Empasizing process over results

It occured to me that I'm doing a lot of that in my posts.  I talk about how many hours I work, or how I approach my studies, rather than about how much money I made that day.  One reason is, of course, that I'm making sure that I have the right mindset.  Daily results don't mean much.

Poker is game of probability.  I make a certain play, and either it will win more often than not, or more likely, it will make money over time even if I don't win the pot very often.

That said, I do realize that results are important to the readers, so I'll try to put more of that in my posts.

As I thought some more about process verus performance, I realized that success is any field is like that.  Most successful people don't talk about it.  Yo Yo Ma never told anyone that he practices scales six hour a day, although every serious musician understands that that kind of focus is necessary to perform at an elite level.

Some people do talk about process, and I wish that more people would understand that concept, and not wait for the government to take care of them.  Results only come after a lot of hard work.  On ESPN they talk about pro football players who play jusr a few months a year, but train almost every day during the "off season."

Financial talk show host Dave Ramsey often stresses process and the link to financial success.  He talks about how important it was to his career to get a finance degree from a good school.  He says that you need to hang around with winnners, so that the losers and complainers don't drag you down.  Ramsey famously said, "I know a lot of millionaires, but I don't know anyone who got rich working 40 hours a week."  (I have a lot of work to do in that area.)

Donald Trump gets it.  He said that he would be glad to give any of his children a management role in his businesses--after they got a business degree from a good school, then served an apprenticeship in the lower levels of his companies.

Poker is no different.  People who watch someone "get lucky" in a televised tournament have no idea what got him to the point where he can play at that level.  He might have hired poker coaches along the way (Johnathan Little had three of them).  He probably read every poker book that came out, and he might have studied probabilty and game theory as they relate to poker.

He works out in the fitness room in the casino/hotel where the tournament is held, because he understands that he has to be in shape to deal with tournaments on the World Poker Tour which run twelve hours a day for a week. He almost certainly subscribes to one of the teaching sites with online poker videos which include expert commentary.  Some players even study the psychology and physiology of tells--one player co-wrote a book with a former FBI agent who is an expert in body language.

When I talk about how many hours I work, or what goes into my tournament selection strategy (which I have to change yet again), it's because all of those things aren't just important.  They are foundational.  A lot of players who were once poker millionaires lose it all because they don't do one of of the foundational things correctly.

It takes me a while to get good at something.  In 10th grade, I was playing second clarinet in the number four band in my high school.  I was humilated.  I seriously onsidered quiting band, but I decided instead to get better.  Six years ago, I retired as the clarinet section leader and principal clarinet of an army band.

Financial success with poker has been a lot slower, and has been a lot harder, than I ever expected.  The more I learn, the more I undertand how many things I'm doiug wrong.  As I take care of those things, sucess will come.  Of that I have no doubt.