From Monk:

Poker has nothing to do with money.

Now you might think it does, but it can’t. The first thing I need to do before I sit down at the table is remove myself from the world of bills and burgers and new tires for my old saab. If I am still there I am not playing poker, I’m dreaming. The same thing goes for leaving the poker table. I really have to leave it. Now I am not buying a happy meal with a small blind, it’s a couple bucks and if I think it’s a small blind, I’m dreaming. Is dreaming all that bad!?! Well, it can be.

Every time I see money while I am playing poker it costs me money. When I notice how much I’ve lost (in terms of what it costs, like: oh crap!! I could have bought a new guitar with that!) I lose touch with the game and it’s so easy to slip from there. It’s so easy not to notice that I’m not playing poker anymore, I’m just handing over chances for the rest of you to get at my chips.

How about when I notice how much I’m winning, that can’t hurt! Oh yes!! It does, I get tight, I want to keep this, or maybe I get loose and aggressive, this is my night! But in both instances I have left the game and gone off to bed to dream of my poker greatness.

Now I’m not saying go into the game and forget about your bankroll, but that’s not cash. They come from two different worlds. Like the Matrix, the rules of the two worlds are not the same. You have to know which one you’re in.