The Problem with Winning in Poker
Friday, July 25th, 2008The Problem with Winning in Poker
We all love to win in poker. To have a really nice tournament score. To see those dollars materialise in your online poker account. It is after all the prime motivatation to play for the vast majority of online players.
However this often creates a problem. Suddenly to have a large chunck of cash gives you a very liberal feeling when it comes to spending. Suddenly you have bought that $2000 watch that caught your eye, suddenly you are giving out $50 tips like some business tycoon or film star, and suddenly you are buying pretty much what you want whenever you want it.
Sure this feeling gradually subsides, but the fact of the matter is that in poker money won is never really there for liberal spending, unless you are retiring completely from poker, or have a really ridiculous sized score (eg WPT Main Event scale).
You might have spent $5K in tourney fees before that “significant” $18K score, and you could quite easily spend another $10K before you hit another. Variance is by its very nature unpredicatable, and really cold periods can creep up on you. That money is not profit, and it is not a “Christmas bonus”. You are dealing with a fluid operating role. That money won is very much part of that role.
Sure exurberance goes hand in hand with poker, and we all know it is a requirement to buy those diamond studded jeans from the shopping mall at Caesars, the moment you have anything half resembling a decent win 
So how do you deal with it without spoiling the obvious fun and pleasure. Really the best way is to wait a few days in a period of reflection until the money properly sinks in. Then decide what you want your operating role to increase to. Look if you have enough to be fully rolled for a level up. Also assess if there are any imporant financial things outside of poker that need to be sorted. Then after this period, have a look at what’s left, and if there is anything then its time for the spending spree.
