Don't Look At The Cashier - Excerpt from Treat Your Poker Like A Business

We have an exclusive excerpt from PokerStrategy.com coach Dusty 'Leatherass9' Schmidt's first book, Treat Your Poker Like a Business.

Dusty Schmdit

I have a good friend who was a longtime sales manager in the advertising field. He once told me that one common trait among his top salespeople was that they never looked at their numbers until the end of the month.

That way, their effort stayed constant when times were good, and when times weren’t so good, they weren’t unduly pressured by the winding down of the monthly clock.

Though I’m not in sales, this is something I apply to my poker business. I am one of the few people I know in online poker who does not look at the cashier until the end of the month. I just don’t see the advantage in looking. 

If I’m playing well, there’s a good chance I’ll become protective of my money, just as a football team that’s ahead might go into a prevent defense, as opposed to playing with the abandon that got them the lead in the first place.

By not looking at the cashier, I stay committed to the thought process and what I’m trying to achieve. Results have been known to interfere with that thought process. Those who are running really badly, for example, might go up in stakes to chase their losses.

Even worse, a bad trend might make you feel like you need to keep playing on and on, regardless of the stakes. If you’re losing, it might just be bad luck, or it might be bad play. Chances are certainly greater that your game is off when you’re losing money. Ironically, this is when people tend to play the longest. Because they’re down, they play longer when they’re not at their best.

Conversely, there’s an instinct to quit when we’re ahead, as if to say, “I just made $10,000 in my first 20 minutes. Why don’t I go play golf?” But this is exactly when you should keep playing. That’s how you get to days where you make $20,000-$30,000. You keep going.

Dusty has written two successful poker books

Strangely enough, when the games are bad and we’re thinking badly, we’re inclined to keep playing. But when the games are best and we’re thinking our best, we’re inclined to stop.

Most of us play our longest sessions in the worst environments. I once heard a guy say, “You know why I never lose at poker? I play until I’m not losing anymore.” Come to think of it, I hear comments like this all the time.

We’ve all known guys who’ve played 30 hours at a time until they get unstuck. That is completely unnecessary — you’d have won at the beginning of your next session if you’d taken some time to rest.

There have been months that have begun with me getting down $30,000. But I ignore the cashier. I don’t want to have to deal emotionally with the loss. Two or three weeks go by, and I’ll finally check the cashier, only to discover that I’m up $35,000. I’ll look at the history graph, and sure enough I was down $30,000, only to go on a $65,000 tear.

By not looking at the cashier, I always feel like a winner. This may be a psychological crutch, but it works.

As opposed to your cashier’s balance, the figure you have to keep in mind is your hourly rate. If that’s constant or trending upward, you know you’re improving as a player and your overall strategy is sound.

This advice applies so long as you’re following what I said previously of keeping 100 buy-ins in your bankroll. If you’re not to that threshold yet, you may have to check the cashier to make sure you’re not in any serious bankroll trouble. 

Exclusive PokerStrategy.com Offer

We have an exclusive 50% discount code for both Dusty's books, which means that Treat Your Poker Like A Business is now only $12.49 and Don't Listen To Phil Hellmuth is only $14.99. The deal gets even better if you wish to purchase both copies, as you can get them as a bundle for just $21.

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