17 Mar 2025 Beginner This material is for beginner players A-game mental game mindset You know how in every pool of poker players there's that one person that everybody just can't stand because they're like, why is he so lucky? Why does he win so many more turns than me? Why is his cash game heater going so much longer than mine? Why does he always get the card that he needs? And you can't stop thinking about this person and complaining about them. Well, I got news for you — it’s not actually luck. It took me a long time to figure this out myself, but there are certain things that this person is doing that if you do them too, you can become the person that everybody's complaining about because it looks like you are the lucky one. It gives you the illusion of luck, but it's actually a form of skill. So I'm going to teach you that right now. Be Willing To Win More So the one big concept is you always need to be willing to win more. It's so stupid and so simple. But I'm going to take you through all the infinite ways that human beings are capable of taking yourself out of that state. And I promise you, there's going to be stuff on this list that you're doing. I'm going to teach you how to stop doing it so that you can get into that place where you're always willing to win more, to have more, to do better. And from there, you are going to be the one that everybody is looking to saying: «Why is this so lucky?». So when you're winning, there's going to be a few things that make you kind of go: «I’m not sure if I want to keep going». It's getting a little too uncomfortable. Here's one: Everybody starts talking about you. You start getting all of this attention from other people. They're gossiping about you. They're complaining about you. They're talking trash to your face. They're making it known that they hate what you're doing. And that can be very uncomfortable the more that you win. And that alone quite often is enough to get people out of the zone and into the place of like: «I’m not quite sure if this is okay for me to keep winning». Once you go there, you're no longer willing to have more. When you're not willing to have more, you're not going to have more. Winning big always gets uncomfortable. So other things are going to come up to relationships start to change. Well, if you have a poker coach who you have always believed is better than you, knows more than you, is always above you, they are here and you are here, what will happen? Well, when you start climbing and you start winning more than they are, that's going to change the relationship. They might not be your coach anymore. They might not want to talk to you anymore. They might resent you. And these types of things are going to happen. It's going to happen with coaches. It's going to happen with friends. It's going to happen with family, who see you getting more and more success. All of these things are designed to distract you from just wanting more of being willing to continue winning big everywhere that you are at. If you fall into any of these, you're out of the game and your graph is going to start going straight down. Accept the Emotional Experience So the second piece that comes with this is that you've got to be completely okay, not just with what's going to happen as a result of you having more and more success, but what's going to happen inside you. Can you be okay with the emotional experience of winning and wanting more. See because almost all human beings are brought up and raised to not want too much to share, to feel ashamed, to feel guilty for getting more than your share. So there is a special class of people out there who somehow don't have this programming done and they're the ones who tend to run up the huge stacks. They're the ones who tend to win tournament after tournament and keep going and keep going and keep letting themselves win more and more. Everybody else takes themselves out of the game because of the emotional discomfort of winning so much. And all the stuff you've been taught around that is in there. And when it starts to play out, again, you're out of the game because you're not okay with having more. And again, if you're not okay with having more, you're always going to find a way to not get more. So until you do that emotional work, learn how to stay present with every uncomfortable feeling that comes as you win more and more you're always going to sabotage yourself, I promise. Need is the silent killer. When you are okay with having more, you've got to make sure that you're riding this fine line where you want more, you're completely okay with having more, but you don't need more. Because what happens with all these people who complain about the lucky player is that they are in this place of: «I need to win to feel this way», or «I need to book the win and not lose so that I don't feel this way». And this is how you get poker players who are playing really long sessions when they're losing because they're just chasing and chasing, hoping to not have to feel the pain of losing that day. They're desperate to not feel it. So they'll do anything. They'll stay in a game when they know that they're not a favorite. Then the opposite, when everything's going your way that day, and you're just winning and winning, and then you all of a sudden have this need to not feel the pain of, oh, what if I lost it back? That's the moment where your need to not feel that pain takes you out of the game because now you book the win instead of staying. And so the player who wants it, who's open to winning more and more, but does not need a specific feeling from it, does not need that result. That's the player who's going to be able to stay in the chair when everything's going your way. That's the player who is able to leave when right now you cannot. Over time, that adds up to a huge amount of money, and over time, it makes this person look like they are the lucky one, but it's very much not. It's a skill that you can grow and develop. Hope you’ve enjoyed reading — see you next time!
