Anxiety of losing/anxiety during hand gets worse during career

[A_C_Slater]

billyjex,

Become a shortstacking ratholer. It is anxiety free.

[iggymcfly]

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I need some of your problem. Lately I've been playing super-LAG PLO pretty severely underrolled (35 buy-ins), and it seems like the money just doesn't faze me at all. I can get stuck 1/4 of my roll in a session and hardly feel it.

I think my problem is that I almost went busto a couple months ago to the point that I was sure I was screwed and was going to have to get a job or something. Had a 400+ BB downswing playing limit and went from a 27K BR to a $600 BR. Well, I rebuilt it playing aggressively and taking shots, and now have about 35K, but my fear reflex is just totally gone.

My other problem is that I started playing in this 5/10 PLO game not realizing how big it was and kind of got addicted to the action. I was thinking it would play about like 5/10 NL, but it actually plays bigger than 10/20 NL. Last night, I played a 14K pot and even after winning it, someone covered me. I'm up quite a bit in this game since I started playing it, but I know that all I need is some bad variance and I could easily lose all the money I have online.

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yikes, this is one powerfully scary story. more bbv worthy than psych. you say you play for a living?

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Yeah, I play for a living. I've been running pretty well lately, and my roll's up over 55K now, so I'm not too worried any more. The PLO game on Bodog's been running pretty intermittent lately anyway.

[JWvonGoethe]

I read this post, and some of the replies, last night, and went to bed thinking that there was a crucial point that was being missed. I'm not sure if I have fully worked out what it was, but, and FWIW, it seems that all the thinking here is outcome-based rather than performance-based. We all know that if we play good poker day-in and day-out we will come out ahead in the long term. Therefore, learning to accept short-medium term losses is an important aspect of the game. The correct response to a bad day/week/month is not anger/depression; it is to ask oneself "Did I play good poker? Did I make the right decisions?" If you can answer yes to those questions then you know that the long-term is secure. Dealing with the anxiety of losing is therefore a function of training oneself to think in terms of performance rather than of outcome.

[billyjex]

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The correct response to a bad day/week/month is not anger/depression; it is to ask oneself "Did I play good poker? Did I make the right decisions?" If you can answer yes to those questions then you know that the long-term is secure. Dealing with the anxiety of losing is therefore a function of training oneself to think in terms of performance rather than of outcome.

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This is extremely, extremely hard to do. I know logically, that it's all one long session, and short-term results shouldn't matter. This is one of the very basic things 2p2 books will teach you, also.

That said.. it's just very hard to not question your play when running bad. It's very hard to not think, "Am I still a winning player?"

Certaintly with the toughness of the games increasing, I can get anxious wondering if I'll soon find myself as a weaker player at the table.

Things have gotten a little better though; I've moved from Vegas to LA, which I like alot more. Vegas is a hellhole and not nearly as fun to live in as most would think.

Also, online I dropped down to 2/4, where the quick hourly swings aren't enough to drive to me nuts. Live, I can play up to 10/20, and do alright; it still sucks to get stacked but it happens to infrequently I don't feel anxious all the time.

[ginko]

u gamo0l too much

[BlackRain]

I suffer with a lot of the anxiety OP mentioned and others in this thread. It has kept me from playing for long stretches which is the worst part. Speaking for only for myself, I can say that the whole being pro thing didnt even affect it. I have been back in a real job for 6 months now after a year of pro and I still feel the same anxiety mostly before playing and early in my session. I just can't stand losing and as we all know, you lose sometimes in poker and there is nothing you can do about it.

I don't have much too add except this. Don't look at your cashier window. After a few sessions training yourself to not look it becomes easy. I generally play 4 hour sessions and look at my bankroll before the session and after it, but never during it. It does help some.

Interestingly, I often find that I've done significantly better than I thought I had done after the session is over and I check my bankroll. In my mind, I usually believe I am a buyin or two behind where I actually end up. But thats for another thread perhaps.

gl

[bruin]

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I think the anxiety is directly proportional to how much free time you have to think about your situation. If you use your freetime and occupy it with non-poker things, your overall stress levels will decrease because your life isn't poker poker poker poker...

What about hobbies outside of poker? Do you have any? granted your profession is your hobby, its good to find balance with other things you enjoy. Outdoor activies, exercising, cooking, [censored] take a class at a community college just to meet people who dont play poker while you learn something useful (lifeguard certification, who the [censored] knows). Join a local sports league?


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imo, this is by far the best advice in this thread.

[muxplust]

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I need some of your problem. Lately I've been playing super-LAG PLO pretty severely underrolled (35 buy-ins), and it seems like the money just doesn't faze me at all. I can get stuck 1/4 of my roll in a session and hardly feel it.

I think my problem is that I almost went busto a couple months ago to the point that I was sure I was screwed and was going to have to get a job or something. Had a 400+ BB downswing playing limit and went from a 27K BR to a $600 BR. Well, I rebuilt it playing aggressively and taking shots, and now have about 35K, but my fear reflex is just totally gone.

My other problem is that I started playing in this 5/10 PLO game not realizing how big it was and kind of got addicted to the action. I was thinking it would play about like 5/10 NL, but it actually plays bigger than 10/20 NL. Last night, I played a 14K pot and even after winning it, someone covered me. I'm up quite a bit in this game since I started playing it, but I know that all I need is some bad variance and I could easily lose all the money I have online.

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30/60 with 27k .... oops

[dardo]

I'm going right now through a difficult personal experience playing poker as well ... link

And my theory is that all the burn symptoms are caused by a bad personal management. I mean when you don't respect your limits, when you try to go faster than your brain can understand.

ie. for example, every time you have a lose of 4-5 buyins you can try to make a break and let your brain accept it slowly.

Once you understand is the variance of the game and that you are still playing against bad enough players you'll feel ok to play again. But I think when the sensation is strong your mind needs time to "get it". To become 100% rational again.

Also, I think you shouldn't be short term oriented, but It's important to keep an eye on the results anyway. And fix any bad decisions you can be making (like playing against good players or leaks on your game) as soon as possible.

What should be completely ignored are the random events of course.

Edited: Maybe it would help as well getting a better understanding of the variance of the game. Some +EV bets have a huge,huge variance and can need up to a month or two of play to be 95% in positive (not to say to get near their expected value).

regards,

dardo