Mindset

The computer is still broke. Nobody wanted to come out to fix it rather oddly. So I had to bring it out for repair. This is where not being able to drive becomes an issue. Thankfully my uncle who is a taxi drive gave me a lift up on Saturday. The repair place is called Computer Doctors, they give me a free evaluation and tell me what is wrong, what needs to be done to fix it and how much it will cost. Unfortunately they told me they would have results on Wednesday. I was hoping for a much quicker evaluation like on Monday but what can I do.

This has meant the added problem of my posting on boards. I am on 4,999 posts and was in the process of writing a 5,000th theory type post. Of course it's saved on the hard drive and I didn't back it up so not much I can do about it. I am not sure whether to hold out or not as I have found myself clicking reply a number of times before thinking ah can't post. It's a tad stupid waiting I suppose but it would be good if I could get it out.

I was rather lazy last week when the computer blew. I should really take the time to read up on theory, watch lots of training videos but haven't really done that although in the last few days I have been doing more. This brings up a larger point about my mindset and my approach to poker. I was watching a Seabeast video (LeggoPoker instructor) He sounded pretty depressed and was saying how boring NLH seemed to him and how Omaha is much more interesting and the way forward. His main reason as he feels like he has stopped learning and become stagnant. He feels he wants continually try to solve the game which in turn would mean constant improvement.

This is something I haven't done. I have read up a lot on poker theory. I post hands and try to extract knowledge out of as many different sources as I can but I have never really tried to figure it out for myself. The closest I come is to do EV calculations, but I tend to do them occasionally. It's not something I work on everyday. I feel this is a big flaw and a fundamentally lazy mindset. I am not proactive enough and if I really want to make something out of this it's something I feel I have to change.

As for how I change it, I am not sure. I am pretty good at spotting these type of flaws. I am just very bad at rectifying them. The most likely scenario is nothing changes or I slightly improve but nowhere near as much as I currently want/hope or need. To my advantage, I imagine it's something a lot of people go through. I suspect a lot of what separates your average 200/400nl grinder like me to your high stakes winners is their drive and willingness to learn hence they "discover" things before they become popular and a 2+2 mantra. This is what keeps them ahead of the game.

I have been thinking a bit about 2009 and what I want out of the year and I think I have a good idea of my goals and roughly what I require. I feel if I want to move forward examining and changing my mindset will a vital part of it. Ultimately for all the talk about how hard the games are, there are still people winning, someone has to win no matter the stakes. I want that to be me. It depends on how much I want it.