Select Page
Poker Forum
Over 1,292,000 Posts!
Poker ForumBeginners Circle

The Downward Spiral

Results 1 to 9 of 9
  1. #1
    spoonitnow's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Posts
    14,219
    Location
    North Carolina

    Default The Downward Spiral

    Quote Originally Posted by Josh Waitzkin
    One day, when I was 18 or 19 years old I was walking on 33rd street and Broadway in NYC to teach one of my chess classes to my team at PS 116. Every one who has grown up in Manhattan knows that it is important to look both ways before crossing the street--cars run lights and bicyclists often ride the wrong way down a one way street--admittedly, I have been guilty of the latter. To survive in the city one mustn't blindly leave his fate to the traffic light gods. So I was waiting for the light, thinking about the ideas that I would soon be discussing with my students, when I noticed that a woman wearing headphones had walked right into oncoming traffic and was completely oblivious to the chaotic street that she was crossing. Just then, as she looked right, a bicycle bore down on her from the left. The biker lurched away at the last second, but still gave her a harmless bump. This was a critical moment in the woman's life. She had a near miss and could easily have walked away unscathed if she had just stepped back onto the pavement--but instead she turned to the fading bicyclist and cursed his impudence. There she was, standing with her back to the traffic on 33rd and Broadway screaming at the back of a biker who just performed a miracle to avoid smashing into her. If that moment could be frozen in time it would be a terrifying image for us all to weep over and learn from. A taxi cab was the next to speed onto the scene--the woman was struck from behind and sent reeling 10 feet into the air. She smashed into a lamp post and was knocked out and bleeding badly. The ambulance and police came and eventually I walked on to PS 116 only hoping that she might survive.

    Regaining presence and clarity of mind after making a serious error is a struggle for all competitors and performers. Great stage actors often miss a line but improvise their way back on track. The audience rarely notices because of the perfect ease with which the performer glides back from troubled waters into the tranquility of the script. What is more, the truly great ones can make the moment work for them--heightening their performance with improvisations that throb with immediacy and life. Cellists, violinists, chess players, actors, basketball players, and countless others all understand that brilliant performances are often born of small errors. The problems set in if the performer has a relationship to his or her art which has a brittle dependence on the safety of absolute perfection or duplication. Then an error shatters the glass menagerie and some clouded state of detachment haunts the decision making process.

    Our vision gets cloudier as the position gets further away from us--and we make mistakes that are far beneath our level. Sometimes all a player needs is a bucket of cold water over the head--something to wake us from the lethargic resignation to our emotional swings. With practice and introspective attentiveness, we can learn to be our own cold water.
    Thoughts?
  2. #2
    First thought...


    Second thought (after reading the thing), I've been there!
    I doubt many remember my lame ranting at myself post, but right at the end of the year I had my biggest tilt/downsing yet, and just got fed up with how things were going. I got away from the game for a few days to clear my mind, then ended up playing a fun wild home game with some friends that got me back to having fun with it. I felt like I had that bucket of cold water dumped on me.

    Since then, I've had bigger downswings (I think), but haven't come anywhere close to tilting like that (my biggest tilts now are boredom/tired tilts).

    Stepping back and getting a fresh new look at things really helped.
  3. #3
    I am glad that some stupid woman's tragedy can help to improve someones poker game.

    This works for me as well. I am a very easily distracted person. If I get bored after playing for an hour, I take a break and clear my head. This prevents the spiral of mistakes that happens so often in a gamblers life.
    "$80 million Submarine mansion. Think about it."
  4. #4
    Sick, this applies to way way way wahaaaay more than poker as well.

    Nice post dude.
  5. #5
    spoonitnow's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Posts
    14,219
    Location
    North Carolina
    Quote Originally Posted by Ash256
    Sick, this applies to way way way wahaaaay more than poker as well.

    Nice post dude.
    Right. That's the idea, to transcend our disciplines (whatever they are) and let what we learn about ourselves through them improve all facets of life.

    It applies to more than tilt as well. If you catch yourself getting bored, then just consciously return to the moment.
  6. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by Hawkfan79
    but right at the end of the year I had my biggest tilt/downsing yet, and just got fed up with how things were going.
    This is where i am right now.
    Im not sure if Spoon wrote this because of my "how do i get my hands to hold up" joke or not, but i need to learn to be in the moment and not let bad beats get to me.
    Tonight i tilted off a BI and its ridiculous.
    There was no need for it, and i have to stop it.

    Thanks Spoon.
  7. #7
    spoonitnow's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Posts
    14,219
    Location
    North Carolina
    Quote Originally Posted by wesrman
    Quote Originally Posted by Hawkfan79
    but right at the end of the year I had my biggest tilt/downsing yet, and just got fed up with how things were going.
    This is where i am right now.
    Im not sure if Spoon wrote this because of my "how do i get my hands to hold up" joke or not, but i need to learn to be in the moment and not let bad beats get to me.
    Tonight i tilted off a BI and its ridiculous.
    There was no need for it, and i have to stop it.

    Thanks Spoon.
    I didn't write this. A somewhat young chess player with the title International Master (one step below Grandmaster, the highest attainable title) named Josh Waitzkin did. For some frame of reference, he was the subject of the movie "Searching for Bobby Fischer". Long story short, he quit playing competitive chess and took up Tai Chi Chuan, and a few years later won a number of national and world titles.

    An interview about his book "The Art of Learning", which I think is easily one of the greatest books I've ever read: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lj1gxz5puaQ

    A small amount of what he talks about is in the context of chess, but it doesn't impede on understanding.
  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by spoonitnow
    I didn't write this. A somewhat young chess player with the title International Master (one step below Grandmaster, the highest attainable title) named Josh Waitzkin did.
    U know what i meant.
    U posted it.
    You're such a knit picker.
    You're going to be a good teacher.
  9. #9
    Jack Sawyer's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Posts
    7,668
    Location
    Jack-high straight flush motherfucker
    nice quote

    and yup, I agree 100%
    this is eye opening stuff
    My dream... is to fly... over the rainbow... so high...


    Cogito ergo sum

    VHS is like a book? and a book is like a stack of kindles.
    Hey, I'm in a movie!
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYdwe3ArFWA

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •