[olliejen]

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I can say with 100% certainty that there is material in Barry's book that made me think of poker with a unique perspective.

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And this material is . . . . ? Or are you saying that there's no specific passage/page/chapter/line/idea that was helpful, but that there's some the-whole-is-greater-than-the-parts gestalt that magically transported you to the Next Level?

This is really not a tough question, guys.

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Well, from an outside-looking-in perspective, i think this book could've been named "Poker Professionalism"; about the considerations of a poker professional;

1. Game selection based solely on profitability vs ego or boredom.

2. Working only when you have full advantage of your skill edge (i.e. not tired, emotional, distracted, etc. I was actually quite surprised by how much barryg1 discounts his own edge when he's not 100%)

3. Being sentient of the distractions and risks in your "workplace" (e.g. super-hot chicks, other casino games, sports-betting...)

4. How poker seeps into and directly affects other aspects of your life.

i think a lot of this stuff might seem self-evident to someone who thinks about poker as much as people here do, but i'd bet that if many of us were in the situation with the fat bankroll, we'd definitely have a much more lax view of playing in casinos.

In terms of assessing myself, there was a section where there was a short quiz regarding how well your psychological makeup lends itself to life as a poker pro. I think you need to answer all the questions "No" and I answered nearly every one "yes" Some questions I was quite surprised, such as one about only making gambles getting the best of it.

In terms of material content altering my play, there've definitely been a few things I've tried or experimented with since;
1. vs extremely loose play, loosen your own play and re-raise liberally instead of tightening up. I always tighten up and I'm still don't understand why loosening up is the better adjustment.

2. there was a Stud full-house example about manipulating multi-way play based on what you've put other people's hands on that has me planning differently.

3. i'm single-tabling now and turned off GT+ to try and come up with relevant reads & understanding opponents, rather than trying to 4-table against floating stats-boxes.