Advice from Kill Tilt NOW:
The legendary gambler Nick the Greek once remarked, “Everybody gets what they want out of the casino”. Decades later, the market wizard commodities speculator Ed Seykota echoed, “Win or lose, everybody gets what they want out of the markets. Some people seem to like to lose, so they win by losing money.”
These two statements apply to poker as well. For poker is like a Genie. It feels obligated to grant its participants its wishes. But it is a very odd kind of Genie in that it has a tendency to grant the wishes of the unconscious mind NOT the conscious mind.
What exactly do I mean by this? Well, if you did a survey and asked people why they play poker, most will say, “I play poker to make money”, or some variation of this statement like, “I play to maximize my hourly expectation”, or “I play to maximize EV”, or “I play to build wealth”, or “I play strictly for the profits”, or “I play to win in the long run”. But the kicker is that when most players declare these statements, it is their conscious minds that are doing the talking.
Underneath the surface, their unconscious mind has other (“playing poker to satisfy compulsive urges”, “playing poker for the ‘action’, “playing poker to escape from reality”) intentions. And it is a virtual certainty that these unconscious intentions (known in psychology as “secondary gain objectives”) will have its wishes come true, either by directly getting what it wants or at the very least by creating an “inner conflict” within the player’s brain that self sabotages the so-called conscious intent (“playing poker to win”, “playing to maximize EV”) that the conscious mind believes it is honestly and sincerely trying to achieve. The name I have given this unfortunate condition is Subconscious Bankroll Implosion.
The Vital Importance of Inner Congruence
Inner Congruence is a state of mind in which the player’s conscious and unconscious minds are perfectly aligned in satisfying the criteria of “playing poker to make money”.
Inner Incongruence, on the other hand, is the state of mind in which the player’s conscious and unconscious minds are trying to achieve different criteria SIMULTANEOUSLY. While the conscious mind is “playing to make money”, the unconscious mind is “playing to have fun” or “playing to attract attention” or “playing to prove myself” and so on.
The Simple Solution!
The key to fixing Subconscious Bankroll Implosion is to turn this simultaneous incongruence into SEQUENCIAL incongruence.
To do this, the secondary gain objective must be identified and respected NOT denied, suppressed, and belittled as is the advice of many well meaning poker writers who go so far as to call these subconscious tendencies “enemies” that must be beaten, “problems” that must be solved, “inner dragons” that must be slain, or even “inner demons” that must be exorcised. The fact is, almost all of these secondary gain intents (“playing poker to have fun”, “playing poker to carry out compulsive urges”) are useful and positive if – and only if - carried out in the appropriate context. For example, “having fun” is appropriate with our kids and during parties. Compulsive urges can be useful in the context of studying poker books or eating healthy. If a person is compulsive at studying poker books, wouldn’t he become an extremely knowledgeable player? If a person is compulsive in eating healthy food wouldn’t he be in better physical shape?
The key concept here is that every behavior or habit, even if on the surface it may appear destructive, has positive intentions for us and is appropriate in some context. You already know the first step, which is to face these behaviors and habits rather than deny them, and to accept and be thankful for the fact that they are there to serve us once they are carried out in appropriate contexts.
The next step is to give these behaviors and habits serious consideration by actually scheduling the carrying out of them. By scheduling and committing to doing them in an appropriate context OUTSIDE THE CONTEXT OF A SERIOUS POKER GAME we allow them to satisfy the positive intents that they have for us. As a result, they become our best poker friends not our worst poker enemies. Notice that this approach is very different from most of the approaches advocated by the expert poker psychologists. In their model, “destructive behaviors” need to by neutralized and suppressed. In this new model, there are no destructive behaviors so long as it is assumed that each behavior…
…has a positive intention for us.
…is appropriate in some non-poker session context.
…are deliberately scheduled in appropriate contexts OUTSIDE the context of poker playing.
Below is a pattern that you can use to turn a simultaneous incongruence that may be sabotaging your success at the poker table into sequential incongruence in which the needs of the unconscious parts that are creating inner conflict with your goal of “playing poker to make money” are respected and appropriately contextualized. It is called the …
Ending Subconscious Bankroll Implosion Pattern
Step 1. Notice what kinds of behaviors and habits have been holding you back from having 100% commitment to the prime poker objective of “playing poker to make money”.
Example: “My tendency to want action has consistently caused me to play too loose relative to what is optimal thus not maximizing my EV, hence defeating the purpose of playing poker to make money”.
Step 2. Welcome the part of you that has been making you engage in this self-sabotaging behavior and thank it for its positive intentions. Then ask that part what, specifically, its positive intention for you is.
Example: “Part that wants action, thank you for the positive intention that you have for me. By making me engage in the behavior that you are making me do, what positive thing is it that you are trying to do for me?”
Step 3. Once the answer comes to you, thank the part for giving you the specifics of the positive intention that it has for you.
Example: The part tells you that it wants action because it wants to give you excitement and fun in your life.
In this instance, the positive intentions are “excitement” and “fun”. Notice that these are not bad things at all. In fact, these are GREAT things when done in appropriate contexts. Maybe, you just my not have been giving yourself enough time to enjoy your life and this part is telling that you need to. Thank this part for letting you know.
Step 4. Create a win/win resolution between the part that “plays poker to make money” and the part that is trying to carry out the conflicting intent. The best way to do this is to schedule and commit to doing activities and projects that are COMPLETELY OUTSIDE THE POKER PLAYING CONTEXT that will allow the part to effectively achieve its positive intentions.
Example: The part that “plays poker to make money” and the part that USED TO compel you to play too loose relative to what’s optimal “for the sake of the action” can agree to let the latter have time to go out more, to start new and enjoyable hobbies, rollercoaster riding, etc. Actually schedule times and places to have this part carry out its intents and to have its needs fully satisfied. It goes without saying that the activities that you engage in must be safe for you and to everyone who might be involved.
Step 5. Once a satisfactory win/win resolution between the involved parts has been agreed upon, thank both parts for a job well done.
Step 6. Visualize a future you playing inner conflict free in the months and years ahead.
Step. 7. End
In my opinion, Subconscious Bankroll Implosion is the single biggest cause of long term failure in all of poker. That’s because when a person has a divided mind, he has already beaten himself from within and has indeed lost the game even before he has sat down to play his cards. This pattern has given you the tool to deal with this tendency.