Mental Management

Poker is not all about knowing the right play, that’s the easy part. You’ve got to train your mind to be able to function at a level to play well consistently, that’s the hard part. You must keep your mind and emotions under control as well as maintaining concentration, not an easy task for many people. Many very knowledgeable and bright players can’t beat the game due to their mental shortcomings. If you want to play world-class poker you need to develop the right mental skill sets and mindset.

All of us let emotions influence us in varying degrees. Some people let emotional reactions dominate their lives. As a poker player, you need to make reason your only guiding force as it is the basis for playing well.

Recognizing when you’re emotionally affected is the first step. Don’t be in denial. And, when you feel yourself starting to be emotionally affected, do something about it. Fix it! Don’t just sit there and stew. Take a walk, talk to yourself. You can even be obvious about it. It’s okay if you’re opponents think you’re nuts!

Tell yourself to calm down, that swings are just part of the game, that cards break even over time, that you are stronger than your emotions. Tell yourself to just keep playing well and things will sort themselves out over time. This should snap your mind back to where you want it to be. And if it doesn’t, keep telling yourself until you start listening! And if that doesn’t work, quit the game. Playing on “tilt” is for losers!

Some players personalize poker. If a player puts a beat on them, they want vengeance and try to retaliate. It’s counterproductive. It might make you feel better if you succeed, but more likely will cost you a lot of chips when it doesn’t. And while I know poker is a game of people, not cards, I don’t perceive my opponents as people, just opponents. Nor do I belittle them if they do something foolish. After all, what are you trying to accomplish? Do you want them to play better, or leave? If you think they are stupid, how do you rate what you just did? Belittling is the worst play in poker! Treat your opponents with the respect they deserve. Poker is just a game, regard it as such.

Some players externalize their anger; make their losses the dealer’s fault, the deck’s fault, everything but their own. These people never learn. They don’t realize that the problem lies within. Their bad attitude ensures their continued misery. As Martin Luther King once said, “the ultimate challenge of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort, but where he stands in times of challenge.” In times of challenge, stand strong! Negative emotions will only damage your game.

Consistency is crucial in poker. Stay motivated. Being mentally prepared to play when starting and keeping your mind focused on the game while playing goes a long way. You’ll find that paying attention will increase your intuition at the table. You’ll read hands better and make more positive creative plays. I like to think about poker before I start, getting my mind into its poker mindset. Once there, I try to maintain my focus, avoiding distractions and taking occasional mental breaks to increase my mental endurance. Don’t push yourself too hard and burn yourself out. But don’t wimp out either. I try to continually review the tendencies and textures of the game, how people are playing, what emotional state they are in, who is doing what to whom, all while keeping a relaxed focus. This mentality allows me to put in more hours.

Superstition has no place in your poker game. The dealer, the deck, the chair, the way the last flop came has no place in your thinking. Logic and statistics are the heart of winning at poker. Luck is a neutral factor over time that you don’t control. Don’t let yourself get drawn into illogical thinking.

Letting your mind wallow in self pity when running poorly will not solve your problem. Instead, it will make it harder for you to recoup. Once again, maintaining mental strength and getting your brain into the right frame of mind is much likely to solve the problem than whining. Maintain a solution-oriented mindset, thinking about what you need to do to right the ship, rather than drowning in excuses.

Narcissists are drawn to gambling and Las Vegas is a full of broke poker players who thought they were something they weren’t. Being realistic about your abilities and selecting games that play below your skill range are important components of winning. Many players, even many knowledgeable players, play games on their phones, text, and watch sports while playing. Some of them have a general strategy mentally ingrained so that they can play on “auto-pilot” reasonably well. Some mistakenly believe they are so great that they don’t even need to make much of an effort to beat these “idiots”. Whatever their reasoning, they give up too much to opponents who pay attention and think through each situation, one by one. Don’t get too full of yourself. You must be brutally realistic. And don’t let bad or good runs of cards lower your effort or focus.

Some players’ competitive nature gets the best of them. They are permanently playing “king of the hill,” wanting to be the best player and are constantly comparing how they do to other players. While such competitiveness can have value in motivating yourself to improve, I analyze myself against myself. Did I perform the best I could? If so, I’m happy with myself. If not, I try to learn and grow from the mistakes I made.

Poker often changes people and it’s usually not for the better. Poker’s stresses and strains tend to wear people down, often breaking their mental strength. Everyone’s life has down periods. Because of the nature of the lifestyle, poker players generally get more than their share. And when life gets upside down, your poker game is going to be affected. For that reason, maintaining a stable life will keep your poker game more consistent. When things are bad in life, take a break if you can. If you can’t, make an extra effort to keep your mind focused on poker. How you perform in those tough periods will likely define your poker career.

Stay tough! Mental toughness can take you to the top. Mental weakness will send you to the rail! And the rail is not where you want to be. ♠

Roy Cooke played poker professionally for 16 years prior to becoming a successful Las Vegas Real Estate Broker/Salesman in 1989. Should you wish to any information about real estate matters-including purchase, sale or mortgage his office number is 702-396-6575 or Roy’s e-mail is [email protected]. His website is www.roycooke.com. You can also find him on Facebook.