Playing in the Zone

Playing in the zone feels like time itself has stopped. Our focus is razor sharp and our execution feels effortless. You feel as though you’re in the flow of the game. I’m sure we’ve all felt it from time to time and yet it is so easy to get distracted and slip out of it. So what’s a professionals approach to learning how to find and play in the zone?

A professional player learns to focus their attention on what is going on in the present moment. Living and operating in the present moment are the keys to opening the door to playing in the zone. We must realize that focusing on a past result (loss of a hand, chips, etc.) or a future desire (trying to win a pot, the tournament, etc.) only serve to take us OUT of the present moment! Properly handling of results is just one common obstacle that players have to get past if they want to accomplish playing in the zone. I coach the specifics on how to do this with many of my students. I’ll share one of the many techniques that I use with you now. Developing a higher sense of personal awareness. 

Creating awareness gives us space between ourselves and what we’re experiencing. The first step in handling anything is awareness. How can a player handle anything in which they are unaware? They can’t. So a player must first become aware of what they’re doing to take them out of the present moment! It always starts with the mind and then works it’s way into actions. Let’s say a player becomes aware that what their doing is putting their attention on their phone while they are playing poker. They’re no longer doing poker, their doing phone! 

Now that they are aware, what do they do about it? Interestingly enough, usually nothing! But why? Because they are more interested in the feeling (awarness level) the phone gives them than the effort (different awareness level) it takes to focus on the present moment.

Obviously, if they want to get in the zone, they would simply put down the phone and get back to focusing on what’s going on at the table. Many times the feeling of boredom is preventing this from happening. My mentor taught me a long time ago, “Kenna, it takes great skill to do what you’re doing, while you’re doing it!”  So it’s a skill that one can develop! 

Another challenge to playing in the zone that may not easily be seen is how poker has changed over the past decade. It’s gone from a people game of connecting and interacting with others in present time, to a numbers game of studying charts and solvers. Consequently players are acting a lot more like robots than they are people! To me at least, that’s boring! I mean calculating numbers (unless you’re an accountant) odds and probabilities can only be so interesting. 

As a solution to this boredom many players will look for ways of distracting themselves from this rudimentary the process of calculating pot odds and probabilities in playing poker. Some solutions may be things like eating, watching t.v., scrolling through social media, answering texts, etc. Anything to distract and take themselves out of the present moment! What they really should be doing is staying involved in a hand even when they are not playing. However, watching other players play a hand that they feel they are not involved in, can be a challenge. Especially if the player is acting like a robot! So on a human level one may feel as though they are disconnected. 

Another hidden barrier may be willing to experience the stilliness or your own center. Many people avoid this quiet place like the plague. Like the unknown, this stillness can be frightening! Yet this is the space where we must learn to inhabit and get comfortable in if we want to stay in the zone. 

An overactive mind can also be a challenge. Over thinking can also be a solution to the root problem of boredom as it gives an overly active mind something to do. It never stops thinking! From this may stem things like A.D.D. When this disease happens it means the person has lost control over their mind. The mind is now managing the person rather than the person managing their mind. 

Your mind is similar to other parts of you, whether that be your feet, hands or muscles. Thus a person can learn to manage their mind through specialized techniques. These specialized techniques that I teach are meant to help a person gain more control over their thoughts, emotions, decisions, etc. and in so doing they not only find the zone easier, but stay in it!

The game of poker is mostly mental, so learning to manage our mind is vital to success. Let’s face it, there is very little physical activity in poker. Holding cards and moving chips while sitting in a chair doesn’t constitute much physical labor! I encourage you to put your focus on learning to manage your mind. When successful, an elephant could saunter across the room and it wouldn’t distract you from what you’re doing, or take you out of playing in the zone!