Check Your Emotions
Playing poker brings moments of pure euphoria as well as torturous remorse for mistakes made. Winning a big pot is exhilarating. Taking a bad beat on the river, and making a stupid call is humiliating. When you play poker you’re bound to experience intense highs and depressing lows. How you handle those moments can determine whether you are a winner over the long haul. Letting emotion get the best of you will put you on tilt and impair your judgment. You must take a big picture viewpoint and see each individual poker game as just part of one long ongoing game where you sometimes go card dead and sometimes hit amazing rushes. Patience and persistence are your best weapons against the game’s emotional intensity. Don’t obsess over losses. It is okay to think about a hand you lost to see where you made a mistake, but then let it go and move on to the next hand or poker game. It is the same with winning. Everyone gets lucky sometimes, so don’t let a lucky catch make you think you’re invincible. Poker is mind game played against other people. You must keep yourself focused on the math, your opponents and your own image. Don’t let emotions interfere with your decision making.
