The Best In The Business

[Tonji]

I'm on the fence on this one.

I think one of the reasons you've been successful is because u want to do so well but at the same time it's pretty weird that someone so successful can't cope with variance. You obviously are great player but some of your success can be attributed to a world wind of positive variance with so much success over such a short space of time. Hopefully you'll find some perspective.

As for all the gym/meditation stuff I think it's way over rated. Just enjoy Vegas mate. Fuck that shit

Watching from a far, this sums it up.

[mondatoo]

I'm on the fence on this one.

I think one of the reasons you've been successful is because u want to do so well but at the same time it's pretty weird that someone so successful can't cope with variance. You obviously are great player but some of your success can be attributed to a world wind of positive variance with so much success over such a short space of time. Hopefully you'll find some perspective.

As for all the gym/meditation stuff I think it's way over rated. Just enjoy Vegas mate. Fuck that shit

Watching from a far, this sums it up.

You can make that post to pretty much every single moan ever posted on this whole forum though.

[George2Loose]

Yep and I should know more than most

[nirvana]

Really interesting this and it's impressive how honest you are about your feelings.

At a whole other level I used to feel like this and basically it is almost 100% a sense of entitlement that does this to us. We are better so why aint it working...totally flies in the face of all we know about poker though and other games with a significant luck element.

I used to think I deserved to win at Luton all the time because I was playing on a different level, sometimes level 2.5 +, to everyone else. In the end I had to decide I had no right to win, however well I played and stop looking at everyone else and thinking everyone else an idiot. I think you're doing this, you talk a lot about soft tables and 7 fish per table. You lose that respect for people and it just doesn't work very well from there. Even if it does, it's too much baggage and scornery to carry around. This sense of entitlement is magnified about 50x live v online because you actually get to see the peoples faces and be annoyed very directly about them, their play, their mannerisms, their haircut, etc

I know a big tall, web footed guy and he can't even play at Luton any more cause he's so scornful of the Luton diaspora. That's a shame for the rest of us and probably him too

Tiny mental adjustments to feel a little more love and respect for opponents rather than just love the game and you might translate your mad online skills to something worthwhile live.

No charge, just my tuppence and really hope you turn your feelings (and results) round on this trip.

[cambridgealex]

I hung out with Pads yesterday for a good 10 hours I'd say on the Deadman rail and I have to say, contrary to his online persona, he's completely sound in real life. He's not even really arrogant, he just loves poker, loves talking about poker and really wants to succeed. He had good banter on the rail and was a laugh to be around.

I don't know him particularly well but he didn't even seem down about things. In fact he told me about why he was leaving etc probably two hours before that he made that post and his tone couldn't have been more different.

I think when he gets back to his room away from people he just all hits him and he just spews out his worst thoughts on to the page. There was no mention of the fun he had on the rail, being part of the brits, so many epic scenes that I know he loved (John Blacks fanboy antics etc!). I know he likes being part of a team, of a group - wants to be accepted by the community etc. Well yesterday, he very much was. If that was a miserable man I was hanging out with last night then he's a better bluffer than I thought.

I also think this is a testament to a) how much he loves the game, so is more emotionally involved than most / is ideal (as others have said) and b) how fkn lucky he's been in the past!

He went on a run that has never been seen before to my knowledge. The most incredible run of luck you could imagine. He may well be the BITB and work the hardest etc, but he still ran absurdly far above expectation and he didn't know it. He thinks he plays great and works hard (which he does) so therefore he deserved / was entitled that insane run. Now he's seeing the other side of it and it seems unfair.

If he'd ran normally in his life then maybe he wouldn't take this so hard. But that run he had as soon as he started playing MTTs completely distorted his expectations, his ideas about how tournament variance works, and that coupled with his passion for the game generally is what's causing this.

It's not his fault, it's human instinct, and as I'm sure you could gather, I'm speaking from experience. It wouldn't be human if we thought differently. Until you know differently, you think it's normal, or just a standard upswing, reward for your hard work.

And is this even the worst you could've possibly run over the last few months, be honest? Like you said, you've had some very lucky swaps and actually profited in some of these series (Monte Carlo, SCOOP, not sure). So I'd prepare to experience a whole lot worse if I were you. Prepare to have all your swaps brick as well as your own action. Prepare to have your stable go on an incredibly bad run too. Prepare to run like we did yesterday in 0ev flips in all your gambling endeavours!

You know now you're not immune to variance, you don't win a tournament every sunday, so learn the right lessons, and prepare for the worse.

Good luck.

[mulhuzz]

 felt like it was gonna be Suprlrlarimim who posted that, not Alex, but he's right mind.

gd post.

[Eso Kral]

Yh great post Alex!

[celtic]

Winners find a way.

[RED-DOG]

Winners find a way.

It's not winning he has a problem with. 

[atdc21]

That is a great post Alex, also nirvanas. you have both managed to put what i think when i read his diary, but in a much better way than i would of.

[George2Loose]

I'm sure Barry would recommend The Mental Game of Poker. I did a session with Jared which is recorded somewhere which spoke about entitlement. Was a really big turning point for me.

[MANTIS01]

Hey mate I love the way you write. My best advice to you would be stop being such a pussy. I know others will dress things up in a more sympathetic way but really I think my advice is the best.

[DaveShoelace]

I'm sure Barry would recommend The Mental Game of Poker. I did a session with Jared which is recorded somewhere which spoke about entitlement. Was a really big turning point for me.

I would and we do indeed have a chapter about entitlement in there, but TBH Alex has nailed it IMO. Pads works sooooo hard on his game, and his MTT run was soooo good, it makes perfect sense that he might feel that he 'deserves' to get a big score, by deep down thinking the work ethic was the cause of the rungood.

Also to echo what Longy/Doobs said, when you are as obsessed with poker as Pads is, it is inevitable that your emotions are going to be entirely dependant on your results. You need interests outside of the game to maintain that perspective. Easier said than done at the WSOP of course where it's non-stop poker for six weeks.

Honestly though Pads, if you are working hard before and after you play the way you say you are, that's all you can ask of yourself and it's more than most pros do.

[scotty77]

echo what alex said.  pads was in great spirits on the rail, joined in with the banter and dinner afterwards.

im sure after a few days break he'll be back to being the absolute best.

[The_nun]

If only life was so simple.