Succeeding at poker requires a blend of skill, strategy, and mental toughness. While we shouldn’t lose sight of the importance of strategy, the psychological demands of the game are often the deciding factor between winning and losing.
Whether it’s the stress of close decisions or maintaining focus during lengthy sessions, players face unique mental challenges in poker games.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is a set of tools that can help.
Originally developed as a therapeutic approach to help people cope with a wide range of psychological issues, ACT has proven effective in improving mental resilience and performance in high-pressure situations.
Learning and using the following core principles of ACT develops the mental skills necessary to excel at the tables:
- Acceptance
- Cognitive defusion
- Mindfulness
- Values
- Committed action
Understanding ACT and Its Relevance to Poker
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) focuses on helping people embrace their thoughts and feelings instead of fighting or avoiding them.
It operates on the premise of psychological flexibility. This concept is the ability to stay in the present moment while acting in alignment with one’s values despite negative emotions or thoughts. It is vital to a resilient mindset
Fundamentally, ACT teaches how to deal with challenging emotions while still making progress toward your goals.
ACT is beneficial for poker players since the mental ups and downs in poker board games are constant. So, your ability to stay focused and composed can make all the difference to your results.
Ironically, trying to suppress or ignore negative thoughts and emotions like frustration, fear, or anger often leads to poor decisions and tilt. ACT uses a different approach.
- Instead of trying to change negative emotions, you learn to accept them as a normal part of the experience.
- Acceptance doesn’t mean giving up.
- Instead, you make a conscious choice to acknowledge your emotions without letting them drive your actions.
Core ACT Concepts Applied to Poker
ACT offers several crucial concepts to strengthen your mental game. Understanding and applying these tools develops psychological flexibility and the resilience to succeed at poker.
Acceptance
Acceptance in ACT refers to the willingness to experience difficult thoughts and emotions without trying to suppress or avoid them. In the context of poker, acceptance means acknowledging the emotions that arise during a game.
These feelings can result from the frustration of a losing streak, the anxiety of making a close decision, or the anger from a bad beat (in poker lingo). Acceptance helps you move on without letting these emotions dictate your actions.
By accepting these feelings, you can prevent them from leading to reactive and potentially costly decisions.
Imagine you’re playing a tournament, and after a few bad beats, you start feeling frustrated and doubtful about your chances of winning.
Instead of letting these emotions result in suboptimal plays, practice acceptance by acknowledging your frustration while refocusing on the best decisions possible.
Cognitive Defusion
Cognitive defusion teaches that thoughts are not facts but mental events. Instead of getting caught up in them, a better approach is evaluating them as helpful or unhelpful.
Doing so helps you keep your thoughts at arm’s length and makes them less destructive.
For example, cognitive defusion can be particularly useful with negative self-talk. Say you start to think, “I’m terrible at this game – I might as well be playing strip poker!” or “I always make the wrong decision It’s vital to look at these thoughts critically..
Is having the thought that “I’m terrible” likely to help you or hurt you?
Remind yourself that these thoughts are not objective truths, and turn your focus back to your strategy.
Mindfulness
Mindfulness is about staying present and fully engaging with the current moment. It’s about paying attention to your experience nonjudgmentally, with an attitude of openness and curiosity.
In poker, it’s essential to stay focused on the current hand, your opponents' actions, and the flow of the game. Mindfulness is a way to do this.
When you’re mindful, you’re less likely to become distracted about past mistakes or anxious about future outcomes.
Training yourself to be mindful can be as simple as practising deep breathing before you play. You can also try short meditation sessions.
The goal is to train your mind to be focused and clear even during long sessions.
Values
According to ACT, values are the guiding principles that motivate behaviour. Acting in accordance with your values is the key to a meaningful and fulfilling life.
So, how does this apply to poker?
Suppose you value continuous improvement. Instead of focusing on the outcomes of a particular hand, you’ll look for ways to learn from every hand you play.
Acting in accordance with your value of continuous improvement makes consistent and sustainable improvement inevitable It and reminds you to stay focused on your long-term goals.
Committed Action
Committed action comes directly from your values. It’s the process of taking concrete steps that align with your values. It’s about persistence and dedication to your goals.
When you’re committed to ongoing improvement, for example, you’ll set specific, value-driven goals (like studying for an hour a day)
You’ll follow through in spite of short-term setbacks or temptations to procrastinate.
Integrating ACT into Your Poker Game
Fully benefiting from ACT techniques and strategies requires practice, but it’s straightforward to incorporate into your daily routine.
- You can start by incorporating mindfulness exercises into your schedule. This step can be as simple as spending five minutes on focused breathing or meditation before each poker session.
- Journaling is another valuable tool. Spend a few minutes after each session reflecting on your emotional responses. Rate how well you applied ACT principles like acceptance and cognitive defusion. Look for patterns in your poker history to better understand your triggers.
Remember that applying ACT concepts in poker isn’t easy. You may struggle with fully accepting difficult emotions or consistently staying mindful while playing.
To overcome these challenges, practice self-compassion and remind yourself that perfection isn’t the goal—progress is.
