nice post. I lost 3500 in a day once where I was only betting hard with 2 pair or better on the flop. I lost with sets, straights, flushes, etc. Over and over again. This isn't about bad beats. It is what it is. P.O.K.E.R.

I took the long view and still won alot more that that for the month (august) and tons more for the year (05). And In December of o4 I posted my first post in the Beginner's forum on FTR. It basically said, "Hi, I'm new. I'm trying to get a winning poker game together."

In December of 04 I had a $300 bankroll and never imagined that 9 months later I would shrug off a loss of 3500 in a day and still make big bank for the month.

The only goal I ever have is to play my best poker every hand. My goal - which plays into Chardrian's tip - is to never take "a hand off" and get stupid. I kept (and keep) tuning my game and playing it to the best of my ability. I know that if I do that I will win hundreds of thousands of dollars (if not a million) over the course of my online poker "career". And I play the same stakes alot of beginners who haven't won much (yet) play. NL25 to NL200, $10-$30 MTT's, $5 - $50 SnG's.

See what I'm saying. You don't have to play NL1000 to win alot of money. You just have to have a net+ game, and keep your head screwed on right. And the "head" thing is what this tip is about. I just added the rest of this stuff to say that - as an un-inflated winner who is also no long-time pro - the 6" between your ears is more important than the 6" stack of chips on the table in front of you. Money will come and go. How you play over months and years is what matters.

Great post, man!!

Oh, BTW Chardrain, I took a peek at your blog and I'm guessing you posted this to remind yourself as well. I saw alot of "this is frustrating" type stuff where you didn't do as well as you wanted in an MTT or whatever. A quick piece of advice as a "thanks for the post" - try to take some of the emotion out of what's going on. Did you play your A game? Yes! then the results are what they are, but you did your job. If the answer is NO, then find out why and correct it. If your A game has a hole in it (as seen over the long term), find it and fix it. Emotion makes for sub-par decisions. Can you be truly emotionless at poker? Yep. Most people don't because they haven't developed the discipline, they are playing above their emotional or monetary bankroll and "need" to win (like needing something ever made it happen, really), or they want the emotional high of walking the high wire more than they want the deep, rewarding feeling of playing a growing, solid, "professional" lifetime of poker.

Thanks again for the post.