Never thought this would be the case....

[Talking Poker]

I know exactly what you are saying. I can clearly remember a time when I dropped $200 one night and literally lost sleep over it. Now I can throw that kind of money at a big MTT buy in and not even flinch.


It's all relative, of course. I don't need to get to the point where Phil Ivey is, dropping hundreds of thousands of dollars without batting an eye, but it would be nice to not worry about $10k buy ins, for example...

[Aequitas58]

Playing poker ... and gambling in general, can almost "de-sensitize" one's appreciation of money. Like Johnny Chan said, chips are ammunition. The more ammunition you have, the better your odds of winning the war.

I played in a home game NL tournament this weekend where my AA were cracked by 78s. I played it right, but he hung on to his suited cards and won. Shit happens. I shrugged, said nice hand, and went on the porch to have a cigarette. The other players couldn't believe I kept my cool the way I did, but I told them I was used to it. (Thanks PartyPoker!)

These people aren't daily players, and I'd be surprised if they played more than once a week. They must not be used to the swings in poker, and for the beginner, it's hard to actually stomach when "shit happens."

When I lose money, I fret more over my bad plays / ability as opposed to the lose money. Lost money can be regained ... bad poker plays can stick - costing me more money.

[PShabi]

I like what you said about that AA vs. 78s hand. Similarly, in a tourney at a local room (100 man NL), I held AA. Had about 5XBB. Reraised someone all-in.

He held KQsuited and hit K K, at the end of the flop and on the turn. You could tell the table was ready for a reaction, but I just got up pushed my chair in, and walked out.

Didn't think much of it, but one player remembered it later and told me that he could tell I was a player by the way I handled that. So, being cool in that situation improved my image a little. Maybe he'd be less inclined to play backat me?

[eddo31]

i too remember the first time that i dropped a "significant" chunk of money on poker. it was about 25 bucks in a party no limit game, and i felt sick about it as well.

now, even though i play lo limits there are two things different about that.

1. i wouldnt put myself in a situation where i could lose more than i can stomach.

2. reasonable losses arent a big deal, as others mention. it is a part of the game, and you will be a better player once you realize it.

[Talking Poker]

Dont' get me wrong, this sucked.... but I shrugged my shoulders, reloaded, and that was that:

[Gutzz]

Lol yes.

The first time I tried .1/.25 NL on PS was like this. I had only 100 bucks (built up from .01/.02 playing). Started well, going up 15 bucks, then I lose set over set, and then proceeded to lose all but 10 dollars . I was really shook up after this. I remember staring at the screen with this blank expression and just feeling like crap. It also meant I'd have to go back to penny NL with only 10 bucks, an a real possibility of losing it all.

Lucky for me I never went bust and yesterday lost 100 in first hour of limit (4 tabling 1/2), and it bothered me for a few min but I took a short break and
came back swinging .

[edit: yeah TP that's a rough hand. But what hurts more imho is having TT vs QT and flop is QQT ]

[Talking Poker]

No way. With TT and a QQT flop, you are losing to QQ or QT (and there are 2 Qs left to make this hand). With KQ and a KQQ flop, you can only lose to KK.