Poker: The Mental Battle

As many of you know, poker is a beast, it is all consuming and swallows you and your emotions whole if you let it. Well lately it has swallowed me up and spit me out repeatedly. I've had some outside issues that have been weighing on my mind and this has caused me to produce some results that are certainly not like me.

Through fourteen days of the month I was stuck $105. I can't remember the last time I went so deep into the month without being in the positive. I have said time and time again this month that today was going to be the day that I was going to be disciplined and grind out a profit. At the end of every one of those days, it hadn't happened. I knew that I needed some support and spoke to a friend in England on the phone and we talked out the situation. We came up with a few solutions and I went to bed last night somewhat at peace with everything and woke up this morning feeling fresh and ready to grind.

Well today has now come to an end and through 4500 hands today I was +$312. I've never been so happy to win $300 in my life. It got tough towards the end of the day as I took some tough beats but I was able to battle through them and kept my cool throughout. Hopefully now things return to normal and I can rescue the month.

The underlying message in this entry is, always come to the tables with a clear mindset. If your not in the frame of mind to concentrate and compete, don't even sit.

I will be coaching some tomorrow and might convince myself to go and play live tomorrow night. I'd originally decided not to do this but if I can put in another solid day I might reward myself with a fun night out playing cards with friends.