Viper

I ended last year doing pretty fine. I hired a coach and improved my game which is always great.

My plans for january were to study and play as much as I could.

But sometimes life puts something in your way and your plans suddenley happen to go to the trash.

In my case this time Im talking about couple issues. Problems with my gf... a crisis, etc, etc. Happily resolved nowadays but it lasted a couple of months.

Crisis was good for us. I learned and grew a lot due to this. However, in january and february I was absolutely not in the mood of playing poker.

Now in march Im better. Nevertheless I still don't feel the motivation to sit in front of my PC and study or play.

This doesn't mean my goal in poker has changed. I still love poker and want to achieve my goals.

But poker is such a mental game that when you're not in the mood, I believe it is counterproductive to try to play and study no matter what.

What do you think about this? Would like to know your opinions and points of view.

I believe such thing I comment might not happen in other activities which involve more social environment. I think I could even play live poker right now and enjoy it. But still can't with online poker...

Last Post 8 years ago by

MattVIP

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When I used to play as a pro, if I felt sick, tired, hungover or not in the mood I simply would not play for that day.

Sometimes I would go 5-6 days without playing which sounds great, but as it was my sole income I had to buckle up my ideas. I ended up getting in a nice routine with eating, exercising and that in turn motivated me to play and focus on my game.

I'm not sure if you're playing as a side income, full-time or for fun but I would suggest making a few poker related goals . Goals that you can achieve (can be to play X amount of hands or make $x in March).

Starting a journey thread might help as it puts you accountable to others which will motivate you to play more.

"But poker is such a mental game that when you're not in the mood, I believe it is counterproductive to try to play and study no matter what."

I think this is only half-right. You might be correct to avoid the tables, but you can push yourself to do some grunt work, like study or DB analysis. Even posting hands and getting active on the forums is better than nothing.

"I think I could even play live poker right now and enjoy it. " Only one way to find out! I've recently made a switch to more live, for some of the same reasons. It is in many ways a VERY different game, so it may re-energize your passion, as long as you are in the mood to learn and study, and acknowledge that you're starting at a lower rung and will have some catching up to do. Plus there's always BRM, much more expensive to get sucked out on live.

And as always,

@Harvie's advice is the nuts. Exercise and sleep will give you energy in all aspects of your life.

I guess it is just like anything in life - if you dont want to do it then dont unless you absolutely have to.

Typical simple answer from me i know but its like playing badminton when you hate it just to improve for no reason when you would rather be playing football for fun.

Only play when you want to and it's fun or making money. Otherwise you will just stress yourself out and become unhappy.

Yeah, I think right now I enjoy more playing live for some fun. Poker should always be enjoyable! right?

Viper: Yeah, I think right now I enjoy more playing live for some fun. Poker should always be enjoyable! right?

Yeh for sure unless it is your income. It should then hopefully be fun but a job is a job and not everyone loves it.

Yeah, they are basically two sides of the coin. If poker is just something you enjoy doing then there's no point in playing if you don't feel like it. That being said if you're approaching poker with a semi-professional/professional mindset then discipline is one of the most important factors to your overall success. Our brain is amazing at making excuses and if you're your own boss you should learn how to differentiate between a legitimate reason not to play/learn and well... an excuse. This is obviously based on your circumstances so no-one can tell you when skipping the session is the right answer but as a general rule, it's best to assume that we tend to give ourselves a free pass a bit to often.

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