Recently I was looking at what made the difference between a winning session and a losing session for myself. I began looking at more than hand selection, and focused more on the why one session was so much better than another. I came up with a few different reasons why a session turned into a losing one for me.

The first is the most obvious – someone got lucky and sucked out on me. Well, that happens sometimes but the fact of the matter is, it only stayed a losing session if I didn’t buy back in.

The second was a lack of focus at the table. I’d start checking my e-mail or browsing Hulu / Netflix looking for something to watch.

But the third was a shocker to me. Following proper bankroll management strategy (not playing for more than 1/20th of my bankroll, in fact it was even less) I found that I would lose if I was scared of betting, scared my read was off, or thought that I was being “outplayed.” You see any of these can cause your game to be off. Being a tight passive player can be the worst strategy for you to use at the table as it causes you to lose a ton of pots you should have won. Playing well entails knowing when to bet and when to fold. If you throw out a few bets here and there then surrender the second someone else bets at you you’re just leaving money on the table.

There seems to be a right time to play and a wrong time. If you sit down to play when you’re not in the right mood to play, you’ll just dump money. Think of it as being forced to go to a job. This messes with your entire mindset and the second the fear of loss enters into your mind, well, you already lost the game.

Play confident in any situation you go into. If you don’t feel confident at your current buy in level play at a level you feel confident at. Confidence creates winning players, self doubt can turn even a break even or winning player into a losing one.