Posting to say that this was an excellent OP.

Definitely a lot to think about after reading through this topic as a whole.

i'm just starting out playing PLO, but one thing i would love to be able to do is not look at results, however the problem with this is that its difficult to avoid seeing your results when you go to review a session.

has anyone found a way to do this? i would be happy even if there was a way to only look at marked hands without seeing the results from a session, but as it stands as soon as i go into the sessions tab i can see my results.

i use HEM but would switch to HEM2 or PT3 if necessary.

It's getting late, but I will read everything tomorrow. Just started playing PLO and love it. Maybe tomorrow I'll hate it.

you can always click "today" & "show only marked hands" from the "Hands" tab before you start a session. This way you will never see the actual result of the session / day. This obviously works only if you mark all the interesting hands during the session and don't miss anything.

I've been trying to pick up a habit only to look at the cashier or results at the end of each week, but I've been failing miserably. I look at my graph very frequently and emotions swing right along with the graph.

My friend showed me this article on the benefits of meditation: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...0121144007.htm

I know i dont get so tilted and find it easier to quit after starting a few months ago.

Nice job Napsus.... Props for putting in Crashwhips mental game post which ranks only very slightly below Tommy Angelos Elements of Poker for reading when im in a rut.

I recently went through a major live downswing; link to post: http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/15..****-dr-1080130/

Hope that can inspire some of you.

I'll repeat a quote that is very zen:

“I like to think of every decision point in every hand as the chance to make the perfect play” -Phil Galfond

I like this very famous poem too; Rudyard Kiplings 'If'

IF you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!'

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
' Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,
if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!

Living in the moment is the simplest yet one of the hardest things to learn. But it's the greatest gift of all imo, once you crossed that certain threshold it's all about hard work and exercise (meditation).
It's awesome to see that many of you experienced this shift in consciousness as it is infinitely tough to get deeply unconscious people back on this track.
However, there is a very big "BUT..." and a lot of people fall for the trap ITT.
This thread is way tl;dr and it's a big problem, not because I'm lazy but because you are lazy. Getting information on something or reading stories about something is a very well disguised excuse of your subconscious to not DO it but instead read about it. It's like someone who wants to work out more and instead of working out reads countless articles on how to work out when he already knows what he should do.
In this case, being attentive and mindful is something your mind is not used to, it's a new state of mind. People favor old habits tho, so to protect itself from being reorganized the subconscious makes you post and read stories about monks etc.. That way it stays in the old state of mind. Stop reading and writing about this stuff, you know everything you need to know, and it's literally right here.

great gif

cool, thanks, i don't know why i didn't think of that. there's a great section in fooled by randomness about the difference between noise and information which makes me determined to not pay attention to short term results when i start playing PLO properly.

while I agree with you in many ways, it's not so straightforward as you make it. Many people need to be pushed in a certain direction to get rolling. There's nothing wrong with reading about this stuff, there's certainly nothing wrong with writing about this stuff. Writing is a wonderful tool to organize your thoughts and ideas and to free up your mind from clutter (talking about writing in general now).

It takes 15-30min to read this short thread, it may take a week or two to read a book about mindfulness, then you can go on and find the way of living which works to best for you.

I didn't mean it's bad to write/read about it in general, but many people use it for an excuse though. I just want to say that you should pay attention whether you fall for this trap or not.
iirc the "Mystical Agreement" is from the Tao Tse Ching and it refers to not talking about the Tao. Those who talk about the Tao don't have it, those who have it don't talk about the Tao. This makes perfect sense, as you cannot describe the Tao and as soon as you try to you miss it.

Great idea for thread, this way all the good posts about mindfulness/life won't get buried in the lc threads, wp napsus

Great stuff man. Truly.

I'm really starting to realize how complicated of a game PLO really is, and not just on a game theory level. Also the heightened mental state one must posses to be successful in this crazy game.

great job

.

this.

i've cut back to 2 tables from 4.

now i know 4 is nothign to lots on here, but it just frazzles my brain if too much happens too quick.

as in lose a few coolers/bad beats etc in short space of time.

i stop playing my game.

even at two i have too constantly talk to myself to keep my cool when things are going against me.

i'm just aiming for more quality, less quantity atm.

deep breathing and sitting up straight (as reccomended in crashwhips 500th post) really does help i find.

Perfection.

For someone who plays a bit of SSPLO, has read countless threads/strategy posts/watched training videos etcetera, this a really, really refreshing & thought provoking thread. TY

This gets my vote to be added to the Guide to Small Stakes Pot Limit Omaha sticky

Cheers

by the way, I wanted to give a nod to someone who does outstanding work in this field. Jared Tendler has just written a book called "the mental game of poker", I've read about half of it...I'm not reading it very fast since I want all information and tips to sink in and think things through. I can already comfortably say that the book is nothing short of brilliant.

He also has a well on 2p2, check it out here

Thread about his book

He has some outstanding tips how to handle tilt whatever form it comes in.....I'm guessing many people will read his book and thread and be all hyped but remember that true change takes time, it's all about replacing a bad habit with a good one. Patience is virtue.

Jared's book has helped me sooo much in just my way of thinking and handling situations that arise not only in poker but in life as well. A must read for anyone who takes PLO seriously.

Since I started the thread and it's about PLO and life, I thought about sharing my current situation.

I've been mildly succesful in my life, making it to the top Finnish basketball league as the team captain and making it to a director level in an investment bank when I was 30 after only 3 years in the bank (the bank I work in doesn't have the standard ranking system, but I'm the equivalent of a director).

On Friday I burned out pretty bad, threw up in a garbage bin (out of stress) while talking to a business partner on the phone. This was the result of intense pressure I've been putting on myself for the last year. Investment banking can be pretty brutal, it's very results oriented, people are greedy and sometimes very cold. I feel like a fish on a dry land working in a bank.

So I'm at a crossroads. I have planned to quit at the bank next spring after bonuses (yes, I'm greedy as well). My plan is to devote time and effort to my girlfriend, friends, family and poker. They all are a big part of my life already (well, friends and family from 2,5k km away, but still), but I wanna make them even bigger since I work about 11-12 hrs per day on average. I don't hate my job, but I hate the fact that it's ruining my life.

The problem I have with PLO is that I expect everything to come very fast. I currently play plo50 deep and sometimes plo100 (I don't wanna play the 100bb tables because I'm not very fond of SS'ers). My goals are

-move up to plo100 by November/December
-play winning plo200 next summer
-make $30k in the next 12 months playing poker
-continue to improve my game continuously by reading forums, watching vids

(just checked that I bought HEM in May 2010, apparently that was the time when I started taking poker a little bit seriously, but really only this year)

All this would help me to realize my dream of quitting my job and having enough money to take 9-12 months off from all work, if I wanted to. Also, I wouldn't mind earning my living from PLO for the next few years.

Still I sometimes feel that I am not motivated enough, I don't feel like reviewing hands, I don't open tables during downswings because I'm afraid that I'll lose money again, taking me further from my dreams. I have trouble getting started...obviously the situation is worse in the evenings during weekdays when I'm tired and feel like I need to log in some hands. Then I end up browsing 2p2 and other sites for 2 hours and realize I need to go to bed so I won't be too tired at work the next day.

I would appreciate any tips how to keep on pushing towards realizing my dream. Are my goals unrealistic? Should I redefine them somehow? Are my expectations too high? What are the best steps for continuous learning, what kind of methods do you have on a daily basis to bring your game to a new level?

The funny thing is that I actually love to play PLO and feel so excited to learn it, but I still can't bring myself to do it always.

(please don't say it's a bad idea to leave such a job, heard that one too many times...I believe it will be a brilliant decision)

Thanks guys

Does jareds book comes only as hardcover or as ebook too?

ebook coming, check the thread, it's all there

I have btw some advice to your post... but im semidrunk right now and dont wanna type ****... I probably talk to you in skype tomorrow
Just bought the book btw. because I kinda liked the table of content...

Don't have any good tips, just want to give you some encouragement. As I understand you watched the video of Steve Jobs I posted, quitting your job could well be the calligraphy class of your life.

The only advise I could give you is that I couldnt imagine having a job, while trying to beat the games over a decent sample. 4 years ago I also thought it was a brilliant idea to quit work and pursue poker, and I still do : )