Below is what I posted on my PG&C thread, and I thought I'd cross-post it here as well. Couldn't come up with a good title, but hope this will be helpful to some of you.
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So today it just occurred to me that there's still a ton in this game that I can learn and improve on. Then it also came to my mind that I haven't really worked much on trying out new stuff or developing a theory. All I have been doing so far was trying to figure out the existing theory and understand the reasoning behind so that I can apply it to many other spots.
And whilst that has helped me reach where I am now, I realised it probably won't get me anywhere further. It's just like musicians. You can do lots of cover and become famous, but in the end you really have to write your own music and keep improving. You can't have a recital at Carnegie Hall if you just copy other's stuff, no matter how well you do.
At the same time, it makes me laugh to think that most regs are pretty much in the same boat in this sense. Most mediocre regs like me, I should say. I just can't help laughing for some reason. We are a spoonfed generation. There were always tons of poker material out there, and all we had to do was watch those vids, read articles and incorporate them into our game. Maybe bug the vid makers or posters by asking some questions, or talk about them with other poker friends sometimes. And yeah, that allowed us to make more money. But once again, was that our best bet? Is this what the top notch players do too, or do they try out something different? If so, aren't we missing something out? I'm not gonna spoon feed you with the answer here, so feel free to come up with your own conclusion.
That said, from now on I'll try to try new things out in my game (out in? weird image). More exactly, I'll try to be willing to try new things out, because I think it's more about attitude (confidence, for example) and mannerism in the end, and less about skills. I remember trying a couple of new lines in NL, although those weren't really brand new. And considering my PLO game is lot weaker than NL, it probably won't make much sense for me to try out new things. However, I still will, because I firmly believe that it can considerably expedite my learning procedure and keep it fun.
Also, whilst this really is a long shot, I want to be one of the best PLO players in the world, which was not something I even dreamt of during my NL days. I was content with making enough $$ and playing decent poker. Nothing was more exciting when things started to make sense and I could clearly see myself improving. But in retrospect, I gotta admit that I never thought of becoming the best player or anything remotely close to it. I just didn't have that kind of aspiration or aim. And this lack of ambition, or whatever you call it, seems to be one of the reasons I sort of "hit the ceiling" and got bored of the game, if not the biggest reason.
It's simple. Just because you want to be the best player doesn't necessarily mean you will get there. If you don't even have that aim, however, you are guaranteed not to make it altogether, and won't get too far. And this seems to be the situation for most of us. Well, if that sounded too condescending, let me rephrase it, it clearly was the situation for me at least. And I guess that's the reason why I never bothered trying out new stuff or thinking about poker in great depth. I mean, if I did want to become the best, how could I possibly have been content with being spoonfed all the time? Wouldn't I have been doing something that most others are not doing, in order to stay ahead of the curve?
Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying we should all dream of becoming the next Tom Dwan (or Phil Ivey, just pick your poker hero). As a poker player, it's very important to do the reality check routinely and make plans accordingly. And if you're a pro, you might not be too keen on becoming the best in the world, when making $$ is your first priority (and quite rightfully so). Joey Knish put this very well in Rounders:
Quote:
"Stones"? You little punk. I'm not playing for the thrill of ****ing victory here. I owe rent, alimony, child support. I play for money. My kids eat. I got stones enough not to chase cards, action... or ****ing pipe dreams of winning the World Series on ESPN.
Although I always had an impression that he's passing up on some +EV spots due to BRM issues, I think he makes a good point here. Look, I'm 27 y/o now, and won't be able to fully concentrate on poker until I get a PhD degree in the next year. Turning into a full-time poker player at 28 might not be the smartest choice in the world, nor will I be on the younger side among pros. And yeah, I might not get anywhere close to the top PLO players despite my high aspiration and aloft goals.
But hey, come to think of it, having an aspiration is basically a freeroll, it doesn't need to conflict with making money in poker. I mean, it can hurt your volume or hourly in short term, but it shouldn't really do any harm in long term. If "becoming the top PLO player" sounds too cheesy or "stony" to you, "becoming the top reg at my stakes" will do the trick as well. Or "beating this reg who's owning me" too. They say aim high, but those are details anyway. Point is, having an aspiration or goal is vitally important. It presents us the overall scheme and allows us to see the forest for the trees, thereby motivating us to improve as poker players. And we all know we have to keep improving in order to make $$ in this game, right?
For example, "I wanna be the best at $100 hypers" almost certainly seems a better goal to me than "I'm gonna check raise bluff more often." If you shoot for the former, you will see what needs to be done to achieve that (assuming you actually go for it, not just blindly make goals), and check raise bluffing more often can be just one of them. If you just shoot for the latter though, you can easily get bored or worn out of poker, as you might have to set new goals too often, or something not know what to shoot for. It is possible that we subconsciously have the former in mind when shooting for the latter; but we have to take it to the conscious level imo.
In poker, both generality and specificity are important; when we acquire poker skills, we usually learn the general principles from specific examples, and that's pretty much the way it should be. Like, Q8s looked like a monster hand to me when I first started playing poker. I overplayed hands like that so much, lost bunch of money, and only then could I learn the importance of hand selection and position. When it comes to aspirations or mindset though, I think it's the other way around. You establish a broad/general goal first, and break it down to aim for specific things. That way you can make sure you are moving forward and not getting caught up in details.
So yeah, think about what you really want to be in poker, and set a goal accordingly today. For me, like I said above, I want to make it to the best PLO players, and that's my eventual goal. And since this won't happen overnight, I'll have to take many steps towards it. I have two steps in mind now: a) make it to 1/2 and crush there, and b) always be eager to try out new things and learn the game; be an active learner. It might sound pretty much the same as before, but I know they aren't - I am much, much more motivated now and can't wait for grinding when I wake up in the morning
Thanks for reading this, and I wish you the best at the tables.
- mela