Don't Play Poker In a Bad Mood - Published: 6/10/2006
Your state of mind will influence your results in any game you play, particularly in games of skill like poker, where your decisions are of utmost importance. Playing poker while in a bad mood will hurt your chances of success for two main reasons; the first is that your own ability will be diminished, and the second is that the play of your opponents will improve against you.
We have all said things that we didn't mean, or said things we regret, usually in moments of anger or frusturation. This notion of having bad judgment when upset or angry carries over to working, taking a test and doing just about anything else, including playing poker. One of the most common mistakes made by us when we are playing in a bad mood is to try raising or bluffing at pots with mediocre holdings on too many occasions. While aggressive betting and strategy is mostly rewarded at poker, timing and selectivity are also required, items usually lost to us if we aren't paying attention to the right things. It's very difficult to focus clearly on the important action at hand when there is something else on your mind, let alone completing correct analysis of what all the action really means.
Besides your game play changing for the worse, the opponents that observe you 'not at your best' will also gain an edge that they didn't have before. Anger is notorious for not being well concealed, and at a live poker game opponents will be able to read your emotions much more easily than if you were always calm. An often observed scenario at middle or higher stakes is a typically tight or patient player getting frusturated after a long run of terrible starting hands. If this upset player is all of a sudden deal pocket aces, it will be much easier for the others at the table to notice a change in his behaviour and be tipped off to the fact that he could have a strong hand.
While your own judgment and mood is always an influencing factor in your results, the increase in correct decisions by your opponents only happens when they are observant, like in most mid or high stakes live poker games, as opposed to a low limit game online. While preparing mentally beforehand to avoid a possible mind set where you are upset is the preferred route to take (zen, yoga, meditation), these paths aren't for everybody and occasionally the mind just won't let go of what is bugging us. In these times, it's best just to stay away from all forms of cash gaming and stick to video games!