Metagame Poker
June 11, 1997. Game 5 of
the 1997 NBA Finals. Having
come down with a terrible
case of the flu the day
before, Michael Jordan
managed to suit up for a
pivotal game against the
Utah Jazz. Although many
thought that Jordan would be
too weak and feeble to make
an impact on the game, he
took charge of the game,
scoring 38 points and
grabbing 7 rebounds, leading
to a 90-88 victory.
Someone like Michael Jordan
breaks the mold when it
comes to the subject of
metagame. For the common
person, when you are not
feeling 100% it will show in
the results of whatever you
are doing. In poker, this is
a key concept, commonly
overlooked by players.
Metagame is the broad term
for the “game within the
game.” It is all the factors
that you don’t really get to
see when you are at the
tables.
One of the most important
topics within metagame is
your emotional state prior
to engaging in a poker game.
I’ve started up numerous
sessions online in which I
had too much on my mind, and
it showed itself in my
results at the end of the
session. I would be thinking
about my mid-term the next
morning, or the research
paper I had put off writing,
or the fight I had with my
friend. These are all things
that will hurt your game
more than you could ever
imagine.
Keeping in mind that
physical fitness is
important to poker is
something that many do not
realize as well. Heading to
the gym three or four times
a week just to stay in shape
and blow off any steam that
you have built up inside of
you will do wonders to your
attitude when entering a
poker session. It is also
vital to instill healthy
habits in your life, staying
away from any drugs, over
consumption of alcohol,
unhealthy eating, and so on.
Before starting any session
in poker, you have to be
comfortable with yourself.
You need to have a clear
head, being ready to focus
on the thousands of
decisions you have to make
every time you play. Not
only will you be enforcing
good habits into your poker
career, but you will be less
likely to tilt off buy-in
after buy-in.
So the bottom line is,
before you start up any
session, either online or
live, ask yourself if you
are feeling 100%. Ask
yourself if you really want
to play poker now. Ask
yourself if you will give
the game your best effort.
Answering no to any of these
questions should be cause
enough to not play poker.
Just remember, we cannot all
be like Mike.
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