Giving Yourself the Best Chance Possible

I recently had a bad two days in which I dropped 5 buy-ins. During these sessions I lost a couple of all-in hands I was "supposed" to win based on how far ahead I was when the money went in, but the number one reason why I had such a bad couple of days is because I allowed myself to play in a state of mind that was not conducive to playing good poker.

The background was that I had had some "difficulties" with a neighbour a couple of days before, and it was preying on my mind. I sat down at the tables knowing that I was not mentally 100% but told myself that I could block my troubles out of my mind and concentrate on playing good poker. But I was kidding myself. I would go further and say that my primary motivation for playing poker those two days was as a way of relaxing and trying to forget about the thing bothering me, rather like how poeple use alcohol to block out their troubles.

But as with all bad sessions, all is not lost if you learn something. It's a bloody expensive lesson but the lesson is this:

Never (and I mean NEVER) play poker when you have something on your mind.

When I look back at many of the bad sessions I have had, playing in a bad state of mind is a common theme. Up until a relatively recently I used to look at bad sessions in terms of how I played specific hands. I'd see that I paid off a flush here, made a bad bluff there.
I was seeing the problem wholly in terms of having the strength of mind to not make plays I KNEW not to make. But something vital was missing in this analysis.

What was missing was the knowledge that it is infinitely easier to make correct decisions and correct plays when you are in a proper state of mind. I was seeing it wholly about what you do during a session and not considering what you do beforehand. So the primary thing is this: in order to give your skills the best chance possible to do their work, you must be working with a clear and stress free mind. It sounds so obvious when you type it but it is something that must be worked on continuously, at least for me.

So I have introduced a test for myself and I must pass this test prior to sitting down to play.

Pre-Session Test
I feel PHYSICALLY and EMOTIONALLY WELL;

I'm confident I will bring my A-GAME and FULL CONCENTRATION to the table.

If I fully agree with the above statement I may play. Otherwise I may not play under any circumstances.

Let's see how it goes for the last few weeks of the year.