Learning model - Kirmin's concept
"The Worm is a concept with a strange name that helps to make the learning process easier to understand. It is not a new revolutionary idea, but just observations about how improvement happens over time. In fact, there are some things you may never have thought of before. A clear understanding of this concept will help you:
- Develop a more productive approach to development.
- Consistently improve by avoiding common potholes.
- Avoid unnecessary struggles with things you cannot change.
- Understand the importance of skills in the learning process.
- Coping with the ups and downs of the learning process.
There will be days when it feels like you've just taken a huge step backwards, you're not progressing at all, or you've fallen back into your old habits. When that happens, come back to this chapter.
To understand the concept of a "worm", start by thinking about the range of your poker (psychological) play that naturally exists in the quality of your game. Think about the quality of your decision-making when you are playing at your highest level with maximum concentration and when you are completely unfocused. In other words, how well do you play when you are focused and how badly do you play when you are totally unfocused?
To illustrate this point, let's say that in the last 6-12 months you have rated every decision you have made at the poker table on a 100-point scale (where 100 is the best and 1 is the worst). If you plot those scores on a graph, you would see a bell-shaped curve.
The right or positive side represents your best choices, the left or negative side your worst choices.
This bell-shaped curve reflects the natural range of decisions that exists in every player's game - even in shortstackers. Whenever you play poker, there are certain aspects that reflect your best and worst options. It is impossible to play poker ideally in the long term. There are times when you play ideally and there are times when you play the opposite. Poker is a dynamic game that is becoming increasingly competitive. This means that perfection, or at least a solid game, are moving targets. You are learning as long as your game is improving. If you are learning, it means that the quality of your decisions has a certain range.
Poker is not the only example where an interval exists. It exists virtually everywhere, but especially in professional sport. Take any player from professional sports and assess his skills over a period of time. You get the same bell-shaped curve. Let's say foulobe players can make spectacular passes but not score with guaranteed chances.
As you look closely at your game, it is very important that you yourself recognise that the interval exists. Look at reality as it is, not as you would like it to be. Look at the strengths of your game, which are reflected on the right side of the curve. These are decisions made when your thinking is at its highest level and are therefore much easier because you have a solid understanding of your opponents and know what you are doing at the table. Generally speaking you have a great attitude and understanding of the game.
The right side also reflects new information, training videos, interactions with other players, etc. - all of which allow you to make even better decisions than usual. As a reminder, these are skills that are consciously competencies and cannot yet be read as part of your solid game.
On the other side of the curve are all the bad decisions. These are all the mistakes you know you shouldn't make, but make anyway. Most of the time, these mistakes are related to problems in your psychology, such as not thinking big and throwing away your best hand; underestimating your opponent because boredom gets in the way; bridging and overly aggressive play with far more hands than necessary. Of course, these are things you want to remove from your game because they cost a lot of money and cause frustration, embarrassment and confidence problems. This book is about improving your mental game, which means you will stop making the same mistakes and play close to your mental limits more often.
The worm concept is a good way of showing how your poker playing range changes over time.
When your abilities reach new heights, the front end of the range (like the worm) takes a step forward. What was the best you could do just got better. It also means that the range has expanded, because the bad side of the game hasn't moved on yet. The most effective way to move forward again is to concentrate on the left side of the range and work on your weaknesses. By eliminating the biggest weaknesses in your game, you will force the curve of your game forward.
This concept illustrates how continuous improvement happens by taking one step forward with the front and back of the curve. The essence of the concept:
- Improvement is two-way: improving both strengths and weaknesses.
- The game at its highest level is a moving target, as it always depends on your current playing range.
- Eliminating your psychological and technical disadvantages in poker (C-game), you make room for new information, creating the potential for an even better top level (A-game) to achieve. Yes, that means your best level can be even better.
CUSTOMER HISTORY
Niman "Samoleus" Kenkre $5/$10 - $25/$50 NLHE
Bluefire Poker School Coach
It may seem a bit unusual, but I started communicating with Jared when my game was at its highest level. I had been playing poker successfully for more than five years, but ran into serious difficulties at the end of 2009. I was playing very poorly at the time and I was a bit mentally broken. I solved all the difficulties on my own and met Jared when my game had improved, because I thought that with a better attitude I would be able to absorb new information more effectively. I also thought that working with him would protect me from similar setbacks.
At the beginning I was very sceptical about psychological game coaches. What is there that he will tell me that I don't already know? I was expecting something like "stay calm", "don't worry about the results", "imagine yourself winning", and all the other marasmus that you can read about in forums. But I was surprised. Jared actually has a fantastic learning system which has had a very quick effect.
He talked about concepts such as. "worm", in a context I hadn't thought of before. The realisation of how my weaknesses relate to my strengths was eye-opening. I always thought that my A-game and my F-game were two different things. Jared helped me to understand how they are all related, which led to a systematic and clear development as a player. I now realise that I have to work hard to improve my F-game, to make it just a little bit better than it was yesterday.
I also never realised that emotions are part of the learning model. To my surprise, just knowing more about it completely removed the negative effect that emotions had had on my game until then. The whole concept of unconscious competence has changed my approach to the game.
The concept of unconscious competence may be the most important thing Jared taught me. When I was bridging, one of my biggest weaknesses was getting very frustrated when other players 3betindavo with hands they shouldn't even be playing with. Then I myself overestimated my own hands and very I used to bridge because of the opponents' play. It was my weakest point and I knew it, but I just couldn't focus on it. Jared just laughed and asked me: "You mean you don't allow your opponents to play in a way that knocks you out and makes you play badly?" When I looked at things from a different angle, I realised that my emotional reactions were just trying to cover my biggest weaknesses. I have dealt with this problem and now my head works much better in these situations. I still get frustrated, but my game doesn't break down because it has reached a level of unconscious competence.
Now, every time I play, I think about the game itself in the context of a learning model. My bad emotions come out much less often, and when they do, they don't affect the game in the way they used to. This is another important thing I learned from Jared. After a few sessions, I assumed that more failures would not affect me as much as netiltinsbecause now I have an idea. There will always be emotions, but just knowing that helps me to deal with them better. I've been playing poker professionally for five years, and in that time nothing has had a more positive impact on my game than those lessons with Jared. Truth be told, nothing could even compete with that.
This series of articles is based on Jered Tendler's book on the psychology of poker, The Mental Game of Poker. If you would like to purchase the original, which is available in English, you can do so at amazon.com
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