This month, I had 2 sessions where I came home rushed to make it to my 16:00 streaming session. Once, I accidentally locked myself out of my apartment and the other time it was poor planning from my own side. Due to that, I came in rushed, sat down, and started playing straight away.
What I normally do before playing is to set a couple of intentions, go over my focus points and watch hands that I’ve played related to this. Then, I meditate to slow myself down and quiet my mind.
Comparing those sessions, the difference in my quality of thinking is HUGE!
In the sessions I rushed in, I:
- Was playing very fast and very much in the ‘’What do I have to do’’ mindset.
- Was easily frustrated and reacted emotional.
- Was not interested or curious about what was going on, I basically did not want to be in a spot, I just wanted it to be over with and the money coming towards me.
- Would end the session thinking “Wtf just happened?”
When I did meditate, I:
- Was feeling very ''tranquillo'' and whatever happened at the tables, I won’t get thrown off.
- I responded way less emotional to situations.
- Due to the points above I was able to get into the right way of thinking about hands, as I took my time to think about the spot and did not want to rush through it.
- That lead me to be way more interested and curious, which ultimately made me play better and flow more.
- I would end my sessions being satisfied, whatever the outcome.
Meditation is training the mind, just like the gym is for athletes training their muscles. For example, let’s say an athlete in the sport you like would perform badly. If you would find out that he does not train his muscles and eats Mc Donalds constantly, you would probably be like “obviously you don’t perform well, what did you expect?”
Be aware: meditation for a poker player is exactly the same. So, what do you expect?