In this column, I'm going to take a break from my usual strategy-focused columns, and focus on something that I believe is just as important, if not more important, than covering how to play aces from under the gun or how to properly attack weakness. I want to discuss poker psychology a bit.
I've been playing poker long enough to have seen a lot. I've seen some of the most talented players I've ever known barely manage to break even playing, because they couldn't avoid going on tilt or negative thinking. I've also watched some players with a very moderate amount of actual poker talent constantly grind out a profit and pay their bills, simply by maintaining an even demeanor and keeping their head on straight in all situations.
I'm going to try to break down several things, sort of a mental checklist for you both at and away from the table:
Don't be results-oriented. This one is pretty simple. Don't judge poker based on your results. I can't tell you how many times I've gotten e-mail or questions from players asking if they should have folded kings preflop in a short-stacked situation or aces on a flop just because there was a flush draw out there. Usually, in the question, the person states that the other person had aces or outdrew him with a flush draw. Just because you lose a pot does not mean you played a hand incorrectly, just as you didn't always play a hand correctly when the chips were pushed to you.
I used to be results-oriented in a bad way. I would search for things I did wrong every time I lost a pot, and always assume that when I was scooping chips, I had played perfectly. The truth is, it's hard not to be results-oriented in poker. After all, chips are how we keep score, right? Chance is a part of poker, though, and it's important to be able to distinguish between good/bad play and random chance. The single biggest thing I did to overcome this was to save my key hands from the night in a text file as I went along. By the end of the night, I'd usually have five or six hands, and I'd review them the next day when my mind was clear. I wouldn't save just the hands I lost, but the ones I won, as well. I'd try to look at them objectively and determine if I'd done anything wrong or if there was anything I could have done better. I would discuss them with other poker-playing friends of mine. I'd dig as deep as I could into those five or six hands. When I discussed them with someone, I would omit the results on purpose, so that they didn't impact the other person's judgment.
Don't underestimate the power of positive thinking. This one almost sounds like a bit of hokey New Age gibberish, but it could easily be the most important one of the bunch. Do you ever notice that most players who are constantly telling you bad-beat stories are bad and/or losing players? These players have a negative mindset. They call instead of raise preflop with aces because they know they're just going to get them cracked. They don't raise draw-heavy flops because they know they're just going to get outdrawn anyway. Put simply, these players often justify weak play by starting they're always unlucky anyway, so why risk the chips? On the other hand, players who think positively will push every small edge they can. They protect their big hands, raise their big draws, and ultimately are not afraid to push any edge they have at the table to accumulate chips.
I used to think negatively at the table, too. I always used to wait for something bad to happen, for the seemingly inevitable bad beat that would end my night. It got to the point where I would avoid close situations because I just knew I would lose. I would hang on and cash a lot, but rarely went truly deep into a tournament because I avoided big confrontations until I was either blinded out or had a huge hand. Finally, I just convinced myself one night, as an experiment, to play as aggressively as I could, pushing a hand hard every time I had an edge. I made the deepest finish of my life at that time, taking third in a $3 tournament online for a whopping $800, which was huge for me at the time. While I probably went a bit overboard with it that time, it taught me how thinking positively and pushing every edge I had could impact my game, and it's a lesson I've never forgotten.
Always believe you can win. I don't know how many times I've talked to people who entered online tournaments at 11 p.m. when they had to work at 8 a.m. the next day. I always ask them why they enter a tournament that may not end until just a few hours before they start work the next day. Often, the answer is, "Well, I'll be out by midnight, anyway." Without fail, these players often are. You must plan and believe you can win every tournament you enter. Obviously, you can't win every one, but if you don't believe you can win, you never will.
I always believe I can win. I don't care if it's a $100 tournament online or the
World Series of Poker main event. I always ask myself every day before I start my tournament schedule, "What am I going to win tonight?" That's not arrogance, just positive thinking. It's a lot like the old, "If you fail to plan, then you plan to fail" adage. I always make sure that I have the time to finish a tournament and am in the right frame of mind to play my best for four to eight hours (or days, in the case of live events) before I enter. This mentality has served me very well over the years.
Always keep poker in perspective. Poker should really be a part of an otherwise healthy lifestyle. Life goes on long after the cards stop being dealt, and life is going on around you when the cards are being dealt. Make sure that you are happy in the other areas of your life and it will help tremendously when you're at the table.
I was somewhat of a winning player for a long time, but oddly enough, I actually didn't start having lots of success in the game until after I started playing less often. I started having most of my success about six months after my son was born. Being a new father made me put my whole life into perspective, as well as determine what role poker would play in it. I cut back my playing time a lot, to balance time between my real job and my family. But doing so, I started to really want to get the most out of the time I was at the tables. On top of that, keeping poker in perspective made the rest of my life better. So, I was always in a much happier mood when I sat down to play. For me personally, it's much easier to be successful at the tables when everything else in my life is going well.
Obviously, with poker being my job, I play more now than I ever have before. I still consider myself a husband and father first and foremost, though, and a poker player a distant second. I schedule regular days off, when I don't play any poker and just focus on other things.
The bottom line is that poker is a game of odds, psychology, and, at times, just plain guts. In order to be able to take advantage of every opportunity presented to you while at the table, you must have not only the knowledge to do so, but the mindset to know how and when to pull the trigger. Do yourself a favor: The next time you sit down at the table (real or virtual), make sure that you're in the frame of mind to make the most of the session. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised with your results.
Eric "Rizen" Lynch is a professional poker player who is well-known for his impressive online results. Read Eric's analysis on his blog (rizenpoker.blogspot.com), and check out his instructional videos, available at PokerXFactor.com.
