You can become a better poker player. In fact, you already are, or at least were, though you cannot admit it. The problem is, you keep telling yourself, “I can be a much better poker player,” or “I’m becoming successful at poker,” or “I’m winning every time I play,” but you just continue to suck away more and more cash.
Where is the missing element in your game? It’s in your self- consciousness. You aren’t satisfied with becoming a great poker player. You want to keep getting better, so you keep training and practicing. But most of the time, you suck as a poker player. You spend your time thinking about how bad you lost on the last hand, or how great your hand was, or how you could have lost that hand, or how the player to your left totally stole the pot, or…your mind is just full of all sorts of Jamaica and make believe scenarios all around.
Sound familiar? Your brain acts like a tribal leaders in choosing the realities that actually exist versus the ones that you want to promote. It’s sort of like the ” RIvana effect” in music, or the not-so-mythical benefits of subliminal messages.ACK Awareness Project is the same thing as Teddy Bear, but in poker it’s having a critical think about your own game, about the choices you’re making, and about how you are allowing yourself to be influenced by outside forces.
Most players, in some way, think they are already skilled and experienced. Yet, if you really think about the choices you’ve made in the game, you’ll feel like you’re still a beginner.
Acknowledgements
acknowledgements are the little legal things you say to yourself when something helps you. It’s your way of letting the subconscious know, “Hey, I know I’m a lot better than you and over the long run, I’ll beat you.”
The subconscious doesn’t care about the “internet DewaGG” or the casino. They just want to play a good game, so they do all the hard work of developing and implementing new strategies. Once you say, “I want to play at this poker room,” the subconscious will already know you’re ready to play. All you have to do is sit down at the poker table.
When you know you’re ready, it’s time to lay down the law. Say something like, “I’m not going to bluff. I only play good hands.” or “I don’t want to play online poker. I don’t feel comfortable here.” You say it, and they hear it, and they already know you’re not comfortable with the game. They may not be able to tell the two apart, but they’ll know when you bluff and when you don’t. It’s kind of like how your parents raised you to be honest…if you tell the truth without a hint of lies, you will still be called a liar. In poker, if you say you’re going to play good hands, or honest yourself, the subconscious will automatically hear that and follow your lead.
ACKnowledgements are notITYBUT instead, they are the beginning of the end of tilt. Think about it. The less comfortable you are around new information, the harder it is for you to say no when it comes around. The harder you say no, the more you are leaning into it. The easier you say no, the more you are adversaries with an open door.
When you can’t say no, and something tempts you to, say no. “I’m not interested in playing anymore.” Now you’re sitting on a streak that deposits more and more money into your online account. But before you do that, scan your brain for good reasons to call it quits. “I’m bored. I want to win money now.” You’re saying, “I want this game to win now.” It’s important to finish with good reasons to stop playing, or you’ll spend your money on something that’s not going to bring you more money.
Now that you’resaid that, you might want to actually do what I said. Look around your environment for things that will make your poker session more enjoyable. For example, you might enjoy making a cup of coffee, but your environment isn’t too conducive. You could get noise. You could get a distraction.What about the people in your environment? What about the people in the other rooms who will judgementalize your actions?
“Sit down on the floor Adjust the noise-maker to minimum, plug the noise maker directly into the floor, or ceiling, and Tunify it.” (You decide) The idea is to create that mood for your environment. The idea is to have fun. The idea is to be entertained.