It’s not real money

One of the biggest hurdles a poker player must overcome is the mental side of the game. Almost anyone with an ounce of intelligence can work on the poker side of their game and become proficient enough to be able to make a significant second income from the game but nearly of of these players lack the mentality to do so.

Possibly the largest obstacles to cross is being able to disassociate yourself from the monetary value of the chips in front of you. Every person’s threshold is different but there will become a point where the money you are essentially gambling with means something to you. For some this may be as low as a $20 whilst others may only shudder at the thought of having $2,000 in play.

There is no sure fire way to overcome this but one possible avenue to go down is to stop talking about your bankroll in terms of actual money, instead only mention it in terms of big blinds. This way you will have a greater chance of believing your chips are just weapons at the poker table which happen to enable you to win money at the end of the game.
Thinking in terms of big blinds also helps you to play more optimally by taking materialistic thoughts out of your mind. For example, if you are playing a $3/$6 game and have $600 in front of you, you may be less likely to risk your entire stack if you are thinking of what $600 could buy you or your family but if you can train yourself to see $600 as simply 600 big blinds you can take some emotion out of your game.
Having an adequate bankroll for the stakes you play also helps you think in terms of buy-ins or big blinds instead of actual money. In fact being over-rolled is probably best if you struggle with his aspect of poker. If you have a large cushion behind you, in terms of bankroll that is, then you are less likely to be worried about the financial side of the game and will be able to concentrate more on making plays with positive expectation, regardless of how much actual money is on the line.

Written by Matthew Pitt, who writes for Betfair Poker and the World Cup Betting Blog A2bworldcup.com