Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Where's your POKER head at?

Obviously you can not win every day but it certainly seems like you should.  After all you put in a ton of work and you study your game but ultimately you are still only going to win a small percentage over 50% no matter what.  So how do you keep your head straight? 

Four things to keep your emotions in check

Keeping control over your emotions is obviously a very important part of what we do as poker players.  One thing I will typically do is re-evaluate as I am playing (admittedly hard to do since you are not particularly objective).  Obviously Bluffware makes this easy by simply looking at the hands you are playing as they are coming into the software in real time, soon there will be graphs that will make this even easier.  Here are 4 things you can do to keep your emotions in check.

 

1.  Take a short break.  In the heat of the battle it feels as if you are trapped in front of your computer and it is difficult to leave.  Here is my advice, if your instincts are telling you to walk away do not wait for your blinds, just leave.

 

2.  Are the game conditions REALLY that optimal.  Let's be honest, if a guy snaps your Aces off with a set of deuces it blows but does that really mean that he/she is the spot you are looking for? I would contend that most games on a scale of one to ten, ten being the most fishy, we will often stay in games that are about a three or five when those games can be found around the clock.  So be aware to the fact that the spot that you are in might not be optimal and since that spot is available all the time just go do something else.

 

3.  I have specific times I will not typically play.  I do not play once my kids are at home because they can cause ITS (instant tilt syndrome).  I also do not play before I go to bed, those nasty two outer nightmares just suck.  I also tend to play sessions less than two hours long because I am prone to headaches with anything longer.  All of these change given optimal conditions but optimal conditions are not typically found when you are stuck 4 buy-ins.

 

4.  Play when you feel confident.  While nothing can kill a good day like a few bad beats it is also easier to shrug off losses when you are mentally feeling well.  After 100,000's of hands your poker game should become instinctive, most of the situations you will face you will draw on experience.  So to have clarity of thought is really important and I think if you were to journal how you felt before you sit down you would find that you do best when you are in a better mood.  That is not an accident.  While most people would agree with what I am saying few do this (including myself, so I am going to re-start this as part of my blog).  

Do you need a psychologist?

I have played poker for a living and trust me when I say this to you most of those people are miserable from day to day.  To be truly good at poker requires a level of introspection that will make you distant from your real life.  For most of us poker might not even make the top 5 of the things most important to us, so why would you ever play in sub-optimal conditions?  Do not say because it is fun because if losing is fun to you then you might need a psychology forum.  

Life is too short to spend doing things that make you miserable

Said simply if at the moment you sit down you are not frothing at the mouth ready to play your best game and find the best games to make the most money then you are doing it wrong.  While pot odds and situational play are very important part of your journey those parts because instinctive over time.  The journey that you will be on for the rest of your poker life is the one with your head and emotions.  It also happens to be the part of poker that will most help you with the rest of your life as well.

 

 

 

Tags: poker   Tilt   emotions  

4 responses to Where's your POKER head at?