BARRIERS

"Occam's (or Ockham's) razor is a principle attributed to the 14th century logician and Franciscan friar William of Ockham. Ockham was the village in the English county of Surrey where he was born". Ockhams Razor is a line of reasoning that says the simplest answer is often correct. This reasoning is also applied in Poker and how we approach the game. Not too long ago an online poker study was conducted http://www.pokerspac...-in-a-poker-study/. This survey made me wonder if online poker players are able to better regulate their impulses & emotions if we are more logical & even tempered as a result from playing poker? Does playing poker make any difference upon the human psyche? That, I suppose is yet to be determined but this study got me thinking about some of the obstacles we face as poker players. I will briefly go over some of the major barriers that interfere & impair our development of becoming better poker players.

Barrier #1 EGO:

This is a BIG one & books have been published about it.As poker players play more games, their knowledge and confidence increase about the game. They begin to recognize their opponents weaknesses and they want to be seen as tough or "good" players. They don't want to be seen as weak or "predictable players". They begin to fear they're playing their hands "face-up". They want to avoid being labelled or falling into some sort of limp-assed poker cliche.

This is where Fancy Play Syndrome (FPS) kicks in. Fancy Play Syndrome can be defined as, "when players begin to make overly complex & creative ways to play an otherwise straightforward hand". FPS is unprofitable over the long term. Players eventually end up outplaying themselves instead of outplaying their opponents. While FPS can work at times it is not consistent nor are you maximizing your profit doing this. It is always more profitable to just allow your opponents to make mistakes hence, giving you their chips. Surprisingly, simple is not only better but more successful.

2. Impatience: Playing too many Hands.

Successful poker players play about only 1 in every 5 to 6 hands (15% to 20% of the hands). I often see players limping in early position, calling bets with mediocre hands basically being in hands that otherwise should have been folded. These players are tired of folding. They grow impatient of not "getting any cards" so they decide to play secondary & even third-rate starting hands. They want to get into the action so any 2 cards begin to look playable. This also leads to mistakes like chasing too many hands after the flop. Putting more money chips into the pot hoping to catch the cards needed. Then they become frustrated when their hand is out-kicked by a better hand. Or worse, they experience a few "bad beats".

We would all like to be viewed as "good players" and wish to have the respect of other players but have you truly evaluated your poker game? Realistically how do you measure up compared to other players? How honest are you with yourself? Are you able to honestly assess your poker play? The reason that good poker players are successful is because bad players convince themselves that they are unlucky. Bad players will blame other factors (and players) without reviewing how the hand was played what possible mistakes were made. A common mistake is over playing a hand for example, AJ pre-flop and over valuing these type of hands. They get married to hands & often find it difficult to lay down top pair even if they know there may be stronger combinations beating their hand. Then players are left scratching their heads wondering, what went wrong, how did they get a "bad-beat?" As if they did not see it coming.

This leads me to the next barrier
#3 Tilt:
defined by Wikkipedia as a "term for a state of mental or emotional confusion or frustration in which a player adopts a less than optimal strategy, usually resulting in the player becoming overly-aggressive. This term is closely associated with steam and some consider the terms equivalent, but 'steam' typically carries more anger and intensity". It's allowing emotions to dictate the way you play. You become emotionally unbalanced. Anything that triggers an emotional response will create some degree of tilt. Tilt is not only caused by negative emotions example, a "bad beat" but can also be induced by something pleasant like taking down a big pot. It's a demonstration of extreme emotion where emotion clouds strategy. Players will use instinct over logic, become delusional believing they are better than they actually are. They allow their Ego's to interfere with reason.Their judgement is fogged and they are unable to make neccessary adjustments. They subconsciously become very vulnerable to stress and pressure. Quite often they do not realize it until it is too late.

Until they have gone for broke and they are re-loading or running off to the nearest ATM machine to get more cash. Moving up in stakes to get your loses back, changing the way you play, focusing on losing and getting even with another player.These are all classic symptoms of Tilt AND these are barriers that will prevent you from becoming a better poker player.

Identifying these barriers will help you bridge the gap preventing you from moving forward and growing as a poker player. Fitness & nutrition also help and it is proven that a healthier body leads to a healthier mind. This helps improve our emotional balance providing us with greater resilience, more motivation, increase level of energy and concentration- the tools necessary in achieving high levels of success in your poker journey. Making minor adjustments in your lifestyle will have an impact on your game. It has been proven that overall health& well-being affects perfomance. It seems rather easy enough. Remember, it is often the simpler things in life that give us the greatest satisfaction. I wish you all the best in your poker adventures. Have a great trip.