I am a big believer in what you focus on you will get, good or bad, it will eventually come true! You get what you focus on. In life this can related to everything, and I also believe this is a big influence in poker. In yoga, a lot of emphasis is placed on focus. Focusing on how we want our life to be like and what we want to achieve. To improve our situation we need to focus on what we want, and not focusing on what we don’t want. If we focus on what we don’t want, this has a negative effect, and we will end up getting what we didn’t want!
Many people have formed habits on focusing on what they don’t want… “I don’t want to be fat”, “I don’t want to be in debt”, “I don’t want my business to fail”, “I don’t want to loose my partner”… etc. etc.
In poker I see many people focusing on the cards they don’t want also.
Take a look at this video from the WSOP Main Event 2007. I think this is a perfect example of how what you focus on you get in poker. The hand I am referring to is about 18 seconds into this video, listen to what Erna is focusing on…
Ok, so you can hear Erna calling “No Jacks, No Jacks” – he is focusing on what he doesn’t want… and guess what! He get’s what he focuses on, the Jack comes. Then we changes his focus to what he does want… “Pair the board for me dealer” and guess what! He gets what he focuses on, the board pairs.
Now Im not saying that this is a guaranteed poker strategy by any means! But I am using it as an example because I think that in life and poker, in the long run, you will get what you focus on. And who know’s if it works when you are calling the cards playing poker? But I use it all the time!
I think in poker, especially in a tournament, you need to stay focused on winning, if you let your thoughts wonder, or you get bored, or you start thinking you have no chance, then you will never win! I also see people reading newspapers, or books when playing live games!?!? I have never seen anyone who does this make a final table though! Have you? Focus is everything, and staying focuses and believing takes some effort!
Many people say “Why do bad things always happen to me?”, “I always get sucked out on!”, “I could never win a big tournament” etc. etc. Change your focus and start believing that you can and that you will!
I think for focus to be real, you need to believe it, and that can be the hard part, removing doubt. If you want something and you focus on it, but you have doubt, then you aren’t truly believing on focusing on it.
In poker and in life I play a lot on feeling, when I get the feeling that I believe something good will definitely happen, it normally does.
I believe this simple thing, called focus, is the biggest influence in success, in all areas of life and in poker!
“Our thoughts create our reality — where we put our focus is the direction we tend to go.” ~ Peter McWilliams
“Focus is the ultimate power, that we can change the way we feel, the way we think, the way we feel, and what we do in any moment.” ~ Tony Robbins
