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The Most Important 17 Seconds in All of Poker
" Keep your head in the game when the game goes bad.
By
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
As a Certified Poker Hypnotherapist working with serious poker players, questions arise every day about how you can keep your head in the game when the game goes bad.
In addition to retraining your brain using our hypnotherapy audio, “How To Recover From a Bad Beat”, there are some things you can do on the conscious level before you start to play and while you are at the table.
It only takes 17 SECONDS to shift your psyche from the negative to the positive. If you maintain a positive thought for just 17 seconds it changes the psychology of the mind and the physiology of the body. Remember your brain controls your body and it’s your body that make the correct calls, folds, etc.
The brain can not hold on to a negative thought and a positive thought simultaneously. No two thoughts can occur at the same time. It’s not possible. If you get hit with a bad beat and your brain is reeling, you can’t be thinking confidence at the same time. It’s one or the other.
How do you do it?
If you are a serious player you’ve been hit with a variety of confidence shaking hands in the past and you know exactly how you react. Preplan so you’ll be ready. Make a list of three or four positive affirmations to counteract your negative reactions. When you do you’ll have ammunition if a bad beat hits or you just want an extra shot of confidence while you play.
Be careful how you write them:
Affirmation should always be written in the current tense. It’s happening NOW. You’re winning NOW, you’re confident NOW. Here are some examples
I am winning
I am totally confident against any opponent
I am calm and in control of my emotions
If you say:
I’m not going to tilt
o Your brain doesn’t recognize the word not. What statement are you actually making?
I’m going to win
o That speaks to the future not the present. Your winning could take place a month from now not today.
Your brain gives you exactly what you ask for so be sure to ask for exactly what you want. Start noticing how you talk in everyday language. What messages are you sending your psyche? Are they positive, proactive, and in the present? If not, change your language and you will change your outcome.
How to use this at the table
Keep your affirmations in your mental toolkit. Use the one that applies to the situation. While you are not in a hand pick something in the room to look at to give your opponents the impression you’re deep in thought. Repeat one specific affirmation to yourself for 17 seconds. You’ll repeat it about 17 times. This is all the time it takes to shift your psychological and emotional state to a place that is refocused and calm. You will notice a physical shift. There is a difference in our body language when we’re feeling confident and when we’re not. You’ll physically feel the difference. It will be the most powerful 17 seconds you spend at the table.
For more information regarding hypnotherapy at the poker table visit www.CatchTheRiver.com or get a free review of your personal affirmations via [email protected].
Copyright Catch The River LLC 2007
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