Quote:
Originally Posted by BicycleRepairMan
I think I've been like you lately,when deep I'm stealing a lot,but instead of folding when 3bet I'm calling,then maybe calling flop or even raising with rubbish,as you say from thinking they are trying to play me!
So I've tried repeating to myself when deep "don't do anything stupid " and actually analyse the hand and player and take my time.
If you take your time and think logically you will even feel better when you lose aswell
There are many variables into why we do what we do at the table when under stress, when our decisions are the toughest. Our unconscious thoughts have been shut down and conscious thought has to be done in these situations. If we do not have good experience to reference in these areas or no mistakes have been made to see why we do something; the same conscious thoughts come to mind just like how you describe getting three bet for example. The result of this is when we routinely make the same play when put in this situation and we fold or chase without a clear plan, we are just simply repeating a routine, then we repeat consciously until we repeat these movements unconsciously. Unless we address the mental mistakes that our brain has told ourselves to do, in these situations our brain is using us when under stress we just repeat the same move without thought or knowing why?
Poker is many routines that have identifiable patterns. Old mapping is the reason for your folding or chasing without thought. This is trenched in your mind however long you put yourself in these and similar situations. Without new mapping, new thoughts about old information and new theories about old situations, that is the beginning of new thoughts about new mapping in our brain.
For example, I was experimenting with 3 and 4 betting pre-flop and post flop. I understood why my opponent was doing this to me but I did not understand how to counter their play properly. I made proper plays and I made mistakes. I just could not break this down in my mind from this point because this was not the beginning of my trouble, for example, I was not at the “root” of why I was still not fully recognizing and grasping was going on at the table. I still have not found the proper way for me to recognize the “root” of why at or away from the table?
I was still having problems understanding why I was frustrated and not making any significant progress. Once I started making my mental profile of leaks and wrote down all of my troubles at or away from the table. This let me get out all of my frustration, leaks, strengths, what I have identified good and bad about my research, journal my thoughts, desires, and goals. These are some examples.
At the table I was already taking notes on opponents but I started to take specific notes on paper to identify good and bad information. Working on what I have posted from above and more about myself and opponents about my play, their play, strengths, weaknesses, etc… I was starting to focus on new things instead of what was going wrong in real time or from past sessions. Accumulation of tilt, anxiety, emotion was balanced better than in previous sessions and my notes on myself backed this up.
The results from doing this so far, I recognized the problem and I had the information all along but could not identify the problem because of how my brain was using me instead of the other way around. For example, I mentioned routines and patterns. This was the “root” for example, the brain wants to recognize and are drawn to patterns. However, in poker the brain is drawn to and recognizes routines, poker players will repeat routines because of doing them unconsciously. Patterns have to be identified consciously and they are only transferred to the unconscious when we get them to where we identify them without thought. For example, after years of driving the same way too work we could do this without focus now because we now have drove this road to the point of unconscious thought. This is why people will day dream and wind up driving then snap back into focus and wonder how they traveled so far without remembering how they got to this point because they do not remember the last few minutes.
The pattern of the road taken to go to work is now in our unconscious thought our brain now recognizes this as a routine because we are now doing this without thought, but it is still a pattern of our original routine of going to work; we are just thinking about the pattern unconsciously. This understanding has helped me recognize routines and patterns properly in mine and my opponents play. This can be mapped in my brain and on paper to see mine, my opponent’s strengths, weaknesses, properly. Now my focus can be put on new mistakes and flaws in my game.
When the brain is put in this situation at the table the small differences of terms, small %’s for example, the 2% difference between 7% and 9% cannot be identified, polarized situations of being way ahead or way behind the brain will not work optimally. When put under stress of not understanding this or identifying this at or away from the table our brain’s unconscious thoughts have now been shut down. Now mistakes from old routines will be made. We have to make a conscious decision now and decisions from old routines are now being activated in our brain. The pattern of folding or chasing can now be observed in our play and now can be corrected from our past routines from three betting as an example. The leak is in the routine, the pattern is the result of a bad routine. The person who has more mental muscle will make proper decisions consistent, over a longer period of time, now will have an advantage.
People just confuse these two terms, people just identify routines as patterns incorrectly because of not fully understanding two similar terms and applying them properly. Thus, just like in poker we will just routinely identify these two incorrectly at and away from the table. Routines we do in everyday life, for example, we eat, sleep, dress, and go to work, because we do these things unconsciously without thought of having to do them. The pattern for going to work would be the road taken to go to work from the routine of going to work as an example. Now I am using my brain and my old routines of making mistakes can now be addressed, and new mapping has begun.
Once I corrected my thinking this actually let me understand my flaw in thinking even though, the answer was there all along I could not recognize because of my other mental issues always in my thoughts that was blocking this information. What happened my focus in new areas of poker let me understand the old information properly and now my thoughts consciously and unconsciously are now firing together.
The answer was in Jared’s book I just had to get to the root of why my brain had control from the understanding of what I was learning in school about psychology as well and now I have begun correcting issues. Mastering any part of the game of poker is incredibly hard but what is harder is to recognize consistently when these issues are creeping back into our thought process. Glad to have met you and hope your year is filled with success.
Last edited by STL FAN; 01-10-2015 at 10:49 AM.