06 Nov 2024 Intermediate This material is for medium-skilled players bad beats discipline downswing mental game mindset variance In this article, renowned coach James «SplitSuit» Sweeney will share 6 specific tips that may be useful to those who read this: how to perceive poker correctly and progress in it wisely. And these 6 tips will always be relevant: either as constant settings in your brain, or as a reminder before a session in order to refresh your thinking and perception of what is happening - both at the tables and inside you. Next - in his words. Introcuction Today I want to talk about some real poker wisdom that I think is going to be very helpful for you whether you've been playing for a little bit or been playing poker for years and years. I think this is going to be very helpful if nothing else a little bit of a reminder and refresher in certain spots. Many poker tips only work for a season, but THESE tidbits are absolutely timeless. From goal setting to developing edges to playing at the perfect times, these bits of wisdom will help you solidify your mental game. I originally wanted to title this article something about poker mindset tips. However, that kind of sucks because then people either think oh this is going to be about therapy or this is going to be some woo-woo crap with crystals and chakras so I don't want to do that at all. Instead I want to leave you some good solid poker wisdom. So let's get started. #1: The «Long Term» Is Longer Than You Think «Long run» or distance is a much larger number of hands than you probably used to think. In essence, this is an infinitely large sample of played hands, which no living person on Earth can play. However, a sufficiently large distance (for correct results) can be called numbers from 10 million hands in the same discipline. That is, if you play cash, then the «impurities» from tournaments and spins should be taken into account here. Especially if these are large shares in the total sample. The main conclusion and attitude that you should take away and adopt is that Short-term results say nothing at all about you as a player. Especially, in one session. If you won +20 stacks in cash last evening, then you should not automatically consider yourself the Poker Master. And vice versa, if you lost 10 stacks in a day, then you have not become the most hopeless fish. Another question is why you didn't use a stop loss. But we won't discuss it now. The same applies to longer periods of time. Many objectively strong players have weeks of playing in the red, and even losing months. You can make the most correct move in a spot and still lose it. And vice versa - a fish can do wild things, but win stack after stack. In poker, both Skill and Luck are important The more you play, the less and less noticeable the influence of luck becomes, and the role of skill, on the contrary, increases more and more. In the short term, we are very strongly influenced by variance. And the smaller our current advantage in skill over opponents and the more minimally reliable actions we make, the greater the turbulence in our graph and cashier. A «sufficient» distance depends on many factors. For example, the looser, more stubborn and aggressive a person plays, the greater his fluctuations in the cashier and graphs, and the greater the distance needed to adequately assess the current results. Nits are satisfied with a minimum distance, because they almost do not get into marginal spots. #2: Only Play Poker When You Want To When poker is your only source of income, then get a grip, suck it up, get ready for the session and start playing at all costs. However, almost all of us have some other sources of income, in addition to such a demanding mental state of the occupation as poker. And most likely, you also do not earn 100% only from this harsh turbulent craft. If you do not want to play poker now, or in one way or another are far from being in an optimal state at least for the B-game, then do not play through force and self-conceit in such conditions, when you have a deliberately reduced expected value of decisions at the tables. And it can easily be very negative. Playing tired, in a bad mood or with bad feelings, most likely, you will play this session at a loss. Even according to the notorious EV-graph. This will mean that you will have to work off your losses later, with the help of A- and B-game. So why try your luck with the odds clearly not in your favor? I am sure you have personal painful experience of such overcoming yourself. You are not mentally prepared for the game - then, don't play! It will not end with good news. Play poker only in a good mood, with a sober head and a fresh body. #3: Humans Cannot Play Perfect GTO Humans are not capable of playing perfect GTO, and you shouldn't make it your life's goal Many people fall into the illusion that mastering GTO poker will guarantee you stable and high win rates even against the toughest opponents. In reality, you will be sacrificing part of your win rate in favor of greatly reduced exploitability. However, the very essence of poker is to exploit opponents for maximum win rate. Well, that's not what we're talking about now. You shouldn't strive for perfect GTO for several main reasons. Don't create unrealistic expectations for yourself. If you set yourself the goal of mastering GTO perfectly, then you've already lost. You won't succeed, because it's absolutely unrealistic. Perfect GTO poker is incredibly, unattainably difficult for the human brain to play in a real game without the help of tipsters. Even high stakes monsters don't play pure GTO poker. There is some exploit between them too. Since they play against each other all the time, and their win rates vary, it's not just about aiming for the ideal. However, this doesn't mean that you shouldn't practice GTO at all. We can still learn a lot from solvers and apply it to the game. But these will still remain just separate elements of a GTO strategy, which are sometimes interconnected with each other. But not a full-fledged GTO. You will benefit much more from mastering the exploitative approach to playing poker. #4: Develop Edges Correctly You can rephrase this: your edge appears in those situations where you play better than your opponents. You don't have to be the best player in the world to make money playing poker. It's enough to be the best in a given hand. Even better - to be the best at the table. Be just a little bit better than your opponents - and the chips will move in your favor When your opponents make huge mistakes against bets, or when they bet themselves, or in 3-bet pots, and you make mistakes less often and by smaller amounts, then you will inevitably have profits over the long term in such spots and with such opponents. Having already done a little work on playing in problematic situations that your opponents do not, your advantage will increase significantly. Most poker players do not learn at all, and therefore even minor efforts provide a significant advantage in poker over the average opponent. Passively watching clips on YouTube and Twitch practically does not help learning - but this is how most people «learn». So put your efforts in the right place and don't worry about 9 out of 10 other players. Everything will be fine in the medium term. The main condition: start practicing the game with the most frequently repeated situations. This is the maximum +EV. #5: Understand Your Poker Goals Goals will have a noticeable impact on your behavior both at the tables and away from them, whether you like it or not. When you are in poker to compete with other players, then money fades into the background. If this is your case, then you can do this at any limit where you will find the challenge you need. This means that you do not need to bother creating favorable conditions for the game, as most regular players do. Just get into the right game and try to beat everyone who is sitting there. But if your goal in poker is to earn money, then take the trouble to treat it professionally. Without excessive aplomb. Now you should carefully select Playable situations, Suitable opponents And worthy cards for the game, Create the most positive playing conditions for yourself, which promise the greatest profit. And for those players who are just starting out in poker, my advice is this: Don't rush to make poker your profession as soon as possible. If you've just started playing, it's better to focus on: Making the most profitable decisions, Enjoying the time you spend playing, And slowly trying to increase your poker income. Compared to other possible hobbies, poker is one of the best options that will help you keep your brain in good shape, be emotionally stable, and also add money to your life with the right approach. However, remember exactly why you're playing poker. This will help you develop an approach to learning and, in fact, the game that suits this goal. Learing this article also can be useful for you: Top 3 Tips For Moving Up Stakes #6: Your Memory Sucks Our brain is evolutionarily programmed for self-preservation of its carrier. Think about it. We remember very well where danger or some kind of «pain» is hidden. And this was good in the course of our development. If you had a caveman's brain in your head, you would clearly remember where and under what conditions your life could end and would avoid such things a mile away. However, we do not remember neutral or positive events very well. This is not only due to the lack of emotions that would better consolidate the memory, but also to the very principle of memory. So, you will remember much better the spot in which you were dealt A♦️A♣️, and a bad opponent «as usual» beat you with some garbage. But the spot where you were dealt K♥️K♦️, and a regular opponent Q♠️Q♣️, and you took his stack, you will forget quite quickly. I think that the most effective way to properly adjust your perception of poker reality in this regard is to systematically force yourself to be as objective as possible. Sure, you don't lose every time you see an Ace on the flop when you have KK, and you don't miss every flop with AK either. But we all tend to remember the bad luck better - when things don't fit into our scenario for the day. And the more we complain about it, the more we'll notice it. The more we complain about what's happening, the more often it'll not only be noticed, but actually happen. We can very quickly and easily program our brains to remember the negative even better, but it's not so easy to set them up to see the positive as often as possible. That's why you shouldn't fall into that pit. Bad luck is a common occurrence in poker, no doubt about it. - We expect something, but it didn't go as we wanted. It's normal. And you should perceive this normal as a neutral and normal course of events. But don't get me wrong - I'm not pushing for devaluing what's happening, but for taking a maximally unbiased view of it. Trouble in the game is normal, and it happens to each of us. However, we shouldn't pay too much attention to it. Remember Point #1 of the article - a short distance doesn't mean anything? - Remember it again and follow it for the rest of your career. It will save you a lot of nerves, time and money that you won't have to win back. As an exercise in recording what's happening and developing an unbiased view, I strongly recommend that you do this exercise over the next 3-5 sessions. Divide a piece of paper (indeed paper, not a computer screen) into two halves. In one half, write down good events in those spots and with those cards that seem unlucky to you. And in the other half, write down negative outcomes with the same cards. Believe me, very soon you will see with your own eyes that everything is not as bad as it seems to you. This article was written from the 6 Bits Of Timeless Poker Wisdom by Vladimir ABIVPlus.
