The great ancient philosophers uttered many wise things that apply to poker in our time.
Under the heading “Psychology of poker” a new article from our regular author Lee Davy.
You don’t have to go far for examples, and today we
The great ancient philosophers uttered many wise things that apply to poker in our time.
Under the heading “Psychology of poker” a new article from our regular author Lee Davy.
You don’t have to go far for examples, and today we turn to the sayings of the ancient philosophers Epictetus, Seneca and Marcus Aurelius.
More precisely, we use their wisdom in the framework of strategy and psychology for poker players in order to improve their playing skills.
1. Take control of only what you can
To obey that which does not depend on you, and to improve in yourself that which depends only on you. It is only reasonable to take care of this, and take everything else as it happens.
What will happen not in your will, but to live for good or for evil is in your will. No one bothers you, no matter what happens to you, to act always and in everything in accordance with truth and goodness. Whatever happens, you will turn yourself into a lesson and in favor.
Was the last time you were annoyed that everything was under control? I doubt.
Ancient philosophers perfectly understood what control is.
They believed that we can control our thoughts and the actions that flow from them.
To be able to distinguish between what we can do and what not. We are not subject to everything that is outside of us, the bodily, external world.
Not these things themselves, but only our ideas about them make us happy or unhappy; but our thoughts, aspirations, and, consequently, our happiness are subject to us.
Do not waste time on the fact that you can not control.
Applicable to the game at the poker table, we have the following “things” that are out of your control:
- Card deck
- The moves of your opponents
- Blind structure
Learn to understand what real control is, use a simple trick in the morning. Just write a list of the things you expect today, but they will be out of your control.
Also write how you intend to respond to them, and in the evening take a look at the list and check it. Rate your progress.
2. Poker is not just a game
We never learned anything if we did as soon as we wanted. So, in order to be a free person, you should not wish in vain for all that only comes to mind. On the contrary, a free person must learn to want and agree with everything that happens to him, because what happens to a person happens not in vain, but by the will of the One who rules the whole world.
Not so long ago, I conducted a study among professional poker players. I asked them what they thought of a possible poker career for their children.
Most reacted negatively, but everyone was not opposed to their children “learning the lessons of life that poker can give.”
Poker is such a separate world. This is a game in which teachers themselves go to school. Not only for understanding fundamental mathematics, but also for deduction, rationality, sociability, and other no less important things.
And when studying poker, the eyes should be wide open, like an owl. No need to be a moth. Do not take poker as a game.
Think of poker as an opportunity to get further education. In poker, the learning process does not go so that you become smarter or look better in the eyes of friends. In poker, you study life.
None of us received instructions for life at birth. So use poker as a guide.
3. Learn to say no
If you look closely, it turns out that most of the life of many is wasted on bad deeds, a considerable part is spent on idleness, and all life as a whole is not at all what is needed.
No matter how hard we try, life runs faster than us, and if we still hesitate, it sweeps as if it were not ours, and although it ends on the last day, it leaves us daily.
In one day 1440 minutes. Most of us spend 480 minutes of them sleeping. Consequently, only 960 minutes a day remain for life.
Time – not money – is the most valuable resource in life. You need to use every minute, and for this you need to be able to say no.
One of the bonuses from the knowledge of a poker player is that you can realize what consequences negative emotions have and why tilt occurs.
Remember the anger that gripped you when the next flush did not reach the river.
What about those moments when you lost confidence because “the deck of cards was clearly not on your side”? How many poker apps did you download before choosing the one that suits you best?
Just say no to anger, frustration, loss, and abstraction. Make poker profit and succeed.
A multitasking trap, or the limit of your brain
Why is doing several things at the same time always worse than focusing on one thing? And how does the answer to this question apply in poker? This is one of PokerListings’ regulars.
Below is a translation of the text by Lee Davy, one of the most active authors of the English-language site PokerListings.
Recently, I flew from Los Angeles to London and during the flight I managed to watch a documentary about the guys who climb tall towers and then hang on them on one arm (they are called ruffers – approx.).
No ropes, no insurance. No second chances. One mistake and you are dead.
And while all the