short term results, but on the quality of your play - John Feeney

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Buy it, read it, heed it.

pokerwise

[otter]

Sending your kids to college on poker seems to indicate that you play pretty high stakes and were probably bankrolled somehow outside of poker to begin with.

How did you come up with your bankroll and how much of a bankroll did you start with? Was it seperate from living expenses? I have come to find out that is VERY important. If you're gambling with the rent then your mind isn't going to be in the game and things will start to affect you. I used to never ever tilt, but now that my bankroll is the same as my living expenses I become emotionally attached and that's not a good thing.

[BigBuffet]

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When dealing with a downswing, the best thing to do is just try to keep a positive mental attitude and just barrel through. Evaluate the fundamentals of your game to make sure you aren't playing scared or calling/raising when you shouldn't.

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Couldn't agree more.

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Everyone who makes a lot of money from poker is essential bipolar as the result of the inherent swings. While most everyone knows intellectually that downswings happen and are no big deal, it is the rare individual indeed who can shrug it off when his source of income dries up and he starts losing money. To not care about losing, one has stop enjoying winning, and I don't know many people who could do that.

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I must be getting bipolar [img]/images/graemlins/crazy.gif[/img] Nahh. At any rate, I view my play with the detachment of an air traffic controller. (Hopefully like a real one and not from the old movie "Airplane!").

I do want to win. I do enjoy winning. I do want to play my best at all times. But I have played enough to not allow any outcome to affect me disproportionately. I'm not Mr. Spock, but I'm not James Cramer, either (stock trader on CNBC...).

[BigBuffet]

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Go broke and restart.

Ps. This has been posted a gazillion times, check the forum...

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Caro was writing about this in one of the rags I was reading while waiting for a live SNG to get going yesterday. He said if you have a big BR you need to protect it, but you can still afford to take some calculated risks. If you have a medium bankroll, you have to be careful. And if you have a small bankroll (probably from a bad downswing) you should go balls to the wall because you weill either double up quick or bust quick. If you bust you can go back to a job or whatever quicker than dicking around playing safe with it. (Sounds like tournament strategy...).

Makes sense. The key is not to get into the last scenario.