Self-monitoring exercise

You have to transcend yourself, your consciousness. Get off your throne and examine your whole system with Newtonian objectivity. Look. This is who you are. This is how you think. Don't just examine the surface, dig deeper.

Whatever the case, your mind wasn't made to play poker. Your mind is against it. Probabilities, doubts, cognitive shifts, constant high stress and downswings get in the way of your efforts to fully commit to this wonderful and exhilarating game. But you feel good anyway. You have promised yourself not to get too attached to your mind. You accept everything that poker gives or demands. Ultimately, poker is a fight against human irrationality. To master poker is to master the human machine, the mind. It is a journey. And perhaps if it were not so difficult, if you were completely at ease with yourself, poker would not be such a dynamic, profitable and energetic game. Perhaps we should be grateful that it is what it is.

So, you have a task to face. Ask yourself. Pull it all aside and let yourself feel the truth, explore yourself through another person's eyes as if you were seeing yourself for the first time.

Tell yourself the truth. The ugly truth. What do you want? Where are your skills good, where are they bad? What are your failures and successes? What are you lying to yourself about? No one else can answer these questions for you. You can lie to yourself if you want to, no one will stop you. There are no shortcuts. No secrets.

What do you think of the others? What are you afraid of? What do you want most from poker? What does it mean to play against you? If you can't answer these questions for yourself, ask those around you. If they don't know either, ask your enemies. Somewhere in the middle, between them and your perception, is the truth of who you really are. You have to look for it.

A question requires being asked. Who are you? You have been asked this question many times throughout your career. But it's up to you whether you are ready to face the answer.

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