Posted by Dr Fro 10:35 AM
Junell's karma post kinda beat me to the punch. Often my posts develop in my mind for a few days before they get typed. This particular post has been bouncing around in different forms for months, but what happened on Monday sorta cemented the focus of the post.

What's going on in your life affects your mood/confidence, which directly affects the quality of your game. This is a commonly accepted fact in the world of sports; we see it all the time. For some reason, there is less focus on this in the realm of poker. Since poker is a competition of the mind, not of the body, we should expect that having too much on your mind to affect your poker game more than, say, your basketball game.

A bit of history in case you aren't a religious reader of the blog:

From birth until mid-2004, I had an incredible run at poker. Playing small limits, I consistently won every year of my life. I made thousands of dollars. Starting mid-2004, the results started to level off. I was absolutely tanking in November and a nice score in Vegas over Christmas only had the effect of reducing my overall loss in 2004, the first year to ever come out in the red. Early 2005 was largely marked by online beatings and the big Vegas trip where performance was below average.

Work has been really tough during the timeframe described above. In April-June of 2004, I was commuting back and forth between Houston and Dallas and trying to perform my old job and my new job at the same time. We moved in July. They say that the 3 most stressful changes in life are death of a family member, getting married and moving. I used to laugh at the third item on the list, but I now understand. The second half of 2004 was the most difficult time in the history of my profession. Add that to a new position in a new city and it was a tough time. While all this is going on with my main client, there were a few other things happening at work that are probably inappropriate to discuss in this forum (but I would be happy to discuss over a beer.) And when I wasn't at work, I was dealing with a wife that was not having success finding a job, two family members that got diagnosed with cancer, and a grandmother that now has Alzheimer’s (which is tearing one of my biggest hero's apart.)

Too much information? Sorry, but let's just say that 90% of the above has been solved (or at least improved) recently. Some of the most difficult stuff at work only went away last week.

If you were to make a graph plotting my stress level over time and then plot my poker success over time, the two lines would be virtually overlapping over the past 12 months. My sole success came during a very relaxing Christmas vacation.

So, Monday was my first day at work that wasn't stressful in a very long time. I stopped by a local cardroom we'll call J's. I was dealt average to above average hands in a $1-$2 NL HE game and won $330. One can't say that it was all due to the cards, because I manufactured some of those wins through well timed bluffs and well laid traps. I also avoided a few traps because I was paying attention. With my mind free and clear from everything outside of poker, my ability to focus on the game was amazing. In addition to the focus, the confidence was through the roof.

I have always known there was a lot of value in these intangibles. My friend, we’ll call him “R”, has never had a lot of confidence. He enters poker games with a resignation to losses. Even though he plays well on 95% of the hands, at some point in the night he inevitable makes a stupid call and says “oh well, I am going to lose anyway”. Once stuck, he usually pisses away the rest of his stake “since he is losing anyway.”

I never thought about how this related to me. I am typically bubbling over with confidence, focus, and a general winner’s attitude. I got beat down pretty hard and was surprised to find out that even I was susceptible to self-destructive, negative behavior.

Not anymore.

It’s not that I don’t think I will ever have stressful times in my life again. Rather, I am certain I will. The difference is that since I now know what effect it has, I can be more cognizant of it. I can make decisions to avoid playing when distracted. Or, I can play, but I can watch carefully for signs and address them. Either way, I won’t blindly assume that I always have my “A Game” on.

It felt good to win again. I look forward to playing the next time…

3 Comment(s):

Posted by  Anonymous, at 11:16 AM, May 13, 2005  

Nice run, Fro. And good recognition of the old battle between life vs poker.

In your May, 2004 blogger, you wrote:

"With that horrible rake at the Top Hat, it is hard to stay above water."

My question to Morris, Junell, Fro or anyone else that plays at clubs like Top Hat (now Paradise) that rake 10% up to $10, can they be beat long term?

__________________________________________________

Posted by  Dr Fro, at 11:24 AM, May 13, 2005  

At J's, they max the rake at $5. Also, they don't count uncalled bets. With the total rake of less than 1/2 of the Top Ha, I find the rake to be much easier to overcome

__________________________________________________

Posted by  Anonymous, at 12:17 PM, May 13, 2005  

To some degree, it's relative. If Fro sits down with 9 other players as good or better than Fro, then Fro isn't going to overcome a $1 rake.

If Fro sits down at a table of 9 terrible players, Fro can easily overcome a $12 rake.

__________________________________________________

Post a Comment