THE LETTER DAY

 Date:                2013-03-01 23:56
 Location:            PARX CASINO
 Game:                6-12  Omaha H/L Mixed
 Length:              11h 0m
 Buy in ($):          300.00
 Cash out ($):        750.00
 Return ($):          450.00
 Win rate ($/hr):     40.91

Session Notes:

I got the following letter from a kid who reads my blog and I asked him to re-print it along with my response below ( I actually didn’t realize I said as much as did til I saw it in print on the blog) :

I’m 22 and I am having a hard time right now building a bankroll from
scratch again. I had a bankroll of about 200K but blew it on many non
poker related things and now I am running really bad and can’t get my
mind off of the money that I had. Any advice?

Sorry to hear about situation ….

first thing you need to realize is it’s not uncommon …. it happens all the time but relatively few people talk about it openly ….. realizing it’s not uncommon will help you to stop punishing yourself

for a skill set ( managing a large bankroll) that you don’t really get any practice using until it’s too late …. It’s sort of like learning how to be a trapeze artist and then wondering how you fell …..

The second thing is to completely forget that you ever had 200k …. You have whatever you have now ….. don’t think about getting the money back —- that is a recipe for disaster …..

look at it like you were struck by lightning and now you are walking around wondering or trying to figure out how to get struck by lightning again …. and tournament variance is so random at this point that is literally what

you would be doing if you try to plot on when the next time 200K is going to fall out the sky like the day it did when you hit the tournament ….

Play games according to the bankroll limits that you can afford now ….. don’t play higher because it would be embarrassing not to — that is more recipe for disaster —- drop to whatever level is comfortable even if it’s 1-2 no limit

cuz you cannot play when you head isn’t right …. Poker is either zero sum game meaning you are either winning or losing ….. Winning a small amount consistently is really good for clearing your head ….

if you can’t win …. take time off ….. more than likely what is happening is you cannot concentrate ….. you ‘re mind is so pre-occupied with losing that you decision – making is poor and you don’t know how to trust your own judgement ….

When the money starts disappearing as fast as it came in you get caught up in what I call the “toilet bowl effect” …. it’s when the water starts swirling around the bowl and anything that’s caught up in the cycle is going down …..

You wanna try to pull yourself out of that downward spiral and only being honest the odds are against u …. Imagine how hard it is for an insect to get out the that swirl once someone flushes the toilet on him …

What you will get out of this experience is a greater appreciation for money and an understanding that winning 200k is a freak occurence and may not happen any more in your lifetime ….

I understand that is morbid way to think but that’s the mind frame you need to go forward …. Matt Glantz said the same thing to me about winning the tournament I hit in 2007 (that it might not happen again) ….

It’s not the end of the world …. as you can very well see you can spend money on a lot of stuff you don’t really need … when it’s all said and done you usually want the money and the security and opportunity that it represents

more than the stuff you actually purchase ……

In closing it’s a recession ….. everyone is restructuring thier finances due to economic pressure ….. like I said when I opened the conversation don’t punish yourself …. most of the world has fucked up money in some fashion over the

last decade ….. you are not alone ….. the important thing is what you learn and how you react …..