The Danger of Pity

  We all feel pity. Well, unless we're sociopaths, in which case we just pretend to feel pity. But normal people all feel pity. It's a natural human condition. We don't like seeing each other get hurt or suffer a loss. We don't want to see such things happen. We naturally want everyone to succeed.  But that doesn't happen in poker. In poker, most people fail, and a lot of them pretty miserably. It's the nature of the game.  And you will feel pity for these people, especially if you're the one who has beat them. But you can't let that affect you. Pity will make you go soft on your opponents. Pity will make you take it easy.  That's the last thing you want to do. You never want to find yourself going soft on your opponents. Even if you feel real, strong pity for them, you don't want to take it easy. Instead, you want to press your advantage. When you have your opponents against the ropes, you don't want to let up, you want to push forward and drive them out of the game.  Pity is a natural human reaction, but it's the one you must suppress when playing poker.