Funny thing about A games. They don't always produce the expected outcome.
This is certainly the truth, sometimes even playing Perfect poker and not making any mistakes the game may not always produce the results to match how good of a game we are playing. This is unfortunate, but we all know dealing with varience in poker is the key to maintaining composure and hopefully maintaining and improving our A game.
Distractions is always something that is going to affect our game because if we have other things on our mind like yardwork or housework etc then we are obviously not completely focused on the task at hand and IMO would make it near impossible to play our A game. It will not mean we don't show +ve results from a session but results do not always reflect the best decicions and vice versa.
As much as finding out what affects you so that you don't play your A game is important, so is recognising that you aren't playing it early enough to stop it seriously damaging your bankroll.
Particularly playing online since there is no one there to point out what, if anything, you are doing wrong.
I think this is a very important comment to keep in mind as to why for so many of us although not recommended it is important to keep an eye on our BR with online, especially when using an autotopup it can sometimes be so easy in a short stretch to do big damage to a bankroll if not properly cushioned when running multiple tables.
Same with online poker, you think you are playing the same but instead of winning you're losing. Your opponents are very unlikely to put you right so you have to do it for yourself.
At least with poker you can mostly check out your hand history from a good day and compare to the bad days.
Per this is why analysis is so important for not only improving our game but also to pick up on what our weaknesses are, by comparing the days we see +ve results compare to the days we don't we can determine if it was leaks getting into our game or simply variance. I believe this to be a very beneficial aspect of a tracking software, HUD aside the ability to run reports so easily on hand histories provides quick access to the information we need to see where we can improve on an overall.
As I had indicated I ordered and have recieved the poker mental game books by Jarad, and have started reading the first one (only a little here and there because have been putting a lot of time on the felts lately), however read the section regarding the inchworm theory last night which was excellent and makes a great deal of sense in regards to how learning new things to incorporate into our A game without plugging leakes that show up in our C game causes our B game to show up much more (ie stretches out our bell curve). A very interesting read.
not really. weed is my xfactor for soccer for sure, but in poker so far I'm three weeks in to it and I am just learning to get better. Playing poker while sober no drink no smoke is a lot more favorable for me. I cant seem to win when I'm high but it's only been two or three free tourneys live. I can see some of my mistakes and I just have to correct them. I guess I play my A game when I make less mistakes.
Being clear headed should always show benefits in being able to think through
hands, action and the game overall.
if you are enjoying the game then you can consider that an A game, and if your mind isnt in it for whatever reason then its just a waste of time.....best thing to do when that happens is to take a week off or however long it takes before you are itching to play again......breaks are important in poker......im due one myself, not had one for several months.
It all depends on what is keeping your mind from being in the game, if this is because maybe have been playing so much that its becomming less fun and burnt out then a break can do wonders (no different than a vacation can do wonders when it comes to work). Personally, I am always itching to play poker and the only breaks have usually been involuntary because of $$$ or other commitments etc.
Even when things have run horribly I still have an itch to play, which in that situation could really be a bad thing however I have come to realize lately that if we are running horribly the question is is it because we are no longer playing our A game or just on a bad run (Obviously it's what prompted me to create this thread
). Essentially if its just a bad run sometimes we can play through this in our sessions because we know they are inevitably going to ocurr, but it has also let me be quick at analysing how I'm playing and have been able to adjust when I see I am opening too many hands in EP for example and get refocused.
Obviously I am a huge poker fan, love to watch it love to play it and like us all am hoping to turn a profit at some point. Unfortunatly have a long ways to go due to many mistakes in the past and not following BRM, or essentially ever working on my game and not realizing the great resources such as CC where there are opportunities to build BR from little to nothing and most of all take advantage of the knowledge that the members have to offer.