There's definitely a lot of dick measuring going on at the micros esp among the 'regs', and it is super expensive. It's not just about bluffing too much or not value betting enough, whenever you feel like 'this ahole is messing with me' or 'i can't let them run over me', that's a sure sign of bad play at the micros where everyone is on level zero virtually all the time.

Recently I've been thinking of poker as commentary not competition. We have no control over the outcome at all period. No matter what we do, we can't force a win or force a fold. So that's not really a competition imo. What we are doing is commenting on a game where we see only a small part of what's going on and the result is decided entirely by chance, by blind idiots if you will. That means that the real winner is the best commentator who understands best what the hell is going on, making the most appropriate betting decisions etc.

Thinking of it that way has helped me to fold a lot easier and pick better spots instead of wanting to 'fight' the people bullying me which is my normal reaction and very bad poker.

Sorry if that's off topic. You got me going.