JLtrooper said:
You realize it's just a bunch of pieces of paper with numbers on them, nothing more, nothing less.
It's
real money. The amount of money they are playing with has real life implications, if not for them (hard to believe), then for most regular working stiffs. I could live off that one hand for years. Those real life implications are why I am not likely to ever play at stakes like that or even close to that. It's not just pieces of paper or chips or numbers on a screen to me. It's a nice house, a car, all sorts of good things, for a long time. I don't think I could ever detach from the reality of that.
So, no, my goals in poker are far more limited. I do
not aspire to play at that level -- just the thought makes me ill. I like to have fun playing. I enjoy playing at the (low) levels I am at, and aspire to moving up a level or two, if I can get a handle on higher levels. If I can adjust to the swings. At low levels, I don't play scared. The question is whether I can comfortably move up very far. It remains to be seen whether a higher
bankroll will bring more comfort. There is likely a cap to my comfort level, regardless of bankroll.
I am as happy to win a tiny tournament for $10 as I am to do well in a bigger tournament for considerably more. I try to play with as much focus in the small tourneys as the big, and try to learn something every time I play. It's nice to win some money, not so nice to lose it. My goal is to win more, lose less.
