| |
I'm sure
you've heard a lot of people
talk about not letting the past
effect your future decisions,
but realistically, this is going
to happen quite a bit. You take
a bad beat, get frustrated, and
then get involved in the very
next pot, when you should have
been "insta-mucking"
your hand to begin with.
Some of
us are much better about
controlling our emotions and ego
at the table, but most of us, no
matter how good we are at this,
could make dramatic improvements
in learning how to re-center
ourselves, and be FULLY in the
moment. The reality is, the days
events, the current bad beat you
took, the horrible fight you had
with your partner, the cat you
ran over on the way to the
casino, are all going to effect
every decision you make at the
table. And, as all of you should
fully understand, playing the
most profitable poker you can
play, has to do with making the
BEST decision possible as
consistently as possible over a
long period of time.
So,
consequently, your current state
of mind when you sit down at the
table, is a crucial factor
in determining how successful
you can really be at poker. This
is poker at an even higher
level, this is the game you'll
be playing against yourself your
entire life. It should make a
lot of sense then, that not only
do you have to learn how to play
against an array of different
personality types on the felt,
but you have to learn how to
play against your ego, while
balancing your emotional state.
There
are really two important
concepts to getting yourself in
an ideal state where you can be
fully present in the moment. 1)
Determining your current state
of mind, and how recent past
events may be effecting you, and
2) Letting go of all of those
past events, and focusing in
with laser like precision at
only the decision at hand.
I
recommend that you create a
personal "ritual" for
yourself before you decide to
play a game of poker. You don't
have to light candles, burn
incense, and chant to the holy
mother cow. It's just a matter
of creating a repetitious set of
actions that will prepare your
mind to let go of the past, and
focus on the current task at
hand. It can be as simple as
saying one sentence to yourself,
such as, "I'm ready to play
poker, so I'm going to let
everything else go, center
myself, and focus my mind to
play the best poker I can
play". Something that
simple, can make a HUGE
difference in every session you
play. Don't believe me, good! I
didn't want you to believe me, I
wanted you to try it!
If
you've noticed one thing about
professional sports, you should
be able to notice who the truly
great players are in any
individual sport. They are
deemed great, not only because
they perform extremely well, but
also because they can do this
very consistently. A lot of
professional athletes talk about
"being in the bubble",
where there's no crowd, no
winning, no losing, but instead
just the pure action they are
doing. Meaning there is no
weight put into whether they
score a goal, make that basket,
or catch that improbable throw
for a touchdown. It's
"merely" the action,
and only the action.
This is
the second part of being in the
moment. If you're involved in a
pot in poker, and you begin to
think about winning the hand,
losing the hand, losing the
money that's already in the pot,
then you've already begun to
lose the hand. Don't worry about
what you invested into the pot
in the PAST, don't concern
yourself with victory, focus in
and analyze all of the available
information, and make the best
decision possible. The more
consistently you can do this,
the more your poker bankroll is
going to grow. I guarantee it.
John
Anhalt is a poker
coach and owner of training
site www.pokerzion.com
|
|
Personalized
Attention
- Why
even consider other training sites
or material, when you can have a
proven professional poker player
assigned to you as your personal
poker mentor? We are dedicated to
our students' success, and that
will be apparent from the moment
you join our fast growing
community.