Emotional versus rational

[Sarah555]

Once again, thank you all for your advice.
I also followed my own and stopped playing for a week. Now my mind is somewhat clearer. Also, it seems - after three days of play - that probabilities are back to "normal". Instead of almost consistently losing with premium hands I now make a profit with them.

Perhaps this is a trap into which other beginning players fall: changing your game when you are going through a "bad spell". When for a prolonged time the board seemed so hostile to me, I almost started to take it personal! And after a while I became more passive and began to call more bets than I should, stubbornly refusing my bad luck. Of course, in so doing I only added to my losses. In my private life I am sometimes criticised for being too rational. Well, here's another side to my personality!

Also, I find it difficult to stay "objective" when opponents keep making their - sometimes ludicrous - draws against me, while at the same time they are losing their chips much more quickly than I am. There were moments I felt that the whole table was conspiring against me. So much for my rationality....

And I hate those guys that you try to avoid, but cannot, because they seem to play all the tables at the same time. They are actually easy to read (it is hardly possible to be subtle when you have to click a zillion times per minute and have to watch so many opponents), but I dislike their immoderate greed. They should move up to higher limit games. So there's another irrationality: I sometimes have more fun when they lose a big pot than when I win one....

Another thing that I sometimes find distasteful: some players checkraise, not for tactical reasons, but simply for the opportunity of making a fool of someone on the river, even if it costs them a bet or two. Once I felt sorry for a player who was losing all the time and I decided just to call when I had the nuts against him - only to be repaid by a totally unnecessary checkraise on the next occasion.

Finally, is there no room for politeness at all? I started out greeting the table when I joined a game, but I soon found this is just not done. A pity.

All in all it is safe to say that I have much to learn before I can call myself a reasonably good poker player. This game requires a kind of mental discipline in which I find myself (to my own surprise!) lacking. Perhaps I don't have the right attitude. I like to play, and the score of this game is kept in dollars, but I am not REALLY interested in winning money. Only in winning. On the other hand, it is a challenge to try and acquire that necessary discipline.