In 1997, Richard Carlson published “Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff”. He also proposed that everything is small stuff. While we know that everything is not small stuff, the book was a best seller and made a big impression on a lot of people. How can Juicy Stakes Poker players use this insight?
The Rake is the Biggest Small Stuff that Many Players Sweat!
We talk about the poker rake a lot because players still ask about it. A lot of players google the rake. It might be because players are worried that the rake might be too high.
In truth, the rake is probably the smallest of all the small stuff poker players think about and stress over. The rake here at Juicy Stakes is never more than $3 a pot. If the pot has hundreds of dollars in it, the rake will still be $3. If the pot is small as in micro-stakes poker, the rake will be pennies per pot. If everyone folds to the big blind before the flop, there is no rake at all!
We have a formula for the rake and you can find it at the link above. We advise not stressing over the rake at all!
The Purpose of Not Sweating the Small Stuff is to Avoid Stress.
If you can stay away from stress, you will be able to stay calm and relaxed. When we say to stay away from stress we don’t mean that you will never be nervous in a poker game. Even if you have a 90% chance of winning a hand, you might get beaten by that 10% chance that the other player will win.
If you don’t sweat the small stuff, you can let the bad beats go. That will prevent you from entering the state of tilt! Players who are tilting often lose more on the next few hands than on any other hands during a normal poker session.
To a very large degree, not sweating the small stuff is all about avoiding tilt!
Not Sweating the Small Stuff Relieves Pressure
Just as we all feel nervous at times in a poker game, we feel the pressure of time limits, stack limits, skill limits, and any other real or imagined limit we place on ourselves. We need to relieve the pressure by not sweating the small stuff.
There are many synonyms for the terms pressure and stress:
- Tension
- Worry
- Anxiety
- Distress
- Trauma
- Panic
Sweating the small stuff leads inexorably from mild tension or worry to anxiety and distress. This leads to a sense of trauma unfolding and can lead in the susceptible to a panic attack.
No one wants to suffer a panic attack during a poker game!
Worry is Sometimes Caused by Outside Influences
If you have a hobby that you like and you feel that poker is taking you away from your hobby too much, you should probably play less poker! This is really a no-brainer as we all have primary and secondary and even tertiary interests and if poker is a minor interest, it might be sensible to reduce the amount of time you play poker.
By the same token, you might have outside responsibilities. Do you have to cook dinner? Is the baby in your hands today? Is the deadline for the work project you and your team have been working on for so long almost here?
Deal with outside influences first. If you don’t, you will end up sweating the small stuff instead of dealing with the small stuff. By not dealing with such mundane activities as cooking dinner, taking care of the baby, working on your hobby, or finishing a work project, the stress will end up interfering with sound poker thoughts and will lead to poor decision making.
Some People Get Stressed when they Get Poor Cards Many Hands in a Row
It is good to know when to fold before the flop. You should expect to fold at least 70% of your hands before the flop. That’s because the combinations of two cards overwhelmingly favor getting a hand you should fold rather than a hand to bet in!
Some players get exceedingly frustrated when they have to fold 80% of their hands! If a player sweats the small stuff—and folding before the flop and leaving a hand at no cost is truly small stuff—they might stay in with a very poor holding on a subsequent hand. It is one thing to call with connected and suited cards in the hole. It is another to call or raise with a very poor hand simply because you are out of patience with the luck of the deal.
Some players sweat the small stuff so much that folding “too much” before the flop puts them into the state of tilt.
You might go an entire poker session without getting a single hand you can play with confidence. If you are playing at the right stakes level and you fold when you should fold, you will emerge from an unlucky poker session fully intact. It should make you feel very good, not very stressed!
Poker is a Hard Game
Don’t sweat not understanding poker concepts right away. Poker can be tough and we need to maintain our self-confidence. It often takes time to learn the esoteric concepts of poker. It is healthy to let the learning take its own sweet time and not sweat the time.
Eat when You are Hungry and Sleep when You are Tired
It is possible to eat while playing poker online here at Juicy Stakes Poker. However, eating can also be a social event. It is much more likely that you will enjoy a good meal with family or friends over playing poker for another hour!
No one has yet learned how to play poker while they are asleep! When you are tired, you may need to sleep. You might be in a state where you are not so tired that you need to sleep but you are too tired to play poker! This happens quite often. There is absolutely nothing wrong with leaving a poker game because of tiredness.
Some Players Stress that They are Playing for Very Low Stakes
Of course, this feeling can lead to trying to play at a higher stakes level before you are truly ready. There is also another good reason to play at the stakes level that reflects your real monetary situation: when we play at our best stakes level we can treat a loss as the cost of having fun! Fun is always the main goal unless a player is a poker pro going after a belt!
Let Juicy Stakes Poke Take you on a Magic Carpet Ride
Actually, the best we can do is provide a safe and secure poker format for playing poker online. We offer many types of poker at many stakes levels. And remember, the rake can never get higher than $3 and it is often much lower! We are sure that you have all the information you need to JOIN JUICY STAKES POKER!
