the ideal Frame of Mind (long)

[MrMysterious]

just my thoughts on an experience i had the other day...

Saturday : i played poker a bit through the day, ran pretty hot but i wasn't so happy with my play, it didn't matter that I was winning bcs I was going to win regardless of how I played with the way the cards were coming. This dissappointment is a first for me as i'm usually quite happy with myself when i'm up, regardless of quality of play.

so I take my extremely sexellent gf out for chinese, go to a sports bar with some friends, drive th gf home, get home myself, and play some pokah from 1:45 - 2:30 am

thats when it happened...

usually i'm checking my pokertracker every 5 minutes to see if i'm up, down, what my stats are like etc etc etc. But this time was different; I didn't check my stats or how much money I was up or down even once. I didn't feel the need to open raise more lightly bcs my pfr was low, I didn't force this to be a winning session if i was down money. In short, I didn't give a [censored] where I was in this particuliar session, I was just focused on making the perfect play in every hand. I folded flushes, i shoved overpairs, I made the occasional bluff and light calldown.

I was in this state of zen where I was totally absorbed in the hand, and regardless of the outcome I just played it the best I knew how, zero tilt, zero mistakes (mistakes in the sence that i made a play that I believe to be less then optimal, I surely made mistakes that I was not aware of)

This is where I always want to strive to be when I'm playing poker, absolutely zero results orientation. all focus is on making that perfect play and maximizing profits/ minimizing losses.

so, after the session i felt i had played pretty damn well, figured I was up 1/2 a stack, checked my pt and found that in 45min i had actually accumulated 7/5 stacks. I tell you this not to be results oriented now, bcs I could have played just as well and lost just as much, but to show that I really had no thought or care as to how much I was up or down in this session.
when you don't care about individual outcomes your mind isn't clouded by the random chance that plagues this game and you simply play better

this is where I want to play from now on

[Abramovic]

I never check pokertracker during a session. I used to, and it would really tilt me.

[coordi]

BBV

[crovax4444]

I actually find, and I know it might cost me later, that checking PT stats gives me a general sense of how I'm playing positionally. I pretty much only use those stats to make sure that I'm still playing well in position, and that I'm opening up enough.

Crovax

[losingdonkey]

I dont really have time to check PT stats, but the cashier button will be the end of me..

[MrMysterious]

do whatever works for you, i'm just saying that you shouldn't need to see your stats to figure out if your playing well or not,
if your not opening up enough then it very well may be a string of cards your getting, and opening up would then be less then optimal (unless your table image gives you more folding equity)

[TheRenaissance]

Good post Mr.
You are absolutely right. Do not force anything, just let the random number generator do its job and you do yours. I have had zen like sessions like this where I play my A++ game - but they are sadly not as frequent as I would like.

[Ikaika]

[ QUOTE ]
I dont really have time to check PT stats, but the cashier button will be the end of me..

[/ QUOTE ]

same here...i wish i could disable it or something, it tilts me so bad sometimes.

[crovax4444]

My problem is that I tend to tighten way more than I should. It's simply an indicator light that I should consider playing more in position, and believe me, it's $ when I do.

Crovax