{"id":2529819,"date":"2024-03-14T21:47:55","date_gmt":"2024-03-14T21:47:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pokercoaching.com\/blog\/?p=2529819"},"modified":"2025-12-29T12:38:48","modified_gmt":"2025-12-29T12:38:48","slug":"heed-the-voice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pokercoaching.com\/blog\/heed-the-voice\/","title":{"rendered":"Heed the Voice: Navigating Life at the Poker Tables"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When the voice speaks, heed it. The opinionless voice. The quiet voice. The voice of inner wisdom. The voice that knows when it\u2019s time to quit, or change seats, or add on, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The voice is your only advocate. But it\u2019s easily drowned out by the loudmouths and bullies in your head who don\u2019t really have your best interest at heart. That\u2019s why sometimes you have to calm yourself down a bit, just to hear the quiet voice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bad Quitting<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The quitting affliction is rough stuff. You\u2019re battling against the absorption, the addiction, the mindless compulsion to keep playing poker<\/a> and keep playing because poker is so fine and additionally it\u2019s the greatest thing ever and I can\u2019t even fathom a non-poker universe right now so please, just deal the cards.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despair not. There\u2019s hope. You can train yourself to hear and heed the voice, one session at a time, one year at a time, one decade at a time. When the voice says to quit, you\u2019ll stand up and cash out. Or if you\u2019re playing online, you\u2019ll cash out and stand up. And you\u2019ll do so without hesitating or second-guessing. Like C-betting a dry board.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Bad<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Sounds easy enough. And it would be. If not for the tantrums.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When you\u2019re stuck, the bully in your brain throws a fit:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, you\u2019re going to keep playing, you fool. How else can you get even?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019re winning, the pushback is just as strong and customized:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou\u2019re ahead for the night. Big deal. You\u2019re still stuck for the month.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve already blown your curfew, so what\u2019s another hour?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRemember when you played till noon and busted the whole table at Billy\u2019s bachelor party six years ago? Let\u2019s do that again!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the quiet voice says lock up a win, lock it up. When it says run for cover, run. And when the noisy voice fights back with this classic appeal \u2013 This game is too good to quit! This game is too good to quit!<\/em> \u2013 find the lie within that truth, and then walk away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Heaps of Accumulated Permanent Regret<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s one of my most reliable self-torturing techniques, perfect for right after a bad case of bad quitting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How much more money would I have if I quit every time the quitting voice spoke?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you were to run out your poker life a million times in these two universes, which one do you think would score higher? The universe where you quit whenever the voice says to, or the one you\u2019re living in?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

“When you\u2019re angry, or elated, the voice doesn\u2019t know or care how you got there. It only knows who you are and what you\u2019re doing and feeling at this instant, and it speaks only to your current situation and your current condition.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

If you picked the voice-heeding universe, then doesn\u2019t it make sense to make that universe your reality as soon as possible? Think of the effort you\u2019ve put into improving your poker strategy<\/a> by way of improving your betting skills. What I\u2019m suggesting is that you apply equal energy to other profitable improvements as well, such as finding your way home when you\u2019ve lost your way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Changing Seats<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The guy on your left is loud and loose, and he\u2019s got you on edge<\/a>. A seat at the other end of the table comes open. The quiet voice says take it. The pride-and-shame voice says to stay put. The pride-and-shame voice is worried about how it will look, whereas the quiet voice is oblivious to such matters. It has no fear of judgment. Or anything else. It just knows you\u2019ll make more money and you\u2019ll have a better life in this moment if you change seats now. So you heed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adding On<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019ve got 150BB on the table and 150BB more in your pocket. The two main profit sources have 300BB each. The game is hot. Chips are flying. This flurry will end when the donors go broke, which could happen anytime. Your scared-of-being-out-of-action voice says don\u2019t add on. It says to keep that 150BB in your pocket to rebuy if you lose what\u2019s on the table. The quiet voice says strike now. It says to put every dollar on the table and turn on the A-game. So you heed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trust and Obey<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The voice remains calm through every storm. That\u2019s why you can trust it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Trust<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

When you\u2019re angry or elated, the voice doesn\u2019t know or care how you got there. It only knows who you are and what you\u2019re doing and feeling at this instant, and it speaks only to your current situation and your current condition. That\u2019s another trustworthy feature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The voice can be frustrating because it doesn\u2019t answer questions. It just keeps cranking out directives. Which means you can\u2019t count on rationality as a guiding principle. Your bully mind will rebel again and again, which is best seen as hurdles on the track. You just keep bounding over them, or not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why do we disobey the voice?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because we think we know better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How can we make ourselves less disobedient?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By training ourselves to heed, the same way we would train a pet, with patience, repetition, and love.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When the voice speaks, heed it. The opinionless voice. The quiet voice. The voice of inner wisdom. The voice that knows when it\u2019s time to quit, or change seats, or add on, etc. The voice […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":219,"featured_media":2529856,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2529819","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mindset-lifestyle"],"acf":{"peak_live_date":null},"aioseo_notices":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/pokercoaching.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/PC-Blog_Tommy-Angelo-Heed-The-Voice.png",1280,720,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/pokercoaching.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/PC-Blog_Tommy-Angelo-Heed-The-Voice-373x210.png",373,210,true],"medium":["https:\/\/pokercoaching.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/PC-Blog_Tommy-Angelo-Heed-The-Voice-746x420.png",746,420,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/pokercoaching.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/PC-Blog_Tommy-Angelo-Heed-The-Voice-768x432.png",768,432,true],"large":["https:\/\/pokercoaching.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/PC-Blog_Tommy-Angelo-Heed-The-Voice-1024x576.png",1024,576,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/pokercoaching.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/PC-Blog_Tommy-Angelo-Heed-The-Voice.png",1280,720,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/pokercoaching.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/PC-Blog_Tommy-Angelo-Heed-The-Voice.png",1280,720,false],"author_image":["https:\/\/pokercoaching.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/PC-Blog_Tommy-Angelo-Heed-The-Voice-100x100.png",100,100,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Tommy Angelo","author_link":"https:\/\/pokercoaching.com\/blog\/author\/tommy-angelo\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"When the voice speaks, heed it. The opinionless voice. The quiet voice. The voice of inner wisdom. The voice that knows when it\u2019s time to quit, or change seats, or add on, etc. The voice […]","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pokercoaching.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2529819","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pokercoaching.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pokercoaching.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pokercoaching.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/219"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pokercoaching.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2529819"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/pokercoaching.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2529819\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2538450,"href":"https:\/\/pokercoaching.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2529819\/revisions\/2538450"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pokercoaching.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2529856"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pokercoaching.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2529819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pokercoaching.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2529819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pokercoaching.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2529819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}