One of the most significant leaks about poker regulars is not their skill but their performance at the poker tables. What most often affects a playe…
One of the most significant leaks about poker regulars is not their skill but their performance at the poker tables. What most often affects a playe…
One of the most significant leaks about poker regulars is not their skill but their performance at the poker tables. What most often affects a player’s performance is variance, so it’s essential to work on mental strength so that our performance suffers less when things go badly.
Take, for example, the three different levels of our performance:
Here we can see two different scenarios:
We can notice that the difference is almost double in the obtained EV between the two scenarios.
A mild level of tension is needed to achieve our optimal performance, which means that we must not be too relaxed or irritated.
If we are in games where we feel too confident and they do not present a challenge, there is a possibility that we will be disinterested and will not be at an optimal level of performance.
The situation is similar with games that are above our level, they will cause us enormous tension, so we will not be at the optimal level of performance again. That is why playing real games that challenge us but do not “suffocate” us is very important because they are too demanding.
For this to be possible, it is important that we gradually raise the limits and build a bankroll according to our skill. Also, to be in the zone of optimal performance more often, it is important to focus on things we can control and not allow negative outcomes to throw us into a tilt.
Discovering situations that tilt us can serve us so that we can take advantage of them and recognize that the same situations throw our opponents into tilt and throw them out of the optimal performance.