Ego is one of poker player's biggest weaknesses. You only need to be realistic, nothing else matters. There are a lot of ups & downs in poker where you might lose a whole month's earnings in a couple of days. It gets very frustrating once in a while, and that's when you need to look at the situation realistically and think if it's maybe time to step down in limits.
Poker is about playing in profitable games, making profitable plays and making money. Keep telling yourself that and trust me, you'll make more good, profitable decisions. Are you really going to let your ego to come in the way and lose you a lot of money - possibly even your whole bankroll? Yeah, you probably shouldn't do that. Ego shouldn't have any influence in your decisions, as you should keep them as profitable as possible.
Like I said, sometimes there'll be bad times, bad months - a significant amount of time when you're not focused as well as you've been, you possibly play against more skilled opponents or you get unlucky for a longer time than you usually do. These are the times when you start thinking; "maybe poker is just not for me, I should cash out everything and never play again."
If you really feel like that, be my guest do what you want. In most of these situations though, the awkwardness of the situation, the uncomfortable feeling you've got is what makes decisions instead of realistic thinking. Emotions and other stuff shouldn't be in your way (you can take an advantage of your opponent's emotions, though).
When to Step Down?
This is a good, crucial question. When is it really time to step down? And just to make it clear; you don't necessarily have to step down because you can't compete with your opponents skill-wise, but because your bankroll has suffered and you can't play as "free" poker as you've used to. When the size of your bankroll starts to affect your decisions, it's time to step down.
I've seen players who just couldn't figure out certain things to beat the level they were playing at. This frustrating enough for them to "never" give up and keep playing the same level without realising this wouldn't bring the results they wanted to see. Eventually they lost a lot of money. A move as simple as stepping down in limits would have worked here, I think. Playing with much less stress can really open up your game and make you see things happen that you thought wouldn't happen. If you feel like you (for some reason) can't beat a certain limit, it's time to step down.
And don't get me wrong - I think it's a great way to develop your skills as a poker player by playing against better poker players. When it gets to a point where it's "ridiculous", though, you just be realistic and just step down, not letting your ego to affect your decisions. When you play against better players with the intention of being a better player after the experience, well, you should kind of "take a shot" rather than play against them actively (unless you're winning). Don't make it your habit to play only against better playerts - that's not going to work well for your bankroll and you'll be forced to step down in limits. And it's always better when you make the decision yourself, rather than be forced to do it.
There's a scenario where you've just been getting unlucky, you're still beating the game but just getting smashed by odds & probabilities. So when you've lost, let's say 10-15 buy-ins in a row and you don't see anything wrong with what you're doing, just try stepping down for a while. Rebuild the money by playing easier games.
To sum up it all; your ego's got nothing to do with profitable poker. Stepping down limits is OK, I'd say even quite standard among professional poker players. I don't know a single player who wouldn't have looked at things like "Wow, maybe it's time to step down for a little bit and get my thoughts together." When one player isn't on top of his game, another one will be. Obviously the player who IS on top of his game will probably take the money for that session. Stepping down in limits is a good strategy.
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