Poker should bring you joy. If it doesn’t, why play it? You have a choice to do something else. Poker doesn’t own you. It accepts you as you are, and you should accept it for what it is, a game. Although the most skillful players will forge ahead and win more than the unskillful, the truth is that there are days when no matter what tricks you have up your sleeve, nothing will work your way.
It’s like life. Sometimes, we put in our best efforts and get less than nothing in return. However, cultivating an attitude of anger and angst towards the game makes it no fun for you or your opponents. As much as the majority of players complain of the poker gods, they realize that bad moves and certain situations just happen. There are things that we can not control in this game of imperfect information.
We can only make the best guesses based on what we know at the time and what we are holding in our hands. We have to let the rest go or we’ll drive ourselves and everyone around us nutty with our bad beat stories…that, in many cases, really weren’t. (But that’s a story for another time).
The truth is poker isn’t a drudgery. It’s not a chore. It’s fun game in which you can pit your wits against others. If you don’t see the game like that, you may decide to take a temporary (or permanent) break from the game.
Life’s too short to be miserable.