The psychology of poker. Focusing on results, creating a win

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Previous part of Mental Game of Poker: Tilt of bad cards

5.2.1 Focusing on results rather than quality

Poker has evolved at a tremendous pace in the last decade. Part of the reason for this rapid evolution can be attributed to the shift in players' focus from results to quality. As this is a relatively new concept for most players (you have probably heard players say "it is better to be successful than a good player"), you can only hear them saying that focusing on results is bad, but that they can't help themselves when it comes to the period of bad luck.

Focusing on the quality of the game is a skill that obeys the rules of the SMM (adult learning model). However, players very often make the false assumption that performing a result-oriented action (e.g. checking the money balance during a game) means that no progress has been made in focusing on quality. It is impossible to accurately identify subtle positive improvements in a skill if you don't record everything on paper or if you don't have a photographic memory. And when you only care about the end result, you don't notice the smaller signs of improvement, such as increased recognition, less frequent balance checks, less frustration, more attention to quality, or more post-session review of hands.

Every time there is a period of setbacks, you have the opportunity to prove how much you have improved. It is only when the skills are under severe emotional pressure that you can see what has been learned to the level of unconscious competence. The rest is still in the learning process.

LOGIC IS INSERTED: IT'S ALL ABOUT SKILLS; IT'S JUST THAT YOU'RE NOT BEING PROPERLY REWARDED AT THE MOMENT.

IF SKILLS ARE THE KEY IN THE LONG TERM, SKILLS SHOULD BE THE KEY IN THE SHORT TERM.

5.2.2 Creating a win

When a bad period persists, the urge to stop the session while you're still in the black, and thus end the day without losing, is strong. During bad periods you generally forget what winning means, so you can create a plus session to get back the feeling of winning, earn some money and avoid another painful losing session. Creating a winning streak (along with playing at lower limits or fewer tables) is the advice offered by conventional poker wisdom when you have a setback that affects your confidence.

So, is this kind of achievement creation a good thing? Or should you just keep playing, knowing that if you keep up the quality of your game, you'll be fine in the end?

Answer: it depends on the circumstances. As a poker player, your goal is to assess the risk. Two things you need to consider before making a decision:

  1. Creating a win is a good option if your confidence is down and it is clear that you are playing badly. Create a win for yourself if you feel crushed and can't remember the last time you won. When your advantage is minimised or disappears (bridging)to continue is a waste of money. If creating a win can boost your confidence and put you back on the winning track, then do it. Just be aware that this is a temporary tactic that does not solve confidence problems in the long term. If you don't deal with the problem directly, it will come up again the next time there is a period of setbacks. Don't let your confidence fluctuate each time, rather read chapter 8 on how to build stable confidence.
  2. Continue the game if you know you're better at dealing with Bridge and you can control it. Forcing yourself to play for even 10 minutes longer trains your mental muscles, strengthens your poker skills, boosts your confidence and contributes to the deep-seated Bridge annulment of the grounds.

5.2.3 Poker and life balance

A long period of setbacks may start to affect your personal life. It becomes difficult to leave poker behind, losing affects your mood, you give up the company of your friends, you don't want to do any activities, and it becomes harder and harder to concentrate, fall asleep and enjoy your leisure time. For some players, it only takes one session for poker to start interfering in their personal life.

A good way to keep poker out of your life is to create a protective bubble. The following steps will help you keep poker out of your life. Here's a strategy that has helped many players:

  1. Stay on paper or on your computer. Most people spill the wrong things. They direct it at other people or themselves. Instead, it's better to put it all down on paper or on your computer to get the thoughts out of your head and create an inventory of the things that bother you about poker. Essentially, you are describing fresh information. You don't need to do anything with this information, you just throw it out of your head with the intention of analysing your bridgeonce you've calmed down and can look at things objectively. It is all right if you need a break before writing, but it would be good to start writing no later than a couple of hours.
  2. After the session, make a note of technical and psychological poker mistakes. You don't need to do a very detailed analysis, just make a note of certain hands and dynamics of the game so that you can work on your weaknesses more effectively in the future. It will be easier if you note down the relevant hands played during the session.
  3. Take a break. You have done everything you can up to this point. Apart from relaxing, there is nothing else you can do to improve your game. You can't change what has happened, but you can use it to gain a better understanding of the technical and psychological problems in order to become a better player in the future. You've done everything in steps 1 and 2, now it's time to relax and let your mind and mood recover.
  4. Put poker out of your head or write your thoughts about it down on paper. It's likely that you'll still be thinking about poker even after you've taken the first three steps. If this happens, try to push them out of your head by concentrating on what you are doing at the time. If the thoughts persist, then put them down on paper.

While thinking about poker may not be something you want to do immediately after a bad session, it's a great way to get rid of depressing thoughts about poker.

5.2.4 Foreseeable failures

The period of setbacks becomes even more difficult when your mind starts predicting defeats in advance. Aces are dealt to you and you immediately assume that you will lose. You catch the middle set flopand your opponent Check raisin and you immediately think that he has the highest set. Before you turn over to the river you're a 20-1 favourite, but you already know you will be suckout. It is a foregone conclusion that you will lose. You are only playing to find out how it will happen this time.

For some players, the ability to predict failure leads them to think that bad beats happen because they are always on your mind. This illusion is due to a failure to realise that the mind predicts the future on the basis of recent events in the past.

The mind, like the body, has the ability to sense the future. As you move around, your body is constantly making certain predictions to be prepared. An example of the failure of such a prediction is when you climb a flight of stairs and don't pay attention to how many steps there actually are. If you expect a staircase that doesn't exist in reality, you may stumble because your body's prediction was wrong.

A prediction, whether of the body or of the mind, is always made solely on the basis of the information available at the time. When a period of bad luck strikes, your mind draws its data from the flow of information that is associated with defeat. So naturally, your mind predicts more defeats. Conversely, when you are successful, you also see success in the future, because the experience of the last few days suggests that this will continue.

Predicting major failures is a problem when:

  1. In desperation and to avoid losing, you start using bad tactics in the game.
  2. You think your predictions are actual reality.

Believing that your mind can influence the results is an illusion, unless you have some mystical powers (but then why are you reading this book?). This illusion of control is a very subtle and deep-seated problem that needs to be addressed. Solve this problem and the prediction of failure will not add to your anger, nor will it influence your decision making during the period of failure.

EMBEDDING LOGIC: YOU CAN CONTROL YOUR REACTIONS TO THE CARDS YOU RECEIVE, BUT YOU CANNOT INFLUENCE THE HAND ITSELF.

5.2.5 Restoring thoughts

As the period of setbacks drags on, constant clashes with bridge things that cause you to think about them start to weigh on your mind. When bridge The frequency of triggering events is normal, and your thoughts may be refreshed after a good night's sleep, a night out with friends or a workout at the gym. But when Bridge accumulating day by day, it becomes more and more difficult to reset your mind and return to the game with a clear head. Yesterday's days Bridge lingers in the mind, increasing the likelihood that tiltinsite Again. Whereas before, it used to take 5 bad beatsto make you angry, this one now zooms in bridgeand then completely lose control after the second.

Your mind has to endure too much anger, so it builds up. The extra anger weighs you down and may cause you to stop playing poker for a while to allow your mind to reset. For some players, this can mean several days without poker, and this alone can be Bridge cause.

If you don't want to take a break, you need to remove the anger that has built up and that your brain cannot deal with naturally. You can do this in the following ways:

  1. Follow the steps in the "Poker and life balance" section to take poker out of your life.
  2. Using the tips in Annex 1, learn the practice of calming down.
  3. Follow all the steps described in the "concentrated emotions" section.

Restoring your mind during bad times is not just a nice idea. It's something that helps you to keep playing well when things go wrong.

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