Poker tools are
useless without the underlying will to use them well. This is why we
speak of poker as a path to mastery, not just of the game you play but
also of the player you are. Here is where your path begins, with a fresh,
new look at the poker game you play and your playing state of mind.
Your
Poker Philosophy
Let's
get one thing straight from the start. I'm no smarter than you, you're
no smarter than me. We are two together side by side walkin' down
this very interesting path of poker. If I'm a good teacher it's only
because I've been a good student: avid, energetic, relentless in my
pursuit of higher poker knowledge. Should I succeed in infecting you
with my enthusiasm for that pursuit, well, that'll probably be more
darn useful to you than anything we might together discover about
raising with pocket jacks or the proper defense of blinds.
So
I call myself your guru with tongue planted firmly in cheek - only
maybe not so, because I understand what the guru's real job is. Not
to boss but to serve. Not to instruct but to invite. Not to order
but to inspire. It's my job to establish you in higher poker consciousness
and to help you stay there.
Seems
like a highfalutin goal for something as prosaic as poker, but I imagine
it'll pay you other benefits as well. Can you imagine what some of
those benefits might be?
-
If you're
actively thinking about poker, you're actively thinking about
something, which means you're stretching your brain.
-
If you're
mentally engaged with other players, you're thinking about how
they think, which will help you deal effectively with people
in every single thing you do.
-
If your
practice of poker leads you to discipline and self-mastery,
those are qualities that will benefit other aspects of your
life.
-
You can
win a buttload of money.
And
what's your job in all of this? To study. To learn. To bootstrap yourself
to successively higher levels of poker achievement and deeper levels
of poker understanding. To have character and fortitude. To overcome
(here comes the new age part) your ego and delusion, and establish
a real, open, honest and thoughtful practice of poker.
I
don't have a hard job. All I have to do is transmit. You don't have
a hard job either. All you have to do is receive. Together we'll both
grow. Together we'll walk down the road.
THOUGHT
FOR THE DAY:
The practice of poker requires the right attitude
of devotion every day, even when outer circumstances are chaotic.
top
of page
Your
Poker Tools
Your poker philosophy
should be built on two principles: aggressiveness, and honesty.
Aggressiveness is a given. Anyone who plays the game for any length
of time quickly learns that the person who takes command and control
of the poker game has the best chance of scoring a big win.
But honesty?
What's up with that?
It would seem
like honesty and poker are mutually exclusive concepts. After all,
victory in poker comes from deceiving your foes, convincing them
to bet when they should fold, fold when they should raise, and in
all ways respond to the false signals you send out. What is the
bluff - poker's fundamental building block - if not an elaborate
and strategic lie?
Maybe this will
clear things up: When I talk about honesty, I'm talking about self-honesty.
It's fine to tell lies to other players at the table; you're right
that that's part and parcel of the game. But telling lies to yourself
is something that simply cannot be tolerated. Just look at all the
trouble it can lead to.
-
You tell
yourself you're not really tired, and stay in a game long after
you've stopped thinking clearly.
-
You tell
yourself you're not overmatched, and stay in a game against
strong and dangerous foes.
-
You tell
yourself you're not playing too loose, and let all sorts of
bets leak out of your stack.
Can you think
of other lies that could lead to trouble for you or for players
you know? I'm not asking you just to think about that. I'm asking
you to really ponder the question and get involved with the answer
on the deepest, most articulate level.
Because here's
something else about your poker philosophy: It's proactive. If you're
not vigorously involved in improving yourself as a player, then
you're wasting time, opportunity, money. Maybe this is how you should
think about aggressiveness: It's not enough to be aggressive as
a bettor, you must also be aggressive in getting better.
So I'd like
you to do me a favor. Write up a little list of all the ways you
could be more honest with yourself about the choices you make playing
poker. You don't have to judge yourself harshly, or hold anything
against yourself, and when you're done, if you like, you can burn
the list, lest it fall into enemy hands.
Do, though,
tell yourself the truth, because nobody's perfect, but everyone
can be honest, and I'll tell you with all the courage of my conviction
that the more honest you are with yourself (and not just honest
but honest and articulate) about why and how you play the way you
play, the better your game will get.
That's not a
philosophy. That's a fact.
THOUGHT FOR
THE DAY:
Deception is what you do to others; delusion
is what you do to yourself.
top
of page
Your
Practice of Poker
Let's talk about
your goals. Where do you want your poker game to be a week or a
month or a year from now? It's a given about goals that you can't
begin to move toward them until you state them, so I would ask you
to take a moment to think about - and write down as precisely as
possible - your poker goal or goals. Here are some possibilities
that cross the mind.
-
To be a
working pro
-
To appear
on a big Poker event telecast
-
To dominate
and crush all comers online
-
To win small
tournaments on a regular basis
-
To be a
net-plus player over time
Here's a general
goal that encompasses all these individual goals and more: to acquire,
nurture and enhance my practice of poker.
What does it
mean to have a practice of poker? Several things. You study and
think about the game a lot. You read about the game and discuss
it at length with like-minded friends. Every time you play, you
try to take some learning away from the game. Every time you play,
you devote your full concentration to the matter at hand. In short,
you take this shit seriously.
You keep score.
Of course you keep score. You book every win and every loss, not
because you're obsessed with numbers, and not because you have some
silly requirement to win every time you play. You keep score because
you know that keeping score tells both you and the world that it's
your intent to improve and grow in the game.
You're realistic
and clear-eyed. You know you're neither the world's best player
nor the world's worst. You also know that "comparisons are odious,"
and you recognize that measuring your status against any other player's
is a frivolous waste of time. You don't let contempt or envy cloud
your thinking.
You hold self-indulgence
at bay. Your purpose in playing is not to kill time or chase the
buzz or distract yourself from other facts of life. Your purpose
in playing is to strive for razor-sharp execution on every hand
you play. You understand that having a practice of poker means nothing
more and nothing less than closing the gap between the player you
are and the player you want to be.
How do you build
a practice of poker? That's easy. Just work a little on your game
every day, and soon the act of working on your game will become
your habit, as natural as breathing. Whatever your long-term goals,
set yourself this short-term one: to be a better poker player today
than yesterday. This is a goal you can always achieve, just by thinking
about and working on their game, and always trying to play your
best.
THOUGHT FOR
THE DAY:
To fulfill your destiny you must first define
your destiny.
top
of page
Your
Guru of Growth
As
we build our practice of poker, it's useful to think of ourselves
as serving an apprenticeship. There are a few reasons for this.
-
It
keeps our expectations realistic. An apprentice knows that he's
in the learning phase of his career, and requires nothing of himself
beyond learning.
-
It
keeps us humble. Today's achievements are meaningless, except
as a function of moving us closer to perfect play.
-
It
keeps us patient. No sensible apprentice expects to master all
the tools of his trade overnight.
-
It
alerts us to the need for tools.
On
the subject of tools, let's look at some that should be part of your
practitioner's kit:
A
NOTEBOOK. I can think of nothing more vital for growth in poker
than a player's journal in which to record discoveries, painful lessons
and targets of new opportunity. Much of what you discover will not
be new, for others have walked the path before you. But the discoveries
you make and record, even if not new, are the ones that carry the
force of revelation, and the lessons you learn for yourself are the
ones that stick with you most.
What
form should your notebook take? Whatever form you're comfortable with.
You could keep a spiral-bound cheepie in your pocket when you play,
or maintain a bigger book for more extensive recollections, or write
on a computer like I do. Or all of the above. Just not none of the
above. You can't really consider yourself serious about poker if you're
not taking notes, or at least note.
A
SCORE SHEET. What separates poker pretenders from genuine students
of the game is a willingness to book all losses and wins faithfully.
Absent this commitment, we tend to get fuzzy with our thinking and
imagine that we're "generally beating the game" with no real evidence
to back that claim. The minute you record your first session-results,
your apprenticeship has well and truly begun.
Paper
and pencil will serve you in this at minimum, though there's no shortage
of electronic tools out there, too. Card Player Analyst, StatKing
and Poker Tracker all make it easy to record, sort and analyze the
hard truth of your play. Again, it doesn't matter which method you
use so long as it's not no method. Serious players keep score, and
that's that with that.
A
LIBRARY. "If I have been able to see further," said Sir Isaac
Newton, "it was only because I stood on the shoulders of giants."
With so much solid, sensible poker literature out there, no poker
apprentice need ever go through the journey alone. And only through
hubris or laziness would one ever ignore or overlook the words that
have come before.
What
books should be in your library? Oh, man, just go off in all directions
at once. Every book has something to teach you, if only to show you
approaches you don't feel are right for your play. Also remember that
you can't enter the same river twice, and the book you read as a neophyte
will speak completely differently to you once you've had a chance
to grow in the game.
What
other tools does a poker apprentice need? Well, suppose you tell me...
THOUGHT
FOR THE DAY:
Man uses tools; were it not so, we'd still
be living in trees wondering where our next banana was coming from.
top
of page
To keep up to date with the very latest bonuses, promotions and news, visit The Poker Blog.
,
and 
,
featuring a foreword by none other than 
from St. Martin's Press.