Managing your emotions at the PKR poker table can be very difficult at times. With so many things happening that can affect your concentration, it may seem that it is almost impossible to manage the emotions in the face of all that is occurring. It is very important, however, that you can maintain control over your emotions; otherwise, your decisions made while playing will be less than optimal. Much of poker can come down to probability and other analytical deductions and one of the biggest enemies to logical thinking is emotion. Despite what you might think, emotions actually take a large amount of the processing capabilities that your brain has leaving less for logic and analysis. By getting emotional at the poker table, you are allowing yourself to cloud your own judgment and, in turn, preventing yourself from reaching the success that you would otherwise be able to achieve.

Not just negative emotion is bad when you are at the table. Any emotion can cloud your judgment, even being extremely happy. I know that I, and many other poker players, have gotten themselves in a situation where they will win a big hand and play hands afterwards that under normal circumstances they would never consider playing. It is much worse, however, when you are in a negative mindset. Negativity most often comes as a result of unfortunate circumstances and you will not have the buffer for bad play that you have when you get emotional as a result of a big win.

When you get a string of bad cards or lose a pot to an opponent getting lucky, it is important to talk to yourself and keep your emotions in check. Remember that your emotions are a result of your conscious mind and you can control them. Events are inherently unbiased emotionally and our mind attaches an emotion to the event with corresponds with our thoughts of the event. For example, if your opponent sucks out and you lose a pot that you were a big statistical favorite. The emotions that you feel and that your opponent feels are completely different despite the fact that they arise from exactly the same event. Sometimes being able to get your emotions in check is as simple as telling yourself that you played as well as you could have and there is nothing about which for you to feel bad. Another thing I have noticed that works well for many PKR players is to focus your attention elsewhere so that you are unable to invest emotion in the game. It is hard to feel emotional when you are making a decision in a few seconds.

Regardless of what sort of emotions you may experience at the poker table, it is extremely important for you to separate yourself from them. Emotions inherently interfere with the analytical and mathematical functions in the brain which reduces your capacity to make correct decisions in poker. By separating your emotions from your play, you will greatly improve the amount of money you make and have more fun playing.