Interesting Concept from "The Poker Mindset"

[Poker_is_Hard]

I've been reading "The Poker Mindset". It’s a pretty good book. Basically tells you a lot of stuff you already "know", but it helps to see it written in a book and reinforce the lessons.

Good Point I read today. "There is no such thing as a Downswing. A Downswing is simply an observed pattern among a string of random events. A Downswing is not a real thing and has no attributes." Downswings as a real thing… Do Not Exist.

Therefore a Downswing does not have a predictable pattern. It can't bottom out. It doesn't have a predictable size. Downswings don't have a predictable frequency. You’re never "due" to come out of a downswing or experience a downswing. There is nothing that says you can’t recover from one 10 buy in downswing and immediately lose another 10 buy ins.

A Downswing is like the "Big Dipper". It doesn't really exist, it's simply an observed pattern. The individual Stars (Sessions) are independent. However, when viewed together they make a pattern(downswing).

The hardest skill to learn in Poker is the ability to continue to make good decisions while experiencing the negative sides of variance. It’s not defending against light 3bets or proper semi-bluffing. It is simply being able to keep a level head and make clear decisions.

Not sure if anyone cares about this but I’ve been thinking about it all morning and figured I would share.

[skelm]

This is definitely a good thing to be keeping in mind. The human mind is programmed to recognize patterns - We're brilliant at it. It's why you we hear things like "I called because I always suck out on you" at the table.

[Crazy Porto]

i like the whole book.
Liked the example of the 4 different views people can have during a bad beat i wonder how many pro's actually think on the "indifferent" level of poker consistantly.

[yimyammer]

My dilema is how do I maintain a passion and joy for the game and then somehow train myself to be "indifferent" when I lose.

If I lose the passion, joy and pain of loss then I can't help but think I'd lose all motivation to improve and succeed and probably won't care if I win either.

I think taking a "Skalansky Bucks" mentality might be the way to go by convincing myself that I actually won when the A5 called my AQ and sucked out on me

[Crazy Porto]

[ QUOTE ]
My dilema is how do I maintain a passion and joy for the game and then somehow train myself to be "indifferent" when I lose.

If I lose the passion, joy and pain of loss then I can't help but think I'd lose all motivation to improve and succeed and probably won't care if I win either.

I think taking a "Skalansky Bucks" mentality might be the way to go by convincing myself that I actually won when the A5 called my AQ and sucked out on me

[/ QUOTE ]

you can still enjoy the game and feel good if you make good decisions or make some sick reads.
It's like enjoying the game from a out of the box view wich is very ev+.
You will also enjoy when you improve your game making more ev+ decisions and moving up (wich will give you a new challange).

and yes if someone sucks out on you you have to feel good about it!
think of it this way if you put your money in with the best hand more often then you do with the worse hand, you will recieve more bad beats then you give.
so an extreme mindset would be you love the bad beats !!

[twoblacknines]

Hmmm...perhaps a masochist would make an excellent poker player....

[silver book]

i cant wait to read this book. over and over.