Went deeper than ever yesterday

No, not in an MTT....in a golf round, under par, or at least I think so...to be honest I haven't kept track of it. But I'm pretty sure that yesterday was it. Through 12 holes, I was one under par, with 4 birdies and 3 bogeys. That's nice in and of itself, but what made it a little extra sweet is the fact that the previous round was so bad, the computer asked me if I was sure. One of the things I enjoy about golf and poker is overcoming the challenge of bouncing back strong after things don't go your way.

Unfortunately, I could not seal the deal over the last 6 holes. On the 13th hole, I sent a ball OB, and that's where something that may relate to poker comes in. My mindset changed on the 13th tee. Up until then, my primary swing thought had been on one particular move to address something that had been bothering me about my swing. Just focusing on that move and letting it rip. On the prior two holes, my tee shots had been a bit poor, going too far to the left. Not terrible, just not great. On the 13th, I got away from my preshot focus, and got very cautious and tight. My whole swing changed, and blocked the ball way out to the right (and the funny thing is that on the 13th hole, there's tons of room to the left, you almost can't hit it too far to the left to get into trouble).

In every sport I've played, a big key, like poker, is controlled aggression. Not forced, controlled. When you get away from that and play to not lose, things don't usually go well for you. There are certainly some reasonable times to change from an aggressive mode to a more "prevent" mode. To me, that's the "controlled" part of controlled aggression. The keys are knowing when to make that switch, the cost/benefit of making the switch, and the fact that you are choosing to do it because of some external factor rather than doing so as a result of being nervous or scared.

The same thing must apply to poker. If you go into a passive mode because you believe that's the best way to get the money in when you're good, by all means do it. But when you go passive because you stacked someone and are now up for the session, and you want to protect your win, I say recognize that and just quit. I've done just that before, where even in a pretty good game, I'm having a winning session after several losers in a row. For me, it is psychologically important to break a losing streak -- I know it shouldn't be, but it is what it is. Other people have other reasons for protecting a win, and that's cool....but don't keep playing if you are just playing in protect mode....it's not your A game.

This is certainly not the deepest insight into the game, and is probably obvious to everyone. But I enjoy linking other sports to poker. And I couldn't miss the chance to brag about a good round of golf :).