Poker: A Game of Introspection
To rise high enough to be considered art, an activity of any complexity requires deep introspection. In poker or in any similar complicated function, one must acquire an intimate knowledge of self, more so than is comfortable for must people. The difficult part of introspection is the constant process of self-evaluation. Self-revelation requires self consciousness or looking inward and this is far more difficult than contemplating outward events. Self criticizing one’s character is not something anyone looks forward to. There are a lot of poker players that would like to play less but don’t have the self-realization powers to know when or how to stop.
You might be playing poker because you can’t figure out what else to do with your time. Those having no purpose for what they do continually perform pointless activities. If you are not willing to undergo the rigors of introspection, one way out of the dilemma is to focus on poker as a game of winning against all odds. Just because you haven’t had a winning poker year, doesn’t mean that a win isn’t just ahead, and nobody likes to lose in this devilish game.
Focus on the fact that your decision to stay or leave directly influences your profits from the game and that you just can’t afford to lose. Then it will become apparent that the only reason to stay in a game is because there is a good chance to win. Reason broadly with this ultimate goal and ideology in mind. It does not matter whether you are wining or losing at present; it does not matter whether you are being lucky or suffering a bad spell; what matters is the final overall gain; and if you see clearly that the current game, however great it is going, will in the end translate into overall loss, leave the game.
On the other hand, to practice hit-and-run strategies only seems to keep you constantly with a safe benefit. If your goal is not more than to play safe, hit-and-run may be a valid solution. But if you also wish to win, yet be able to leave in time, play discerningly, and leave when you perceive a definite loss.
The plain truth is that in poker, all hands are dealt to all players by pure mathematical chance, having nothing to do with the goddess of luck. It is just foolish to get sweaty nervous when your cards are bad and totally elated when they are good. It is true though that self-fulfilling prophecies have been proven to have some psychological validity. If you have played a hand well and have had luck on your side, your success impresses upon your opponents that you are a player to be reckoned with. This makes you play even better, with confidence and the courage to take calculated risks, while your opponents are beginning to feel weak and cowardly, and even worse, they feel disheartened and unlucky.
So, what is important here, is to not let this happen to you. Allow yourself some introspection and you may even find that you are afraid to take chances and may really think that it is wrong to do so. Admit to yourself that this is you and this idiosyncrasy alone must not control what you do in life or in poker.
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