Fast-forward to 2012, Ambra and I moved to Macau where we spent some of our most memorable years….
Macau was particularly good for my poker career. I dominated some of the biggest cash games on the planet while I was there.
Life was perfect. Or, was it?
After a particularly profitable weekend, Ambra was in a celebratory mood. While I wasn’t…
“What’s on your mind? Why are you so pensive?”, she asked concerned…
“I have had so many players come to me…lamenting how they went through a bad downswing, blew through their entire BR. And they give up on the game they love so much”.
“The truth of the matter is that they are playing the wrong game, their business idea is abysmal, their execution is poor or they have don’t have the right mindset…”
Like chess, poker is a complex sport. You cannot do well unless you learn how to ace the mental game.
While skills and luck are essential, the psychological element has a huge (perhaps, the greatest) bearing on poker success.
And that is WHERE most players falter.
When it comes to execution, 500 hours in a brick-and-mortar casino or 1,000 hours of online play is considered the “long run”.
In other words, that’s when “skill” gains precedence over “luck”.
But, most players cannot make it to the ‘long run’ because they don’t have strict stop losses in place.
Another thing that players need to focus on is game selection. You see, tournaments have greater variance compared to cash games.
The best players win up to 70% of cash games but only 15%-20% of tournaments. So, figuring out an optimal mix of cash games and tournaments is crucial.
Especially, in tournaments, players forget that they have only one bullet in the tank.
So they have to resist the urge to play marginal hands. Rather than going all-in, they must try to win a lot on the flop or turn.
Playing in a disciplined manner may rob them of the “adrenaline rush”. But that’s the only way to win consistently.
At the same time, I want to help players develop the skill and intuition to adapt to the any table/situation, when the opportunity arises.
The ultimate poker player must learn how to…
Read, React, Adjust, and Adapt...