In the vast majority of cases, when I sit down to play poker, I am in a psychologically balanced and calm state, but this is not always the case. I read a lot and watched what professional poker players meditate before or after the game. I'm curious to know if there is someone here who does this, and if so, please tell me all the nuances and whether meditation helps at all. Maybe I'll start doing it too.CNXRegie said:
Thanks, @zer0c00l23, for sharing your wisdom! Practicing and playing are indeed the keys to learning how to read the table and analyze situations. I haven't tried the ICM trainer for SnG yet, but I'll definitely look into it to improve my understanding of cards, stacks, and positions. And it's awesome that you mentioned how meditation helps with mental preparation; after all, poker is one intense mental game. 🃏💪zer0c00l23 said:
Hey there, brother! Thanks for the love and the compliments. Mental prep is a must for both tournament and cash players, no doubt about it.jonaselloco said:Hello brother
Yours is a great question, congratulations.
For those of us who play tournaments and cash, mental preparation is essential.
In my case, in my free time I am doing Chi Kung and Taichi, not only for my physique but also for the moments in which I play poker.
Those moments in which I do these exercises help me mentally to make decisions in poker.
For example, every player's problem is either a losing streak or the famous Tilt (simplified, you lose a huge pot and automatically go all-in with any card in the next hand).
Chi Kung and Taichi exercises help you take your time, breathe and meditate on that hand, if you made mistakes do not make them again in the following, and start again or if you are eliminated from the tournament, start a new one with the same energies that you had at the beginning of the previous one.
Bad energy is a very negative thing in poker. Fair Chi Kung teaches you to get rid of all that bad energy to turn your energy into something positive that will give you good results in the long run.
Meditation is a good process too, it helps you improve your emotional stability.
These exercises, as I said before, are not only essential for poker but rather for your daily life.
A hug brother, greetings
You're right, poker ain't just about technical skills. Keeping that clear and disciplined mindset is key to crushing it in the game. Thanks for the awesome insights!Mantinhoo said:
Hi bro @CNXRegieCNXRegie said:
That's a really interesting question, I'm reading along with it too =)CNXRegie said:
The effectiveness of the player usually depends on the stability of his mental state. Meditation, sports, walks in the fresh air and active recreation, of course, all this has a positive effect on our psyche. But everyone has to choose for himself the methods or measures that suit him best.CNXRegie said:
It's my pleasure, brother. I think Chi Kung and Taichi can indeed greatly improve my overall well-being. I'd like to start with the basics, but I'm wondering if there are any restrictions for people with health conditions, like heart problems, considering these disciplines involve physical movements.jonaselloco said:Hi bro @CNXRegie
Thank you for your compliments first of all.
Chi Kung is an art of Chinese natural medicine. They are exercises that in the first classes work on the physical, and more advanced work on mental concentration and breathing.
For example, if you are trying to improve your joints at an advanced level, in each exercise you mentally prepare to improve that area of your body that is bothering you. So on in all body parts in each routine exercise.
The breath already enters a mixture between Chi Kung and Taichi. Taichi is a Chinese martial art in which defense and attack movements are made with breathing but without coming into contact or combat with the opponent.
You could say that it is a kind of simulation.
Many martial disciplines start with tai chi.
This helps you in general to improve your impulsive movements.
As our dear brother @zer0c00l23 says, it is not only useful for poker, but rather useful for life in general.
A simple example of serious life, you have a conflict with a person who annoys you and a possible confrontation arises, before that happens you analyze the consequences that could happen if this confrontation occurs. The biggest would be that your opponent ends up dead, as a result of which you would have several years in jail and what comes in the future as a result of this inconvenience.
In poker, the example would be, you have a good hand and you are comfortably located in an ITM in a tournament, where the prize not only guarantees the entry you paid for in the tournament, but also gives you a few extra dollars... .But, in that hand, you come across a play in which you have to call, but you can be out of the tournament, the situation is that the pot went too high and you are practically sure that villain is bluffing but you don't have the best winning hand. The question is... you pay and you're left out??? You don't pay and you keep adding chips up to a possible final table or more profitable prizes????
In that case these disciplines help you control your impulses.
You are in ITM in a tournament and you have AK in SB and you go all-in with the BB that you don't know he has but you underestimate that he is last and you say "this one is not going to have just AA". You underestimate it, the BB calls you with the love of life because she truly has AA and leaves you out of the tournament.
She also helps you with the impulse to always pay, or the famous tilt, or countless other situations in which you have to define a situation.
In other words, mental control helps you a lot to analyze the hand, in addition to logically studying the game and your opponents.
A hug brother, greetings and blessings
My name is Carlos and I from Argentina
Your answer is very good too, congratulations now for me at the moment in my case I see it as very difficult to achieve I think that the one who achieves that is a champion haha successes to all...jonaselloco said:Hello brother
Yours is a great question, congratulations.
For those of us who play tournaments and cash, mental preparation is essential.
In my case, in my free time I am doing Chi Kung and Taichi, not only for my physique but also for the moments in which I play poker.
Those moments in which I do these exercises help me mentally to make decisions in poker.
For example, every player's problem is either a losing streak or the famous Tilt (simplified, you lose a huge pot and automatically go all-in with any card in the next hand).
Chi Kung and Taichi exercises help you take your time, breathe and meditate on that hand, if you made mistakes do not make them again in the following, and start again or if you are eliminated from the tournament, start a new one with the same energies that you had at the beginning of the previous one.
Bad energy is a very negative thing in poker. Fair Chi Kung teaches you to get rid of all that bad energy to turn your energy into something positive that will give you good results in the long run.
Meditation is a good process too, it helps you improve your emotional stability.
These exercises, as I said before, are not only essential for poker but rather for your daily life.
A hug brother, greetings
First of all, you need to know yourself well, knowing your strengths and weaknesses of your personality, you will be able to know what takes your focus off and what destabilizes you.CNXRegie said:
Hello Regie, it's a pleasure to talk with you brother.CNXRegie said:It's my pleasure, brother. I think Chi Kung and Taichi can indeed greatly improve my overall well-being. I'd like to start with the basics, but I'm wondering if there are any restrictions for people with health conditions, like heart problems, considering these disciplines involve physical movements.
Thank you for pointing out the ITM aspect. I've found myself in several scenarios where I bubbled out and missed the money with only a couple of players left to be eliminated, and I usually have an average stack, not the lowest. So, I believe these disciplines could be really valuable for me to learn.
Thanks for sharing, Carlos. Un abrazo para vos también, brother, y bendiciones!
By the way, you can just call me Regie
Hello brother and compatriot how are you???Academico said:
*coughs Loudly and rudelyCNXRegie said:
Hey Carlos! Awesome to hear from you, bro! Your positivity is contagious!jonaselloco said:Hello brother and compatriot how are you???
I hope above all that all is well.
As I told you before, that routine really changes your life.
I hope you can make it one day. Do not see it difficult, on the contrary, try or try to see it with optimism and hope.
If you tell me "I don't think I can do it", the first word is NO, and that word in Chi Kung discipline in particular is almost non-existent. Because precisely this discipline tries to convert your negative energy so that its positive energy flows.
If we transfer it to poker, it's not that because you do Chi Kung, Yoga or Taichi you will never have a badbeat hahahaha. But what happens, after a badbeat, it generally occurs on a so-called tilt, which is the worst weapon against which every poker player has.
The disciplines named what help you is to channel those negative moments into a positive one.
An example would be, in an MTT you are comfortable in chips and you face a hand, for example the famous all in you with KK and the villain with AA, and I beat you and leave you with 8 BB. What do you think at that moment??? The next hand he pushed in with any hand because I was unlucky. But you don't focus for a second on thinking, and well it's a hand that can happen, and with these 7 BB I'll wisely try to get back up in the MTT and try to at least get into ITM.
Look, does it change the logic of the sequence or not???
Look, I'll tell you about an experience that happened to me 2 days ago in cash.
I generally play NL5 cash, I feel comfortable at those tables and I'm slowly trying to build a bankroll to play NL10 cash.
In 1 hour of session I lose 4 boxes, or $20. How do I lose them? I tell you.
1) I floped a diamond flush with a possibility of an open-ended straight flush, almost a dream play. On the turn a possible full house is completed for Villain, who before my 3/4 bet goes all-in. what did he have??? 4 Quads of 8888
2) From BN I 4 bet and CO calls me. Me with QQ, flop J 7 3 a pretty dry and beneficial flop for me. I bet 1/3 and villain reraises me POT. I pay, X falls on the turn, villain allin, I pay and he shows me JJ
3) I'm in BB with KK, I make a 3 bet to the UTG player who opened and calls me. flop 10 8 4 , I bet 1/3 and villain pushes me all in. I pay and it shows me 1010
4) In UTG a player opens OPR and I in CO 3 bet with JJ. Villain all-in and I already knew he was a recreational player so I called confidently. He had 37s of hearts. Imagine the joy that did not last long when on the turn the color of hearts had been completed and on top of that I had hit the J on the flop.
In other words, in 4 hands in 1 hour I lost $20. Up to that point, for the game 5 minutes, I left, I prepared some dunks, I did an analysis of the hands that I played how I played them and where I could have been wrong, and I let go of those hands.
After a 3-hour session, I ended up earning $4 at the end of the session. Logically, I could have lost less or more than what I had lost.
But the conclusion is that with meditation he was able to convert those negative moments into continuing to try to improve my game and that positive energy flow to recover me in that session.
Sorry that I took too long to explain it to you, but even more so that you are a compatriot, I tried to be an example so that you can see how this mental and physical health thing works, in this case referring to poker.
A hug brother, and we continue to see each other and analyze issues of life.
Greetings from Bahia Blanca.
Carlos
I believe in good mental preparation and the action of positive thinking, believe me and everything will work out, thanks for rememberingCNXRegie said:
Sure thing, as a newbie player, watching and adapting to the table is essential. But a little mental prep can help you stay calm and focused. Embrace the "que sera sera" attitude, but don't forget to take a deep breath and enjoy the game! Good luck at the tables! 🃏😊alabos said: