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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.

 

 

 

 

Written By Steve K.
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