Hi! In sports, we call it performing in the zone. In poker, it is known as playing your 'A' game. So, what is it - some mystical trance beyond the reach of most of us?
Well, it is not mystical, and it is within our reach. It is basically the result of focused concentration. Does that sound redundant - focused concentration? You might be wondering, "isn't concentration focused?" Or, isn't focus and concentration the same thing?
Without getting into hair splitting, the idea is that when we achieve a high state of laser focused, uninterrupted concentration, we are then capable of our best performance. Whether the performance is mental and physical, as in sports; or, purely mental, as in poker.
When we play our mental game of poker, we should want our minds and the environment to be conducive to our achieving a state of focused concentration. So, before we sit down to play, we should take inventory of ourselves and our surroundings to assure that we are not, and will not become, so distracted that we cannot play our best.
My article, How a Poker Player Can Perform in the Zone, was written with that goal in mind - of providing reminders and methods to help us find and keep our 'A' game.
The importance of concentration is the same across all competitive sports - mental or physical.
Just because we poker players can lean back in a comfortable chair while we play, does not mean that concentration is any less important to our success than it is to a Major League baseball pitcher. The mental efforts of both are one and the same - focused concentration on the play at hand.
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If you would like to know more about the nature of competitive concentration, go to my site, Poker Book Reviews.info, and have a look at any of the books in the Competitive Thinking Books section. A particulary good one is Your Performing Edge by JoAnn Dahlkoetter, Ph.D..
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Thanks and Good Luck!
R. Steve McCollum
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