Pitfalls of Poker #1: "Streaks"

When we're not playing poker, we LOVE to talk about poker. We all know a bad-beat story (or two), usually our own. But even most amateurs know that one really horrid 2-out river does not reflect on their ability to play poker correctly, profitably.

So what else do poker players talk about? Results. Their day, their session, their last 3-sessions, their month. The week they had last month. The current heater. So, in the light of using our Mind to play our best poker, is this beneficial content? Does the information discussed here have a positive effect on our future ability to play our best poker?

The answer is, no. Let's start by identifying these conversations for what they really are. They are the Mind, serving itself. The Mind is concerned with your statistics over a given length of time, and likes to make neat packages. So it might pick a day you started winning until a day you stopped winning, and think of that as a "good streak". It might see that you were up X$ this week, up Y$ for the month, and take those amounts and arbirtrary boundaries, and give them significance they just don't have.

So what are poker results, really? Am I really saying:

• You shouldn't just look at the results of one hand


• You shouldn't just look at the results of a string of hands


• You shouldn't just look at the results of a week or a month

Yes.

True poker is not about ANY collection of results of hands, or tourneys, or cash game sessions. It's about the collection of individual poker choices you make, for your entire lifetime. Or in any arbitrary timeframe. The important distinction is that you are graded (and rewarded) based on your choices, not on your results.

An Iowa analogy for our Midwesternites:

If you were evaluating a hybrid of corn to plant, which method would you choose:

1. Plant some of each kind, and pick the best looking plant that grows.


2. Plant some of each kind, over several harvests, and take the one that shows the best overall results.

Now, before we move forward, it's possible your mind has caught and jumped on the fact that I just suggested to you to evaluate based on a length of time ("over several harvests"). Let it go, it's not the point of this illustration. Don't let your Mind use it to cloud the truth about what I'm really saying.

What AM I really saying? I'm illustrating that individual results can vary, and that we all know to look for overall performance to evaluate something's true quality. But also, no matter what your method of selection, it's always about the seed. The seed is what is upgraded, the seed is what can be changed. Better seed, better yield.

What lessons do I draw from this?

• I don't alter my play based on the result of a session, a week, whatever. I transcend the "streak", and I am aware of your quality of play over that period of time. If I played poorly, then I alter/upgrade my play. If I just fared poorly, I trust and move on.


• I see the "streaks" for what they really are. They are stories, created by the Mind. Why? Sometimes for entertainment, but mostly because that's what Mind does. Lots of raw information available, so it takes it and sorts it, packages it, labels it, processes it, reprocesses it, repackages it, etc. And while it's doing this, it makes selections and groupings based on "what I want to see", "how I feel about poker at this time", "how I feel about life at this time", "how I feel about that thing you just ate", and so on. I see the unreliability of this packaged information, and I treat it as such.


• Now that I know how to evaluate your play, I am proactive. I go get real numbers (not remembered stuff), I cooperate with my Mind to help you understand what my play has really manifested.


• I identify areas of strategic weakness, and upgrade them.


• I identify missing knowledge, and find ways to fill the holes. And while I am at it, I enhance and expand upon the knowledge I do have.


• I use my Mind to help recognize times of subpar play and their reasons. Are they emotional, physical, Mind, money-situation, ... Now that I recognize them, I can understand their sources, and prevent/avoid/deal with them, such that I am always playing at my full ability.

Please feel free to add to my list here, in the comments if you dare.

The not-so-secret ending here, is that the game of poker will invariably, inevitably reward good play over time. The more you play, the more inevitable it is. Maybe you "knew" this too. Now you can take it to the next level. Make it a point not to have a profitable week, but to plant the best seeds you can in every possible moment. Trust that your profitable weeks will follow.