In the end I think being a successful poker player requires a highly competitive nature. It is going to come down to greed or competitiveness that motivates you to be a good player. The hard thing to reconcile about poker and ultra competitive personalities is the competitive side demands short-term reward (winning the hand) for playing correctly while poker results fluctuate wildly short-term and only even out over the long-term. Somehow you got to reconcile the long-term nature of the game with the short-term successes and failures to allow your competitive nature motivate you to succeed without destroying the fun of the game when things go wrong. I know it sounds wacky, but your competitive nature might be the secret. Because good players see the big picture and don’t let one stupid bad beat get them on tilt, and goddamn it, you are going to be a good player so let the bad beat go and be happy with playing the hand correctly. You should be able to tell that I have told myself this mantra a few times.
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