Someone once said, "Poker is the purest form of competition." That's true, but the genuine opponent is yours, in this hand and the next.

Joey stood there, staring at his cup of soda, lost.

'I should go back and play. I'll buy in for 1000. Just one all in and I'll be even. No! I can buy in for 2000 and then get ahead!' This was the mindset of a losing gambler.

He noticed he wasn't thinking like his usual self and shook his head. He took a deep breath. 'Calm down, what's done is done. What's this feeling? Is this tilt?'

Self-awareness that a problem exists is the first step to fixing it.

'So this is the feeling of a big loss? No...it's not just that. It's because it was completely out of my control. I played my best and still lost. There's a sense of...blaming bad luck, and anger, and feeling all my efforts are worthless.' He knitted his eyebrows as he reflected on his feelings.

'That's nonsense! I can't expect to win every hand. All I can control is playing the best I can, lucky or not.' His eyes gradually regained their usual clarity.

At this time, Andrew came over and tapped his shoulder. "Hey bro, you alright?" He had seen Joey acting strangely so came over to check on him.

"Yea...I just took a big loss my first hand. Aces got cracked. Lost 1000, but it could've been worse. If I bought in for more and that happened, I could've lost my entire bankroll...So I'm just thinking."

"Entire bankroll?" Andrew looked at him in disbelief.

"Yea..."

"Bro...don't you practice bankroll management?"

Joey was confused. "What's that?"

"Look at it like this. You just said it yourself right, you can get unlucky in one hand, and lose your entire buyin easily! In fact, those kinds of bad beats happen all the time. So if you bought in your entire bankroll, wouldn't it just be a matter of time until you went broke?"

Joey's eyes enlarged. "So you're saying..."

"You need to manage your bankroll. Limit the stakes you play at and your buyin size to a reasonable fraction of your bankroll so you can manage your risk. There's a lot of math on it but having a bankroll of at least 20-50 buyins is very necessary. Of course, sometimes you can take a shot in a very good game, but your foundation needs to be stable. Take the gamble out of it."

Joey considered his situation. 'With that loss, I have around 5000 now...Even if I buy in for 500, that's only 10 buyins...' He frowned. 'I'm just going to have to tighten up and make do for now.'

"Thanks man, I know what I need to do." Joey said.

"Any time. I'm gonna get back to my game. Good luck."

Joey went back to the cage and bought more chips before returning to the table. Moments ago, he lost 1000, but now he had bought in for only 500. 'Instead of being desperate to get even today, I need to consider the long term, like Andrew said.'

"Whoa there kid, 500 huh? Yea, you wouldn't want to hurt yourself after that pounding you just took haha," a player at the table suddenly jeered.

Joey looked up. There was a young man with short black hair gelled upwards. His hair was so spiky it seemed like you would draw blood if you touched it. Joey frowned but didn't respond. He knew the priority now was getting refocused, and getting into an argument with a stranger wouldn't help him do that.

Seeing there was no response, the man was disappointed but the game wouldn't stop for him. The cards flew.

Every now and then, he would probe Joey with a comment or question trying to throw Joey off or anger him. Although it was a distraction, it didn't stop Joey from focusing on the game. Steadily, his chip stack climbed from 500 to 1000.

"Man, it's deja vu! 1000, that's an unlucky number for you my friend. You better hope you don't get aces again. I'm really not enough of a sadist to watch you take another beat like that."

Joey glanced at him. This guy had been targeting him the whole night but he didn't know why. Just then, he noticed Andrew at the snacks table taking a break. He decided to join him so he went over.

"Hey," he greeted Andrew.

"Hey Joe, how you been doing?"

"Better. I've got my head on straight now, thanks to you."

Andrew shrugged, "Everyone has to take their licks. The key is rolling with the punches."

Joey nodded his head then remembered something. "Hey, you see that guy over there in the 3-seat, with the black spiky hair?"

Andrew looked over, "Yea, is he giving you trouble?"

"How'd you know?"

Andrew lightly laughed, "Listen, don't let him get to you. That's his specialty. Guy's name is Nick, but around here people call him 'The Needler.'"

"The Needler, what's with that name?"

"He has a hobby, no, you could even call it his special talent...to get under people's skins. He targets players on tilt, or bordering on the edge, and needles them with comments to try to get them further emotionally off-balanced. If it works, the target tends to play even worse and dump off a lot of chips, particularly to him, and it works often. The man has honed his craft haha."

"Is that allowed here? To just say whatever you want?"

"As long as he isn't directly cursing players, there's no problem. This is poker, it's a battle of the mind as much as the cards. Verbal game is a part of that."

Joey looked over at the table. 'Nick the Needler...' His eyes glinted with competitive spirit.

Andrew saw this. "Just don't underestimate him. Just because he likes to talk, doesn't mean he can't play as well. He's one of the winning regulars at 2-5 here. Also...don't be in a rush, you're at a big disadvantage right now, being new."

"What do you mean?"

"Look at it like this. Most of those players know each other. So when a new player like you sits down, all they have to worry about is playing their best game and studying one unknown player. What about you? You sit down and you have to spend your energy studying all nine..."

Joey was silent, contemplating.

"There's another issue as well. When there are three or more people in a hand, the playing styles of certain players change depending on who is in the hand."

"How so?

"A good player adjusts his style to the opponent. He may play one hand in two opposite ways versus different opponents. Let's say you're in a hand with a good player like that and a third player. He knows what he thinks about that third player, but you don't. So he may make a certain play because that player is in the hand, but you won't understand that motivation. You could then misjudged that good player's playing style...which could prove fatal."

Joey lowered his head to the ground for several seconds, analyzing the new information. "Got it. I'll jump back in, thanks again." Joey sat back down.

At the table, he took a glance around. 'Alright, so I'm at a disadvantage. The first step is gathering enough information on all the players to eliminate it. After that...' He looked at Nick. 'So you like to talk huh? Let's make you lose your voice.'