Emotional Control

As my poker game continues to progress, I am realizing just how important emotional control is. I have thought about this in the past, but lately I have developed a deeper understanding of it with the help of Verneer and SirNeb. When I asked SirNeb what he felt contributed to vast improvement as a player, he humbly stated that the keys to success (other than obvious ones such as work ethic and skill) were logging many hands and emotional control.

I've done alot of reflection on my marathon session. It has granted me a better understanding of the game of poker. I did not have intentions of playing 4k hands. Around 1.7k hands into the session, I was $50 short of a 6k BR. I decided I would conclude the session after reaching 6k. To make a long story short, I came within $50 on two separate occasions and dropped at one point back to 5.5k. The moral to the story: as I neared my target the first and second time, I got anxious. I upped my aggression and was loosening up preflop. Slowly but surely, I lost money. I could have went on monkey tilt after dropping back down to 5.5k, but I decided that it would be better to instead just focus on playing optimal poker. Seems easy right? lol. This is a long term game. If you attempt to make it a short term game by loosening up, being over aggro, and falling in love with pots (aka tilt), you're progress as a player will be stagnant. You may improve, but the results will not show. The lesson I took away from the marathon session was that the only thing in your power is to make the correct play EVERY time. Bad beats will happen. If you cant handle them, go cry to your mommy- I'm sure she'll understand. Over the course of 100k hands, you'll endure many bad beats. If each bad beat puts you on tilt or even slightly alters your play for the worse, it will certainly show on your bottom line.

Mental toughness is a key in this game- more than you'd imagine. After taking a beat, you have three options: 1. Go on monkey tilt, 2. quit, or 3. play optimal poker. Personally, I prefer the latter. I see it as a challenge. Its a challenge I take pride in. After four years of wrestling for a nationally ranked high school wrestling team and two years of Division I, I think should be able to handle a little bad beat. This is a bit of a rant, but I hope it makes sense.

I am proud of the session I put in last night. I played 1.5k hands and merely broke even (+$35). However, within the first 250 hands I endured the following beats/ coolers. These are not posted for cry baby purposes. If you continue reading, it correlates with the remainder of the educational value of my post.

1. http://www.pokerhand.org/?1590392 Villain was 85/17/.6
2. http://www.pokerhand.org/?1590407 Villain was 66/35/1.6
3. http://www.pokerhand.org/?1590415 Same villain as hand 1.
4. http://www.pokerhand.org/?1590420 Villain is 30/9/1

These were hands that took place during the first 250 hands. Granted, I could have easily went on tilt, but instead I chose to play optimal poker. Over the course of the next 1.5k hands I managed to bounce back. I wasn't winning huge pots, either. It was weird because I checked my account balance at one point in time and I was nearly even. I couldn't believe it. Granted I was upset during the immediate time that they happened- Im human, but I quickly eliminated all negative thoughts and focused on "making the correct play every time." Emotional control turned what could have been a disastrous night into a slightly profitable night.