Psychology/Mindset

[citanul]

Entering a game, I'm sure many people have different mindsets they like to be in to feel like they are ready to play at the top of their game. Part of that mindset is how you are going to feel about your opponents right from the start of the game. Many of those who have played sports in their lives work from a standpoint that to beat your opponents, you have to Hate Them. Or at least Hate Them while you are involved with your competition with them.

Bigwig says he hates his opponents.

Do you?

Psychologically how do you prep for playing SNGs? What is your emotional frame towards your opponents?

citanul

[Freudian]

My biggest problem when it comes to this is that I get content while running good. So If I am up 7-8 buy-ins in a handful of SnGs, I often call it a day/move down in limit to make sure it will be a good day/play Omaha for the rest of the day.

This behaviour of course leads to me not moving up even if I probably could and should. I have a gazillion buyins for the 33s already.

As for in-game psyche, I am very calm and relaxed by nature so I don't worry about at all. Everyone tilts in some way of course even if they think they don't, but I would guess that I tilt much less than the average player.

[wildzer0]

If I go in angry, I'm going to play badly. The best state of mind I can get in to play is just a confident, relaxed state where I know I have an edge on the competition. If I can mentally prepare myself for the bad beats and all that, I'm much less likely to tilt. It's weird, I try not to even think of my opponents as real people. They're factors in the game I can't control, but I can learn to understand and exploit those factors in my favor. If I start to make it personal, I start to have a problem.

[pergesu]

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The best state of mind I can get in to play is just a confident, relaxed state

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Crass as it may be, I think the best way to start a session is right after getting head. I bet we could prove that ROI increases a couple points (and it would undoubtedly be a fun study).

[Phoenix1010]

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The best state of mind I can get in to play is just a confident, relaxed state

[/ QUOTE ]
Crass as it may be, I think the best way to start a session is right after getting head. I bet we could prove that ROI increases a couple points (and it would undoubtedly be a fun study).

[/ QUOTE ]

This is so incredibly true.

-Phoenix

[gildwulf]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
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The best state of mind I can get in to play is just a confident, relaxed state

[/ QUOTE ]
Crass as it may be, I think the best way to start a session is right after getting head. I bet we could prove that ROI increases a couple points (and it would undoubtedly be a fun study).

[/ QUOTE ]

This is so incredibly true.

-Phoenix

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Starting a poker session right after getting head is a good way to get dumped.

[Bigwig]

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The best state of mind I can get in to play is just a confident, relaxed state

[/ QUOTE ]
Crass as it may be, I think the best way to start a session is right after getting head. I bet we could prove that ROI increases a couple points (and it would undoubtedly be a fun study).

[/ QUOTE ]

This is so incredibly true.

-Phoenix

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Starting a poker session right after getting head is a good way to get dumped.

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Yeah, you should at least let her wash her face and talk for five minutes first.

[pergesu]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
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[ QUOTE ]
The best state of mind I can get in to play is just a confident, relaxed state

[/ QUOTE ]
Crass as it may be, I think the best way to start a session is right after getting head. I bet we could prove that ROI increases a couple points (and it would undoubtedly be a fun study).

[/ QUOTE ]

This is so incredibly true.

-Phoenix

[/ QUOTE ]

Starting a poker session right after getting head is a good way to get dumped.

[/ QUOTE ]
I prefer to have a couple of "EV boosters" than just one full-time girlfriend.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
The best state of mind I can get in to play is just a confident, relaxed state

[/ QUOTE ]
Crass as it may be, I think the best way to start a session is right after getting head. I bet we could prove that ROI increases a couple points (and it would undoubtedly be a fun study).

[/ QUOTE ]

This is so incredibly true.

-Phoenix

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sry for the triple quote, but i believe this is 100% true after i won my first step from 11$ i proceded to go up about 8k in the next week or so.
Also i try to go in every SNG/Tournament with calm and confidence. but also i like to play with a chip on my shoulder, i know it sounds funny but for some reason i think it helps me read opponents hands better.

[kamrann]

I guess I tend to kick off each set with the mindset of, "Okay, I'm gonna have all you [censored]!". So yeah, I suppose I hate them in a superficial sense. I don't think it's a good thing though really, because emotion of any kind is liable to affect play in a negative way I would say.

Recently I had the idea of trying to approach it as if there weren't actually real people at the other end of the phone line, making these seemingly random decisions to call allin on the bubble with JT or whatever. Imagining instead that I was just playing a computer game where that sort of thing happened and I just had to keep plugging away with the right strategy. So far though I've found it quite difficult to forget that it was someones decision to do something insanely dumb which just cost me another $100. I'm still searching for a way to fully detach myself from everything but making the right decisions.