Hello

Hey Leilanna,

Welcome to PokerStrategy.com

Originally posted by LeliannaLee

My brother, Rob, tells me that I must be doing something right if I'm always being knocked out when favourite. He says it shows I'm playing good poker.

Make sure you keep listening to your brother. He is right. There is a nasty little thing in poker called variance. Poker players have a love/hate relationship with variance. There is good variance where you always hit your cards and even if you don't hit, villain misses too. Then there is bad variance.

Bad variance is where your AA gets cracked by random rags, your huge straight and flush draw combos always miss and of course, villain always hits his.

The key is to be able to brush that off and keep doing the same thing. Don't get scared and don't lose faith. If you do you may find yourself folding profitable hands just because they lost the last x times.

I can recommend you have a look through Asaban's MTT Beginner Coaching: Discussion and feedback thread.

Make sure you check out our bonus offers. This will cost you nothing and will give you lifetime Bronze status.

Bronze will give you a tracked room to earn SPs, the ability to send friend requests and PMs through our community tool as well as opening up more strategy and videos.

If you need advice regarding a room then check our our Choosing the right Poker Room for you! thread. Just reply by answering the questions in the first post and we'll do our best to find the best room for you in regards to volume, traffic, bonuses, etc.

If there is anything else you need to know, don't be afraid to ask.

Have fun

Laz

Thanks for the encouragement, Laz. After a night's sleep I feel better about my play and am raring to go again today. I guess I have to learn to take the rough with the smooth. Obviously I'm still a novice and have a lot to learn but I'll stick to it and hopefully improve my game and try to embrace the good variance whilst shrugging off the bad.

Originally posted by LeliannaLee
Thanks for the encouragement, Laz. After a night's sleep I feel better about my play and am raring to go again today. I guess I have to learn to take the rough with the smooth. Obviously I'm still a novice and have a lot to learn but I'll stick to it and hopefully improve my game and try to embrace the good variance whilst shrugging off the bad.

That's the spirit. In poker, you have to be a mental rock. This game has almost destroyed me twice to the point where I stopped playing. If it hadn't been for Jared Tendler's wonderful book, The Mental Game of Poker, I might still not be playing.

I even composed my own mantra to recite over for those really bad days:

I will be the branch that sways in the wind, but never breaks
I will be the trampled flower, that rises at the sight of the sun
I may be bowed, but I WILL NOT be beaten

Now I have complete acceptance of variance and accept both the good and bad. I also enjoy playing a lot more then I did back then.

May your monsters hold

Laz