Thread by @PhilGalfond

It's not how much you win on your best days that makes you successful. It's how you perform on your worst.

Your ability to handle bad luck will make or break your career.

Here is my advice on setting yourself up to lose like a champ 🏆:

Accepting Your Limitations:

The most important thing to understand about yourself on losing days is that you won't be in your peak mental condition.

In a perfect world, you analyze all relevant factors in the moment and make decisions based on them, but we are imperfect. 1/11

So we can't fully trust ourselves to make important decisions like:

- Should I take a break?
- Should I quit this game?
- Should I adjust my strategy?

Similarly, it's hard to decide if:

- we're capable of performing at our best
- we still have an edge
- etc.

2/11

Taking Advantage of a Clear Mind:

Fortunately, there are days and times (when we're not playing) when we are in a great state of mind.

We should leverage our clear-headed moments wherever possible, rather than leave big decisions up to the worst version of ourselves. 3/11

Guardrails:

We can do this by setting up guardrails.

If you're trying to eat better, but have trouble controlling yourself around ice cream, there are ways to improve your chances:

- No ice cream in your house
- Promise yourself that won't eat ice cream after 5pm
- etc. 4/11

Using that same logic, we can arm ourselves to better handle adversity. I can't tell you what would work best for you - you know your own strengths and weaknesses, but I can give you some examples of guardrails that I think might be helpful for most people... 5/11

1) Always quit when down (10)* buy-ins

*Choose the right numbers for you

There are times when quitting down 10 BI is a bad decision - maybe you're in an incredible game & maybe your mindset is fine - but for every "bad quit" this rule leads to, there will be 10 good ones. 6/11

2) Every (3) buy-ins lost, take a 10 min break

This will help you recover mentally before resuming play, and will give you a chance to clear your head and make some of those tough decisions mentioned above. Are you playing well? Is this game good anymore? Should you quit? 7/11

3) Create a List of Questions for Yourself

Essentially, make a survey. It can have questions like:

- How good is this game?
- How well can I play?
- Am I unhappy?
- Do I miss out on EV if I play later instead?

Set alarms to do this every (3)hrs, or do it every break. 8/11

3b) Include a List of Reminders, like:

- Short walks make you feel better
- Don't get too splashy preflop
- Make sure you're targeting the right players
- etc.

These should be very personalized to you and your leaks & tendencies! 9/11

These are just a few ways that your present-day, clear-minded self can give your future, struggling self a hand.

These don't only come in handy on losing days, but on days when you're stressed or sad due to external factors. You know what your warning signs are. 10/11

Hope you found that helpful!

I recently started the #102040challenge, where I'm creating more content & trying to reach more people.

So, I’m going to ask you to:

1. Follow me @PhilGalfond for more
2. RT the tweet below if you think it would help your followers

Thank you!