One area where poker differs significantly from other sports is in the degree of skill among competitors, especially among professionals. Teams...
Football teams compete against teams of similar skill levels in championships, sprinters only race against those with high enough qualifying times, and boxers compete against opponents in their weight class and of similar skill levels.
This is generally not the case in poker, where there is a much greater emphasis on seeking out competition where you are significantly weaker.
It is common for a world champion to share a table with an amateur. In fact, the difference in skill between a shark and a fish can sometimes be the equivalent of Tiger Woods playing golf against someone with a twenty-stroke advantage.
The sport thrives on fierce competition to keep viewers interested in watching. Poker players, however, make money by finding big advantages. The problem is that if you are just looking for easy money, it can eventually affect your progress and thus the edge you have in the game.
Being challenged is a necessary component of both learning and playing in your attention zone.
One of the most popular theories about the attention zone comes from Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, a Hungarian psychology professor and author of the book “Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience”.
He defines being in the attention zone as a state of flow where a person is completely engaged with what they are doing.
In order to achieve this state of flow, a balance has to be struck between the skill of the person involved and the challenge of the task.
In other words, the person involved needs to be sufficiently challenged and have sufficient skill in the task to meet the challenge.
The graph below illustrates the relationship between skill and challenge:
As you can see, the size of the challenge and the skill level you have are not important separately; it is the relationship between them that determines your ability to reach the attention zone.
We have two situations
When your skills are low and the challenge is small, or when the challenge is big and your skills are also high, you can perform in the attention zone.
However, if you are too weak, you will be overwhelmed by the challenge and, according to Csikszentmihalyi, you will feel anxiety rather than the flow of the game. Conversely, if you expect to easily overwhelm a weak opponent, you will feel frustrated that the challenge is too small and you will fall out of the zone.
Boredom takes you out of the attention zone
Boredom typically sets in when you stop feeling challenged and there’s nothing new or interesting to learn. Like a computer that hasn’t been used recently, your mind is left on standby, just waiting to be activated.
Boredom is the result of a lack of challenge. When just playing the game is an advantage, it’s easy to fall into your B- or C-game.
It makes sense that poker can start to feel monotonous – you’re dealt the same hands all the time. By now, you’ve been dealt AK suited enough times to find it common and potentially boring.
However, players who remain passionate and motivated about noticing the nuances and unique details about how to play each hand never get bored. They notice tells physical, tells of time, metagame, combinations, range balance, G-bucks, priority action, table image and many other small details that most players don't consider.
The dynamics of poker are varied and constantly changing, so while the same hand may be dealt multiple times, each hand will play out in a unique way. There are always new areas for improvement; the game is always evolving and there is always more to learn.
An easy way to avoid boredom is to make sure there is always something you are interested in learning.
Are there areas of your game that you want to improve but have been putting off? Focusing on these areas could boost your interest and challenge you at the same time.
What are ways you can stay challenged against weak opponents? Create a game within the game, such as how quickly and accurately you can assess your play.
What information would be useful to gather while you're not getting good cards? Assume that you'll find something about another player that will help you exploit them in future hands, and your challenge is to find it.
There is always something you can do to make learning more fun and playing more challenging. This is where you should always keep your eyes on your goals and be ready to refine them to incorporate new challenges.
Article translated and adapted from the original: Jared Tendler Explains Flow and Playing in the Zone
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