Poker is probably the only sport where the most important muscle is your face. You see, your face reveals your hand. The opponent doesn’t have to know the exact hand you have if they see that you’re eager for them to go all in.
They can also read desperation on your face. While showing restraint sounds simple, this is only true while you’re away from the poker table. When the stakes are high, and you’re on a streak, this becomes next-to-impossible.
Here’s how you can develop mental resilience in poker and ensure that this is never the case.
1. Practice makes perfect
The first thing you need to understand is the importance of practice. When you do something a thousand or a million times, you know how to do it by heart.
You see, a game like poker has infinite replayability potential. However, you’ll get somewhat desensitized to its most intense effects and outcomes by playing, playing, and playing again.
This way, you’ll also develop a mindset that helps you put some things into perspective. This way, a game is just a game, and there’s another one around the corner. So, losing is not so bad. Bluffing is a lot easier when you actually don’t care if you win.
The best way to get your hours in is to find a site where you can play online. This is easy for UK residents, seeing as there are so many options to pick from. So, all you need to do is research the best online poker sites in the UK and find what suits you the most.
2. Read about psychology and strategy
You have so much material on psychology and strategy that you can learn from books and courses.
For instance, the psychological phenomenon known as loss aversion occurs when people fear losing more than they rejoice over the prospect of winning.
The gambler’s fallacy is when you believe that the outcomes of previous hands affect the future ones. It’s like thinking that you’re due to win or can’t lose because you’re on a streak.
Most importantly, you must understand that you’re not the only person affected by these phenomena. The same is happening in the minds of people you’re playing with. So, understanding these concepts has a double-fold benefit.
Keep in mind that it’s not just about psychology. There’s also a great deal of strategy here. For instance, in Sun Tzu’s The Art of War, there’s a quote about how the peak of deception in warfare is pretending to be weak when you’re strong and strong when you are weak. This is what poker is all about.
3. Never play when you’re not in the right state of mind
Prioritizing your mental health is always important, but when it comes to your decision-making, it is affecting you more than you know. You know this already. Sleep deprivation, stress, even hunger or thirst can impair your decision-making. You’ll be more easily aggravated. If things aren’t great at home, you’ll seek instant gratification or a chance to win elsewhere.
Try to avoid playing poker when you have other reasons to feel nervous or elated. Always try to be well-rested, well-fed, and with your mind in the game. If you can’t focus on the game, you shouldn’t be playing (at least at that particular moment).
Conclusion
Poker is a skill-based game, but it’s also a luck-based one. Still, even in games purely based on skill, you can’t always win. Sometimes, you have a bad day, or your opponent has a particularly good one. This is why you need to accept any outcome and always be in the right state of mind. This way, you’re consistently increasing your odds.
