Expectation Setting: Pointing Yourself in the Right Direction

Estimates suggest that anywhere between 65% and 95% of the people who play poker regularly are losing players. One of many reasons why so many people don’t succeed at poker, even when they put a lot of time and energy into it, has to do with their expectations. Not only do they have inaccurate expectations about the game of poker (“I’ll never go through a big downswing, I’m usually pretty lucky”), but they fail to set the correct expectations for themselves. Here’s how to avoid being one of those people.

Raising your standards

It’s up to you to decide what you expect of yourself in all areas of life, not just poker, but if you’re trying to succeed at something, you have to have high expectations. If you’re trying to succeed but your expectations are low, you’ll definitely meet them. As the saying goes, it’s more dangerous to aim too low and hit than it is to aim too high and miss. Thus, succeeding in poker at a level beyond that which you have succeeded before is a question of raising your standards.

If you’ve ever listened to Anthony Robbins, one of the great coaches and life strategists of our time, you’ve probably heard him talk about ‘raising your standards’. It’s a question of no longer being willing to accept the kinds of behavior that would have previously been commonplace for you. In poker, this could simply mean that you’re no longer willing to accept being the kind of person who doesn’t actively work on improving his game, or who only plays two days a week – either way, at a certain point, if you raise your standards on a fundamental level, you will no longer be able to tolerate being that kind of person.

Realism vs Optimism

Hearing that last part, you might think it’s now as simple as saying, “I no longer accept not being a winning player”, or “I no longer accept not being a millionaire” – of course, that’s not true. It’s one thing to raise your standards and expect greater things of yourself, but it’s another thing to put a plan in place for how to achieve those things. If you go for blind optimism and raise your standards to a point that isn’t feasible, without a plan of any kind, you’re going to come back down to Earth with a bump.

With that in mind, it’s important to adopt a realistic approach to establishing optimistic expectations for yourself. If you want to set the expectation that you will play more poker and raise your standards beyond being the kind of person who doesn’t get enough volume, that’s great – but don’t come out and say “I’m going to play seven days a week and I no longer accept being the kind of person who doesn’t do that”. It’s not adequate – if you really think playing seven days a week is feasible, how does your plan account for necessary things like relaxation, downtime, minimizing stress and seeing friends and family? It doesn’t, so it will fail. Be optimistic with your expectations, but realistic with your plan for achieving them.

Directing your focus

Finally, one of the main benefits of setting clear expectations for yourself is that it directs your focus, both at the table and away from it. If your expectation of yourself prior to starting a poker session is that you will not allow yourself to become distracted, you’ll immediately be more likely to notice when you’re becoming less focused and eliminate distractions before they occur. If your expectation is simply “play my best poker”, that’s not specific enough to direct your focus – your brain can become distracted or lose focus and still convince itself you’re fulfilling your expectations.

In many ways, expectation setting is a question of tricking your brain – you’re using your conscious mind to influence your subconscious, and help you make better poker decisions as a result. It’s not easy, but by raising your standards and aiming high, while setting clear and concise objectives for yourself as a poker player, you’ll be able to avoid many of the pitfalls that leave people scrambling for direction and struggling just to hit a target they can’t even see.

Matthew Hunt is a U.K.-based professional poker player and Tournament Poker Edge instructor. Follow him on Twitter @theginger45.