The second installment of my WSOP trip report is now appearing in Two Plus Two Magazine. After a disappointing start to the series, my next few tournaments offer me some opportunities to regain confidence:
“Phil probably forgot about this hand seconds after it happened, but although it was in some ways a standard spot, I intend to remember it as the time I outplayed Phil Ivey. I knew what I wanted him to do, I made a plan to induce a bluff-raise from him, and it worked. This may sound arrogant, but I figure if you’re going to be hard on yourself about your mistakes, and most of us are, then you better take time to give yourself a pat on the back when you do something well. I can only imagine how impossibly excited I would have been eight years ago if you’d told me that I would one day be putting a move on Phil Ivey at the World Series of Poker.”
Please let me know what you think of it!
As a professional how do you deal with unfavorable results. Is it all math and BR control. In my profession we have a high rate of rejection. Ive learned to deal with it in my own way but it has crushed many hopefuls. You’ve had some personal experience with me in helping me out on a project. So you know a bit of what I speak.
I don’t know if I could maintain a productive attitude after reading the results of your trip report. A long time ago my mother gave me advice that I didn’t understand the full ramifications until later. She would say “save your money, son.”. Until I understood the concept of BR building did I fully understand what she meant.
I think a lot of it is setting appropriate expectations, as I imagine it is in acting as well. You have to expect that you aren’t going to win most tournaments, that you aren’t going to win every time you have the best hand, that people are going to play badly and get there, etc. I think way too many people indulge themselves in complaining about these things, when there is not even anything to complain about. It’s part of the game, and you should expect it in the sense of not being perturbed about it, not in the sense of griping to your friends about “every time, that’s how I run.” There’s a pervasive sense of “of course everyone is frustrated by bad beats”, but I think that’s a bad habit and not something that has to be the case. Personally I work hard not to get upset about any of the many forms that bad luck can take in this game.
Did you read the first part of this series? I tried to talk some about dealing the frustration. Taking a break to hang out with friends old and a new can be a nice relief, so thanks for your contribution there 🙂