Have you ever thought about giving up on poker because you keep losing? I believe that many times we are not focused enough to win. Poker is a strategic game, and if we play it in the long run, we will certainly succeed. Who has ever thought about quitting halfway through and stop playing?
I just ended well more than a year (could be close to two) in which I played very little poker. At the beginning of this time, I had been on a nasty downswing, I only played here and there instead of playing almost nightly as I usually do. Not only that, but I stopped studying poker and even posting on CC. The only games I would really play were the homegames from RibbyBruno's stream (fellow CC member who streams Weds nights on twitch, it's a good time, check it out if you haven't). When I stopped playing, I was a winning player, I was just in a downswing, when I would come back, the downswing was still there, so I would stay away for longer and longer periods. I even stopped talking much to my poker friends for the most part. Then, I read an article by Alex Fitzgerald (Assassinato..great coach and teacher, check him put on YouTube) that made me change my mindset.
I was acting like I was entitled. I was playing very good poker yet taking bad beat after bad beat. "This isn't fair," "How could they play that trash hand?", "This site is rigged (ok, that one is probably true)" were some of the things I would say amongst others...and much more colorful language. But that was the entitled mindset. I felt entitled to win these pots but that's not the way the real world works. Everyone puts in their money and they are allowed to play any way they please for any reason that they choose. I am not guaranteed to win pots just because I started with the best hand. There is variance in poker for a reason, sure, the math at times seems like the world is out to get you, but it all evens out in the end. The important thing is not to get stuck in that same mindset that I was in that just because I was "better" than the players I was playing against does not entitle me to anything. I know it's hard to NOT judge other players abilities but again, they put up their money and they can play their cards anyway they please, instead of judging them, take notes and figure out exactly what they do wrong and then go after them for it. If you consistently play your
hands well, the results will happen. And yes, you will sometimes get into a big, never-seeming-to-end downswing, but it will end if you stick with it.
So, here I am, back at CC, answering random posts and enjoying connecting with my poker family again. I still do not play as much as I once did. But for all of those who are thinking about quitting, first, think about your mindset, then think about life without poker. For me, poker is a part of me, it is part of who I am and how I view the world. So, I may be "on the rail" for a while, but I am never completely out of the game.
