The mental game
Playing well when results go against you: short lessons on , , and your routine, each with graded questions.
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The idea
A poker decision is good or bad by its expected value, what it wins or loses on average, not by what the next card does. Over one hand luck decides most results; over thousands, decisions do. Judging a play by whether it won teaches you to repeat lucky mistakes and to abandon unlucky good plays.
Example
You call an all-in with A♠ A♦ against K♣ K♥ for 100bb and a king comes on the river. You lost 100bb, but the call earned about +64bb on average: it was a good decision with a bad result.
Rule of thumb
Grade the decision with the information you had when you made it, then let the result go.
The idea
Poker results swing widely. Even a solid winner has long stretches of losing, and short samples say almost nothing about skill. The /variance page shows the spread of results your win rate can produce.
Example
A cash winner at 5bb per 100 hands with a typical , the size of an ordinary swing, of 100bb per 100 hands expects +500bb over 10,000 hands, but one over those hands is 100 × √100 = 1,000bb. Losing over 10,000 hands happens about three times in ten.
Rule of thumb
Judge your game over tens of thousands of hands, and expect downswings, long losing runs, of many even when you play well. A is the stack you sit down with.
The idea
Tilt is any emotion that pushes your decisions away from your best play. It has different triggers: injustice after bad beats (losing as the favorite), revenge against a player who outplayed you, hating to lose after a losing session, entitlement when weaker players win, and desperation when chasing losses.
Example
After losing three all-ins as the favorite, you start calling 3-bets with hands you would normally fold, to win some pots back. That is injustice tilt turning into chasing losses.
Rule of thumb
Name the trigger when you feel it; if you notice decisions you would not normally make, take a break.
The idea
Your A-game is how you play when focused and calm; your C-game is how you play when tired, tilted or distracted. Most of a player's losses come from C-game, so raising the floor of your game is worth more than raising the ceiling.
Example
You know that pocket fives fold to a 3-bet from early position, but late in a long session you call to see a flop. The knowledge was there; the C-game did not use it.
Rule of thumb
Write down what your C-game looks like, and stop or reset when you see it.
The idea
A short routine before you play and a review after it make good habits automatic. Before: check your energy and focus, set one goal and a stop rule. After: note the hands that confused you and how you felt, without judging the result.
Example
Before a session you write: 'Goal: fold more to river raises. Stop after 90 minutes or a loss of 3 .' Afterwards you mark two river hands to review on /history.
Rule of thumb
Warm up with one goal and a stop rule; cool down by reviewing decisions, not results.
The idea
A stop-loss ends a session after a set loss; a stop-win ends it after a set win. Neither changes your expected value per hand. Their value is in protecting you from playing your worst game: a stop-loss stops tilted play, and a stop-win can stop overconfident play, but quitting good games only because you are winning gives up money.
Example
With a stop-loss of 3 , you leave after losing 300bb even if the game is good, because you know your decisions get worse after big losses.
Rule of thumb
Use a stop-loss if losing affects your play; never quit a good game you are playing well in just to lock up a win.
The idea
Your bankroll is money set aside only for poker, big enough that normal downswings do not break you or change how you play. The usual guides are about 20 to 40 for cash games and 100 or more for tournaments, where variance is far higher. /variance shows the risk of ruin for any bankroll.
Example
A cash player at 1/2 with a 200 has a 6,000 bankroll: 30 . A 10-buy-in downswing, which a winning player meets regularly, still leaves 20 and no pressure to play scared.
Rule of thumb
Keep 20 to 40 for cash and 100 or more for tournaments, and move down when you drop below your minimum.