Spiritual Poker?

percival09

This is a slightly strange question, but I'm just wondering if anybody believes spirit/spiritual beliefs/spiritual activities help while playing poker? And more importantly, if anybody does anything like this during poker or away from poker feel free to inbox me, I'd like to know what you do. I don't want to go into too much on this thread as it may come across slightly weird and probably isn't what a general poker chat forum wants... feel free to inbox me anything, you don't have to reply to this thread.

The reason I've started this is because I believe something is happening this year (not the end of the world lol) and I've read a few spiritual poker blogs and it's all quite interesting to me. Cheers

The_Don90

i do various things before i start what i expect would be a hard session. Not sure if youd call it spirtual. If you could pm me some links and id be able to say for sure or not.

Don

simonnatur

"isn't what a general poker chat forum wants"    Think youre wrong mate I'ld love to know more. Sadly there's no spiritual dimension to my game.

I've heard of a couple of players with buddhist beliefs, I think Andy Black is one. I've always wondered how that works as I thought Buddhists wern't supposed to take anything which wasnt freely given - which doesnt quite seem to apply to poker.

percival09

Buddhists have quite a few different 'rules' if you'd like to call it that, some of them follow different things etc but it's all sort of based on the same thing. But i'm not really talking about religion, although I guess it kinda ties in with it. Even simple stuff, i.e. meditation, yoga ... things which calm the mind and helps you relax. I'll message you soon

Mohican

Anyone who uses 'religion' to pray for cards,run good etc is abusing their religious beliefs.

simonnatur

Not really spiritual, but i find exercise (swimming/cycling) before playing really seems to put me in the right frame of mind to play well.

The_Don90

In Response to Re: Spiritual Poker?:

Buddhists have quite a few different 'rules' if you'd like to call it that, some of them follow different things etc but it's all sort of based on the same thing. But i'm not really talking about religion, although I guess it kinda ties in with it. Even simple stuff, i.e. meditation, yoga ... things which calm the mind and helps you relax. I'll message you soon
Posted by percival09

No worries mate, I do follow alot of Bhuddist beliefs although never fully understood them. Hense why i wont ever say im of that background although being honest its one i want to understand.

percival09

Exercise makes you feel good about yourself and therefore usually leads to you making better decisions, in poker or not, so yeah that's not a bad thing to do.

I haven't really tried it yet, but quite a few people say deep breathing is one of the best things a human can do on a regular basis. People believe deep breathing and meditation are key each and every day and it puts you in the correct mind frame, and I think this could work perfectly with poker. Your emotional state in poker is huge and you shouldn't let it affect your game! 

And although I'm not a religious person, if I were to follow one religion I'd choose buddhism.

WHOAMI196

Atheist FTW

The_Don90

In Response to Re: Spiritual Poker?:

Exercise makes you feel good about yourself and therefore usually leads to you making better decisions, in poker or not, so yeah that's not a bad thing to do. I haven't really tried it yet, but quite a few people say deep breathing is one of the best things a human can do on a regular basis. People believe deep breathing and meditation are key each and every day and it puts you in the correct mind frame, and I think this could work perfectly with poker. Your emotional state in poker is huge and you shouldn't let it affect your game!  And although I'm not a religious person, if I were to follow one religion I'd choose buddhism.
Posted by percival09

+1 with the religion thing.

Although i think if a human didnt breathe there would be issues lol.

percival09

lol I meant deep breathing, give it a go

@whoami .. this wasn't meant to be about God or anything.. but may I ask why you're an atheist? As in what's your reasoning, if you have any, of course

Dazler

kind a guess this falls into the lucky charm thing too, im sure there are players that think you might get positive energy from certain objects, or wear a lucky shirt or pants. I dont personaly think they help though but it gives some players something to believe in which might help them, its a bit like a placebo effect if you drink a non alchoholic beer and think its alcoholic you can get drunk from it! so if you think your getting lucky from a charm it may help you play better. Im not really religious in the common sense but am quite spiritual in another and think if you are a positive person, even when bad things happen being positive mentaly when it does just makes you think well there is someone always worse off than you and things can only get better and they do, same as in poker when you lose someone is always losing a lot more or having an even worse run than you.

If your negative all the time you just end up believing in negative things and nothing good comes from that. My mum goes to a spiritualised church now and again and ive gone with her. When they say you have got in contact with a family member and they are ok and fine it makes her feel good, for me i think they just tell you what they want you to hear and think a most of them are fake but its not doing her any harm so dont mind it as long as it makes her happy.

Theres nothing wrong with believing in something and if you can believe you can win i believe you will.

The_Don90

In Response to Re: Spiritual Poker?:

lol I meant deep breathing, give it a go @whoami .. this wasn't meant to be about God or anything.. but may I ask why you're an atheist? As in what's your reasoning, if you have any, of course
Posted by percival09

haha i know i do, do it. Ive also used minor meditation teqniques aswell while playing. Usually if im at a live table and im on tilt my hood goes up and i just stare at my chips, while doing this im mentally detaching myself from the game and refocusing and taking control of my mental state again. Its sort of a mental meditation if anything. the only time i stop is when i see cards comming next to my chip stack, but even then ill be playing such a tight range in this period of time. The best example of this would probably be SPT Cardiff last year, during the friday night game i managed to spew off a a large % of my chips with KJs pre. Because of a mistake i ended up going on tilt and used this teqnique.

Mohican

In Response to Re: Spiritual Poker?:

lol I meant deep breathing, give it a go @whoami .. this wasn't meant to be about God or anything.. but may I ask why you're an atheist? As in what's your reasoning, if you have any, of course
Posted by percival09

Because religous types fail to convinve me with their evidence that a God exsists. Scientists, on the other hand, continually provide the facts and reasoned arguements for evolution.

percival09

A positive mind frame is pretty key imo, what's the point in being negative about things? It's only affecting yourself and ultimately it's only going to bring you down!

Same with worrying about the future, what's the point? There are many books about 'living in the present' and how it's so effective. And although I haven't mastered it yet, I think it's so important and not enough people do it, mainly because it's so hard nowadays with the world how it is, education and work etc... 

I know people buy crystals/stones which mean things, there are so many different types. I think it's fine doing that, if it doesn't work, fine, it's not affecting anybody, it makes the person who buys them happy, there's no problem there. And I've spoken to people about these crystals and a lot of people strongly believe they work, and I know that means nothing because a lot of people believed killing millions of jews was a good idea, but it doesn't harm anybody and if it works, it works, and if it doesn't, who cares?

Too many people in this day & age worry about what people think of them, including myself, and what's the point? They're only affecting themselves and it's only going to be put them in a negative mind frame. I don't know how you guys think the world started, but to me everybody is equal and the way the world is now is pretty bad. Hence, the changes the mayans predicted thousands of years ago, for THIS year! 

DOHHHHHHH

Did a module on this @ uni, sports psychologists are paid a fortune to help with this kinda thing, I'm not sure 'spiritual' is the right word, it's all mental and physical preperation.

Self talk, mental rehursal, goal setting, pre-performance routines, controlling arousal etc. And then there's physical stuff like yoga, meditation, deep breathing etc. 

Different things work for different people. Relationship between personality & performance. There's different types of profiles that they carry out to analyse so many character/personality traits (forget what theyre called) but personally I think trial and error works just as well. 

There's loads of stuff out there now about the mental game, after the success of MGOP, I get links on twitter all the time to articles/videos/podcasts which focus on the MGOP!

10 tinnies > Yoga imo btw. 

percival09

I don't follow any religion, I believe in God though. Religion has almost twisted what God is about, I think it's just a source to control people but I don't want to go into that now. I believe spirit and science work perfectly in hand and I've watched so many videos now which explain this (type spirit science into youtube if you wanna watch some). Science is great, as is sacred geometry though (the maths of the world), and I don't think science has all the answers, but that's where spirit comes in. 

Science still has unanswered questions about evolution, which is why I can't believe in it fully. There definitely has to be something else. And when I say, 'God', I don't mean it in the christian sense, this big guy sat on the clouds with a white beard looking down on us, I see God as an 'energy', a 'power', who helps and guides people. I believe people are on a spiritual path and us on earth is just one part of it, we'll move on. For exmaple, I'm not scared of death anymore. I used to be, but then I thought why? It happens to everybody so what's the point in fearing it? I believe everything happens for a reason and living in the present is essential. 

As humans, we think we're so intelligent and that we know everything. But we don't, at all. Look what we're discovering each century. In the 20th century scientists found this whole new civilisation from thousands of years ago, who were already pretty advanced. Also, like the mayans, how did these people so correctly predict what's going to happen in the world THOUSANDS of years ago? It's crazy! look into it if you have the time. 

Oopnorth

I have been schooled in some teachings in Taoism and Shamanism as well as hypnosis and trance inducement in self and others and self also self hypnosis. This was when I was well into martial arts and the likes and was seen as a way to improve my mind etc...
This I found very interesting and enlightening, it again is not something I bring up in many conversations as the Western idealogies do not conform to this and like many things people do not understand, people fear.
If you wish to discuss this off forum feel free,  but as to whether I bring it into my poker......
Looking back at my rants and gentle abuse I have been guilty of at the table,,,  perhaps I need a refresher course.

percival09

Shamanism is brilliant - western idealogies are way off in my opinion. For one in the medicine sense, yes western medicine has its place but I believe alternative medicines are wayyy better. Anyway, that's off the point. oopnorth, I'll probably send you a message soon if I don't forget, I'm interested in that stuff

WHOAMI196

In Response to Re: Spiritual Poker?:

lol I meant deep breathing, give it a go @whoami .. this wasn't meant to be about God or anything.. but may I ask why you're an atheist? As in what's your reasoning, if you have any, of course
Posted by percival09

lol sorry i thought it was! (isnt most things!) I am whatever . . . i am :S, i have been described as an atheist before due to my strong views but i do not carry an "atheist book" around with me lol but i will joke about it.

I think monotheist/theists out there are arrogant as to believe there is a personal god let alone any supreme being.

I think Deists apply more reason to their philosophy but are still delusional.

Agnostics have a sore bum as they are sitting on the fence!, since evidence suggests that Albert Einstein was an agnostic maybe its the safest place to be since there is no evidence to suggest that there is a God nor factual evidence that rules out the existence of god.

Applying reason and logic, i personally have come to the conclusion that all there is is what we can see . . . cough well and cant see!, but definitely nothing with no backing of evidence so no fairy's at the bottom of the garden!!!. Maybe if Albert Einstein realised for God to have created the universe that he had to "play dice with the universe" as evidence suggests maybe his views would have been different, So yea i suppose i am an atheist.

percival09

I'm uncomfortable saying the word God because of what religion has done to the meaning - so I understand why a lot of people, particularly in the western culture, are atheists.