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Avoid poker tilt by leading a balanced life
A lot of poker experts will talk to you about maintaining your discipline and self-control at the poker tables, hammering home ideas like ‘bad-beats are just part of the game’, and ‘you have to be able to deal with losses as a poker player if you ever hope to be a winning poker player’. But one thing I’ve noticed is how few of these people talk about the role your personal life plays at the poker tables.
Outside Stresses
One of the first things you need to make sure you have in order if you plan on playing poker is your stress factors, such as relationships, bills, and vices.
If you just had an argument with your partner, or someone else who you are extremely close to, how many bad beats do you think you’re going to be able to just shrug off? This scenario becomes even more apparent if the argument has to do with poker!
Or how are you going to deal with a downswing if you were chewed out by your boss?
How about if you are a few days late with mortgage payment, or credit card payment? Or bounced a check?
How about if you’ve been drinking a lot lately, or lost a small fortune betting on sports?
One of the first things you need to put in order are your stresses, if you can’t avoid them altogether –obviously this would be the best way to deal with them—you need forget about them when you sit down at your computer, or walk into a card-room: If you can’t do this, then you probably shouldn’t be playing poker at this time.
There is more to life than poker
Another thing you will have to bear in mind if you choose poker as a profession is not to take your work home with you, or become a workaholic. As David Chicotsky said when asked about winning the 2008 Online Player of the Year Award and breaking up with his girlfriend during that same time period, “You typically don’t win poker player of the year and boyfriend of the year at the same time!”
This is something every poker player needs to remember, even though you can play poker for 36 hours straight, sleep for 6 hours, and hit the tables for another 24 hour session it doesn’t mean that the people close to you will ‘understand’, no matter how much money you are winning it will affect your relationships. The best way to approach poker is like any other job: Set your hours, and make sure you have a social life that will balance your business life.
Making sure you lead a balanced life may seem like you are giving up some profit, but in the long-term it will not only benefit you mentally, but will also be a huge boost to your bottom line results: Daniel Negreanu once said in an interview that he plays his best poker when his personal life is in good order.
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