Good morning everyone,
I’ve been playing poker since 2018, and to this day I still haven’t gotten used to taking big losses, even though I understand a bit about variance. I prefer to make small but consistent profits, as I believe a downswing would greatly affect the way I play.
I see excellent players on Twitch who have accumulated losses of over $42K this year. You really need a strong mindset for that not to affect your game. I think dealing with big losses is one of the hardest things in poker, and even top players struggle with it.
For example, I saw a great player who has already made millions from poker play an 80bb pot with J9♦♦ in a 6-max MTT. He opened from MP with J9s, the villain (with 75bb) called from the big blind.
Flop: 9♣ 2♣ 5♠ — he thought the villain might have flush draws and made a 60% c-bet. The villain check-raised, and he called.
Turn: 5♦ — he bet 50% of the pot, and the villain shoved all-in; he called.
Villain showed A9♠♠.
I believe that if he had been up in profit, he probably wouldn’t have opened that hand from early position, nor played an 80bb pot with J9♦♦, holding only top pair with a jack kicker.
