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Poker Update – Naturalism

Played 30mins or so of Rush Poker 2cent/5cent.  Also read about 30 mins of Zen & the Art Of Poker.  The chapter on SAMSARA or the cycle of self frustrating effort.  Basically the point of the chapter was to simply take the ordinary natural way with complete emotional detachment.  I had an opportunity to practice this for the following hand:

Flopped a SET of 8s.  Rainbow flop.  The guy with pocket As bet heavy.  I was short stacked so I went all in.  Long story short he got runner runner clubs to give him an A high flush.  Clearly a hand I statistically should have won.

I was annoyed because I lost my buy in but then emotionally detached myself and kept playing properly.  Soon after I won almost all of the money I had lost back.

All of the inner game poker books stress its not what cards you have or what your opponents are doing that causes you to win or lose.  It is your attitude and state of mind.

So far this is proving true.

-Ethan Caine
Follow Me On Twitter @RealEthanCaine

Zen and The Art Of Poker- 70% Done And WOW

If you have been keeping up on my previous progress or lack there of, I have lost $250 of my $280 that I once had in my Full Tilt Account.  I decided to take a step back and remind myself why I started learning poker in the first place.

Its not the money which is what it HAS become lately because I started winning.  Its the personal development, becoming the person I want to become by following tried and true principles that can be measured easily and effectively with Poker.

You see money isn’t the end result, most people think it is but its really the freedom that that money brings.  Money is an effect, and being an excellent player is what causes you to get said money.

So I decided to play a single 5cent/10cent game and read Zen and The Art Of Poker.  This is exactly the book I needed to read because it reminded me that being calm and having no expectation of the situation is the best way to do, anything really.  Once you can control yourself you will be able to get into flow state and your desired results will flow to you eventually.

This is all a bit metaphysical but I like that kind of thing.  This book so far has helped me get back on track with not just my poker game but my life in general.

Its only 200pages and completely worth the read, if your open minded enough to try some of the principles it will help you too.

-Ethan