Clearing the Mind

Ok so as you may have picked up from earlier posts, one of the primary things I don’t ever want this blog to turn into is a place where I just come to vent and tell bad beat stories.  I have fairly strong opinions on this 🙂  Trouble is, when you are on the worst run of your life, its really hard not to think about it!  So rather than post about coolers and beats, what I am interested in is this … just how do you clear your mind and regain that balance?

There are of course, several good books on the subject and many articles scattered all over the internet.  In book terms, I like both Schoonmaker’s “Your Worst Poker Enemy” and Hilger’s “The Poker Mindset”.  (Side note – I registered as an Amazon affiliate and was going to promote those books here – becuase I think they are excellent – only found out AFTER I registered that WordPress doesn’t allow it!).  But I’m also interested in how “real” people handle the inevitable period in their poker lives where they run worse than they possibly imagined.

For me, I’ve thought about it hard and come to the conclusion I need to make two major changes to my approach to cope.  Number one is that I have been physically dormant for far too long, and I am getting back into exercise in a disciplined and regular way.  I think feeling fitter and healthier can only improve my general state of mind.  Secondly, I’m going to take a far more disciplined approach to poker play and study.  I’ve developed a schedule whereby I have 10 hours a week to play, and 6.5 hours a week to study.  Outside those times, I’m going to leave poker right alone.  That might not sound like a lot a week, but in between full time work and family life, that’s a pretty full schedule.  I’m conscious that although I’ve taken a whole heap of beats and coolers over the last few months, I’m also guilty at times of sitting down and firing up a few tables on a whim – which I think is not conducive to A game play, (a) becuase you are not in the right frame of mind, and (b) becuase I don’t do proper post session analysis when I play ad hoc.

So there’s my two major changes, with the primary goal of clearing my mind and taking a more disciplined approach.  I’d love to hear from readers how they deal with keeping focused and balanced in their poker careers, irrespective of whether they are running hot/cold or normal.

The Hardest Part of a Cold Streak

It goes without saying that if you play poker long enough, you’ll run worse than you ever possibly imagined.  I confess to be facing the worst cold period of my two year poker career … I’ve never seen so many one and two outers since December started.  But that is actually not the point of my post, and I dont think in many ways its the hardest part of being on a losing run.

 No the hardest part is sucking it up, and keeping it all to yourself.  When you get all in of the turn with AA on a T852 board and you get called by A5, and the river comes 5 again, you just want to let everyone know that the 80 VPIP donk you’ve been stalking for the last 30 minutes just hit another two outer.  Then he gets up and leaves the next hand, it makes you want to reach down that internet cable and …. *ahem*

 OK, so I appreciate the irony that this post is about not whining and I appear to be doing so 🙂 Allow me the one moment of weakness please to demonstrate the point!  But seriously, I think this is one of the toughest battles you face in poker, being able to master your emotions and resist the urge to shout your misfortune from the rooftops.  To resist the urge to mail your poker buddies with I got done AGAIN on a 96%/4% shot.  Because deep down, no-one else really wants to hear it.  Especially not if they are also struggling. 

There are players who can just take it in their stride and know that good play will eventually be rewarded.  I aspire to be this sort of player.  I dont think I’m too bad at it … I can generally move on pretty quickly … but not instantly. Not yet.  But I think to be the best player you can be, this has to be automatic, the ability not to think twice, not to berate the opponent for their donk play (you do, after all, want the donk to continue to make terrible calls).

A lot of players focus on what should I have done with this hand, did I bet the right amount, should I call or raise here, and neglect the mental side.  Even more pay lip service to the mental aspect, understand the logic of it, yet forget it all when their AA gets cracked by J6 on the river.  I’m adding this as one of my poker goals for this year – the ability to say Nice Hand sir, take a deep breath, and move on to the next hand.  Because if you can do this, you’re in a much better state to make the right decisions again.