Practice Makes Perfect, So Practice What You Love

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"Deliberate practice entails more than simply repeating a task — playing a C-minor scale 100 times, for instance, or hitting tennis serves until your shoulder pops out of its socket. Rather, it involves setting specific goals, obtaining immediate feedback and concentrating as much on technique as on outcome."

I am fascinated by the idea that with enough desire and hard work, a person can become an expert in almost anything. I've written before about the 10,000 Hour Rule and studies like it (and was on my way to reaching that milestone in my poker adventure before the PoPo shut me down). Today I got a new (but old, it's from 2006) article on the subject (via @Lefsetz) that I wanted to post on the blog for those of you also interested in the subject. 

Bob is first and foremost a music lover. He's also a passionate writer about the music industry and usually has great advice for artists looking to break onto the scene. His advice nearly always boils down to this: desire to be good. Not rich. Not famous. Not on the cover of magazines or on a Disney sitcom. Instead, he espouses doing anything and everything it takes to be good.  And to be a good musician, you have to practice and gig and write and tour and cut your teeth over and over and over. 

So how do you do that with poker? Yes, you have to play. Pre-Black Friday, I think I would've hit 10,000 hours of playing tournament poker in March 2012. But as the quote at the top of this post indicates, there's a difference in simply repeating a task (i.e., lighting up a bunch of tables online and just playing) and deliberately practicing the task.

Now that I can't light up 8-tables and just play and try to pretend I'm deliberately practicing, are there some things I can be doing that would serve as deliberate practice? And more importantly, can I be disciplined enough to deliberately practice even with no money score to be had?

If not, I don't think I was ever really on my way to hitting the 10,000 mark because, again, repetition is not deliberate practice. 

So, I'm going to put some more thought into the above referenced quote and its application to my game.  I'm a big believer in deliberate practice and planning your work and working your plan. Once I get that plan formulated, I'll post it here and we'll see how it goes. 

In the meantime, I'd love to hear what you think constitutes deliberate practice toward the improvement of your poker game.  Are there any specific things you're doing to keep your game on track?

Til next time, keep keeping on, amigos!

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PoPo Shut Me Down

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I am sometimes asked whether the avatar on my blog and Twitter is me. It's not. I blog and tweet behind an avatar because to use my real name would, on a google search of said name, result in a bunch of un-lawyer-ly information illustrating how deep my love for poker runs (not to mention a bunch of dumb Twitter rants).

While I suppose in this day and age there's nothing really wrong with that, I am not currently making my living from poker and so it matters to me what opposing counsels and clients think.  Most non-poker playing clients generally don't like the thought that, during any downtime, their attorneys are not living and breathing their case and business matters.

Poker is an easy game to play, but a tough game to master; and, to get good enough to be a profitable player, you have to play. A lot.  I've been playing poker recreationally since the birth of my daughter (who's 6 now), and I only began taking the game serious in late 2009.  Since I live in Texas, online poker is really the only way I can play with the regularity and volume that's required to get good.  Indeed, when I play, study, and review hands, I'm always mindful of Malcolm Gladwell's 10,000 hour rule...practice makes perfect.

Before last Friday, I was practicing a lot. (To understand what Friday, also known as Black Friday, means to online poker players, read this and this.) I had reached the point where I was actually making money at the game. My cash game is still wildly uneven and always a threat to my bankroll, but my tournament play was really coming along.  Since 2006 (and remember b/w 2006 and late 2009 it was all recreational - I didn't even learn the concept of bankroll management until 2009!), I have maintained a nearly 10% ROI.  I know it's not that great, but as one of my coaches told me, anyone who can make even $1 profit in this game is doing better than the vast majority of people who play. Poker is, after all, a zero sum game...if someone else is winning, you're losing.

Because I was showing improvement and because I could play on-line, I made a decision earlier this year to cut back on my practice in order to grind the volume necessary to improve and to give myself a realistic picture of whether or not I had what it takes to make poker a profession.  Everyone in my family was on board with that idea and supportive of me pursuing my dream. Absent their support, I honestly couldn't even consider doing this.

After last Friday, though, that support has given way to questioning and concern for the very legality of this passion of mine. I'm thankful now that I've blogged and twittered under my Poker Girl With Cards avatar because if the people who know and love me are feeling this way, I can only imagine what my clients and opposing counsels would be thinking.  It wouldn't be good.

Unfortunately, I don't live where I can just drive to a casino and take my shot that way. So for the foreseeable future, my pokering will have to be live, which means I'll really have to coordinate to make the trips cost-effective and workable for my family. I'm still planning on the WSOP this summer and will also likely play the WSOP-c event in Louisiana.  But after that, who knows?  And while I'd hoped to play tons online with measured practice to gear up for the series, I'm now forced to rely on finding a safe local game and on the study and review of HHs from previous tournaments. 

Last but not least, Black Friday has forced me to get back into full-time lawyering. I'm thankful I've got that to fall back on but I have to admit it's just not as much fun. Seriously, give me being one-outed on the river any day.  Please.

Remind me of that when they get the pipeline open again.

Until then, it's back to Vernon's and Lexis for me.  In the meantime, I hope you're able to play.  And if you are, thank your lucky stars and run good, amigos.