Well, this has nothing to do with bad beats, poker hands, odds, numbers, or the cards I get at all. But, a large part of poker has nothing to do with these things either... sense, neither does the game of poker. Well, okay, thats bullshit, it does. But anyone who thinks thats all it is aint no kind of player, in my opinion. Poker is a largely psychological game, and understanding the psychology of it will make and save you a lot of money.

I have been on a bad run recently - I have lost about 1/3 of my bankroll in the last 2 weeks, and mind you, and because im not as disciplined as alot of you, i dont seperate bankroll and other funds because i wouldnt particularly know how... so i guess it'd be better to call it a third of my entire net worth. This is enough to play hell with the mindset of even the toughest of players, which i dont even claim to be anyways.

IMAGE is actually the most important part of the psychology of poker, next to defending against TILT of course, which i wont waste too much time with since I think most of the people on this forum, being at least semi serious poker players, have evolved thier own defense mechanisms against the demon of tilt. And anyway, tilt is a very personal thing that affects everyone differently, so everyone needs to needs to deal with it in thier own way. Anyways, heres me venting about tilt, table image, and how much i hate cards. Hopefully someone gets something out of it.

TILT, ATTITUDE & IMAGE

Personally, the obvious BREAK when you just cant seem to win is probably the best way to deal with tilt, since Gods honest truth is that most of us cant handle losing 4 racks at whatever game we play, and still playing optimally on our 5th rebuy for the night. Some can, but MOST cant- the problem is that most THINK that they can, and dont even realize it when they cant. Others know they cant, but go into a strange almost catatonic mode where the money stops meaning much anymore, because so much has been lost already. Caro talks about this: When youve dumped 5 racks,, whats another rack? Its a drop in the goddam bucket, is what it is! At least it seems so at the time. But did it seem that way when you lost that first rack to a few bad beats? No? Then why should it now? Who knows...but it does, and its important to realize that this is just our mind playing tricks on us, and each and every penny over and above the umpteenth rebuy is just as valuable as the ones lost in the beginning, when your set of Aces lost to the A3o who was jamming it all the way with a naked ace, and backed into a wheel. (Ive seen this its pretty ugly - didnt happen to me, thank god)

Voorhaus makes a really good point in his book, that applies NOT just to running godawfully and having a negative attitude, but also to life in general. He says to BE a WINNER you must FEEL like a winner. If you dont feel like a winner, you are at a very distinct disadvantage, for two reasons

(1) People will pickup on this, and it will encourage them to make plays against you and to put pressure on you, because it makes you seem as though you cannot win.
**Corollary to that**: When you are in this mindset, is EXACTLY THE TIME that you will be unable (or LESS able) to deal with people playing against you this way, because there will exist in your mind a presumption that you cannot win anyway.
**AND EVEN THOUGH this is not necessarily the reason people will do this (people are superstitious, and like to just think 'oh he's running bad he cant win'- but they turn out to be right for the wrong reasons, as it were.

(2) Because you will not play your cards properly. Like for example, if you have AK UTG, and you have lost the last 10 times youve had AK, you may just limp with it, and this is a BIG mistake! Also, when you do endup in with it, you may lay it down too fast when you miss to a weak lead on a ragged board because youll assume DAMMIT i lost AGAIN, whereas often the proper play against a weak lead is to look at that K and imagine its another A and play it accordingly, and pickup the pot.
**Another corollary: If you dont seem like you can win, visualizing the other A there often wont even HELP because the guy with middle pair/no kicker will not think you have a big pair, because with the way your pouting,, you probly havent had aces in a year! And so, he will call you, whereas when your runnin decent, and seem like a force to be dealt with, he'll lay it down to you.

And so, as i ramble on, i guess we see that image and mindset tie into each other. Being in an improper MINDSET not only affects the decisions that you make regarding the way you play your cards, but it also affects peoples perception of you and thus the way they play against you. Because beleive it or not, even at not-that-big of limits, the monkeys you like to kick around the table are actually human beings too (yeah i know, it doesnt seem that way when your runnin good, does it? but they are!) and even a lot of the dimmer ones are in sufficient touch with thier basic intuitions to pick up on things like im talking about, and then, instead of being monkeys, automatons, or however you prefer to view them, they START TO THINK. And you do NOT want this!

You dont have to be a Sklansky or a Malmuth (PHD's) to play a decent freekin game of poker. To be a top player, you gotta be pretty damn smart id say, but to just be a reasonably alright player, all you have to do is THINK A LITTLE...And most people are capable of at least that. The advantage that most of us have over alot of players is that we THINK about the game, we PONDER hands. We sit here and engage in lofty expostulation over the optimal play of Ace Jack suited on the button to a mid position raise (I still dunno what to do in that spot!) And while most of it is just spinning our wheels and gettin us one step closer to having carpal tunnel syndrome, we are at least THINKING, and thats the important part. Most players dont think much. They do what theyve always done with the cards they are given, and thats pretty much it. But, when you go into thier environment with a certain image that inspires thought that otherwise isn't there, you turn them into THINKING players, and when your runnin bad, thats the LAST thing you need! This applies also to being a tricky player: Lots of tricky players like to make it obvious that they are tricky players, because they just cant STAND to think that people at the table might not know that they are in the presence of a the master! But--poker is not about respect or anything else - its about money. And beleive me, it'll take a long time to realize who a REALLY GOOD tricky player is, because he keeps it low profile, and doesn't do stuff like 'fake think' before a muck or a bet.

Image in general also ties into game selection. If you have shown an inability to win, and made a few desperation plays at a table and shot your image to hell, even if you are NOT necessarily tilted, depressed or in an otherwise undesireable frame of mind, you should GET UP off the table, and goto another one, where you can start over. Poker tables are like small towns, and runnin / playin bad is like bein the town villain. Its time to MOVE ON to the next town, because in THIS town, you gotta bad name. You are a TARGET, and you dont want to be a target, because it makes the game a lot more difficult to play- it puts YOU on the defensive, when, if you were running well and playing well, youd have OTHERS on the defensive. And dont forget, your runnin bad ON TOP of all this! It sucks to get up stuck at any table, but if i had to decide between gettin up STUCK and gettin up BUST, ill take stuck everytime.

Anyways, that is pretty much all i can dream up to say about that matter. Im sure theres more, but im pretty sick of cards. Im sure most people already knew most of this, but the REAL challenge is to apply it in adverse situations...something ill attempt to do more of in the future as i rebuilt me broll - probably playing the .01/.02 cent tables on Stars, LOL.

And so, since i am totally gay as hell, to remind me of (a) how gay i am, and (b) how bad i play cards and (c) How i REALLY cant afford to go bust, I changed added a tagline from a poem called 'bewick finzer' (which could easily be called 'ode to a busted gambler') by Edward Arlington Robinson, whose one of my faves.

wheres my tagline, dammit??

I think a ton of people have been dealing with a bad streak in recent months (including myself) so you definitely have a support group here. At least you are recognizing what is happening and hope you can adjust to fixing it whether it means moving down in limits and/or taking a break. Both helped me and I hope you work through this.

Thanks briachek--i read your posts earlier so i know you of all people understand...my next posts are liable to be a eulogy to my gone but not forgotten bankroll. Oh, sweet bankroll. I remember how much bigger you made my penis feel, when i used to stuff my underwear with you, a gesture so fraught with meaning and symbolism to that an entire english literature class could be based on my actions. OH, sweet bankroll...how i used to love gettin naked and wallowing in your 100s like Demi Moore in Indecent Proposal....even though it probably looked a little more like dennis quaid in kingpin. ..

Yeah i pretty much have to take a break because its crunchtime in school, + i got a paper i need to write as a graduation requirement. And yeah, ill probably stick around the 10/20 online and 20/40 IRL limits during the times im not studying for the bar exam.

The 100/200 game where i fired off 6-7k or so was definitely a stretch of the broll. But what the hell, i took a shot and i missed. Its not like i suck, i have crushed the game many times before - a year ago i was 10k in credit card debt with a zero balance in my bank account, and now ive got zerio debt and a decent roll. So who am i to complain really? But still, the pain -- it burns...need some vagisil ASAP!