Fear and greed are two sides of the same coin - the coin of self-doubt. Fear is born out of the suspicion that the universe has it in for you - that the gods see through your shammy pretense and are going to hit ya with that big ol' mallet. Greed is thinking those gods are looking the other way and that now you can steal something you really don't deserve - and that the possessing will be proof of your worth.
Fear and greed have the same root - a lack of self confidence, or being comfortable with your role in the universe.
Embrace your true nature.
Let the chips flow to you.
Showing posts with label The Mental Game. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Mental Game. Show all posts
Friday, August 31, 2012
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Good Beat Stories
Another post inspired by Alan Schoonmaker's book, Your Worst Poker Enemy. While it is easy to find books about poker strategy, this is the first book I've found that teaches you to recognize and (hopefully) avoid the psychological mistakes that make you lose money playing poker.
Every poker player can tell you a dozen bad beat stories - tales of big pots lost because some idiot got lucky and won. But who exactly are these idiots who win all these pots? You never hear anyone telling "good beat" stories about when they were a complete idiot and still managed to luck-out and win a pot. People don't tell good beat stories because everyone wants to look skilled, but the truth is that we all have done stupid things and won anyway due to dumb luck. For every bad beat there is a good beat.
Be honest with yourself. If you want to be a consistently good poker player, you have to be able to honestly assess your own ability. Pretending that you have never won because of a miracle card on the river is self-deception.
A week back I was playing in an on-line tournament in which I crushed the field, won almost every hand I played right up to the final table - and it was almost entirely due to luck. Believe me, I'm not being modest. I doubled up very early when I was dealt pocket fives in the big blind, called a raise I really should have folded to and hit my set on the flop when my opponent had top pair with an ace kicker. That's a 7.5 to 1 shot. In fact I think I flopped a set at least six times over the tournament - a very lucky streak. I must have been dealt pocket aces at least five times and right after we got down to being "in the money" - the point at which most players switch from playing tight to loose- I was dealt pocket kings two hands in a row, then pocket queens on the next hand, then pocket kings on the hand after that! Pure dumb, stupid luck. Yet I still almost managed to mess it up when a very tight, solid player went all-in and I called with pocket jacks. I should have known he had pocket aces and he should have taken about a third of my stack with his double up, but a jack came on the river. I wonder how many times he has told his buddies about that bad beat?
Think about your good beats and remember the times you were a lucky jackass the next time you suffer a bad beat yourself - it will make it easier to shrug it off. Over time the good luck and bad luck will balance out and if you are more skilled than your opponents you will win in the long run.
Every poker player can tell you a dozen bad beat stories - tales of big pots lost because some idiot got lucky and won. But who exactly are these idiots who win all these pots? You never hear anyone telling "good beat" stories about when they were a complete idiot and still managed to luck-out and win a pot. People don't tell good beat stories because everyone wants to look skilled, but the truth is that we all have done stupid things and won anyway due to dumb luck. For every bad beat there is a good beat.
Be honest with yourself. If you want to be a consistently good poker player, you have to be able to honestly assess your own ability. Pretending that you have never won because of a miracle card on the river is self-deception.
A week back I was playing in an on-line tournament in which I crushed the field, won almost every hand I played right up to the final table - and it was almost entirely due to luck. Believe me, I'm not being modest. I doubled up very early when I was dealt pocket fives in the big blind, called a raise I really should have folded to and hit my set on the flop when my opponent had top pair with an ace kicker. That's a 7.5 to 1 shot. In fact I think I flopped a set at least six times over the tournament - a very lucky streak. I must have been dealt pocket aces at least five times and right after we got down to being "in the money" - the point at which most players switch from playing tight to loose- I was dealt pocket kings two hands in a row, then pocket queens on the next hand, then pocket kings on the hand after that! Pure dumb, stupid luck. Yet I still almost managed to mess it up when a very tight, solid player went all-in and I called with pocket jacks. I should have known he had pocket aces and he should have taken about a third of my stack with his double up, but a jack came on the river. I wonder how many times he has told his buddies about that bad beat?
Think about your good beats and remember the times you were a lucky jackass the next time you suffer a bad beat yourself - it will make it easier to shrug it off. Over time the good luck and bad luck will balance out and if you are more skilled than your opponents you will win in the long run.
Sunday, June 19, 2011
No Bad Beat Stories
In one of my early posts I regurgitated a lot of the poker tips I’d heard from different sources, including the following from Antonio Esfandiari: “Never tell bad beat stories.” Shortly after that post a friend asked me why I thought this particular bit of advice was valuable. I think I replied with something about wanting to project the image of a winner and that telling stories about losing would have the opposite effect. While there is some truth in the answer I gave, I have since found a more important reason for not telling bad beat stories; because by doing so you attempting to convince yourself that you are a better poker player than you are and that your losses are only due to bad luck.
To give credit where it’s due, this revelation comes from a book I am currently reading, Your Worst Poker Enemy, by Alan Schoonmaker. Schoonmaker, a Ph.D. in psychology, outlines the common self-delusions that most operate under which end up costing them money. The central theme of the book is that virtually all poker players (and this includes you and me) over estimate their own abilities and under estimate the abilities of their opponents. Because luck plays a big part in winning and losing in the short term, people can easily blame bad luck rather than bad play for their losses. Telling bad beat stories is a common way to convince yourself you are a great player who has been unlucky. If you accept responsibility for your losses, then you must go through the process of identifying your mistakes and correcting them. Few people want to be honest about their short comings so not surprisingly most of us would rather wait for our luck to change.
As I read over my posts, I see that I have glossed over or ignored a lot of my own short comings. Thinking that I am a better player than I am has stoked my ego but almost certainly hurt my results. I hope I can use this blog to examine where there are holes in my game rather than pretend they don’t exist.
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