Hey James, I just wanted to say I really enjoyed the discussion in this video.

It's so true that planning for productive sessions (mentally and physically) can make a huge difference. A psychologist (traditional medicine) who also plays poker told me that decision making takes place in the prefrontal cortex and that the actual process required during playing poker requires thousands of decisions to be made which can exhaust the glycogen levels in this part of the brain resulting in bad play. Being physically tired or as you mentioned badly nourished could really contribute to this exhaustion I would think. We always think that the mental and physical function independently but not so.

Enjoyed this video heaps, like all of your stuff. What exactly was the practicioner's occupation you saw for the adrenal levels etc? You said the word once but I didn't quite catch it (not a native English speaker, I'd like to google if they exist in my country). Also, since you said he gave you supplements, care to share your "superfood diet" (I assume this was more like natural medicine than medicine medicine, right?). I know this sounds kind of past the point, as in looking for a "quick fix", but I've been battling the same problems tremendously lately and this vid really struck a chord with me.

Hi James

Great video! I think it might be individual how for examble it effects your game if you post hands, and update people on you results(or some). I think it can be negative for some people like you described or it might encourage some to play their best poker, if they enjoy the feedback from good results.

Wow, I really enjoyed this discussion. Nicely done

Quality stuff man, gonna work hard on being more positive and look into doing some meditation my mindset and mental toughness have not been up to scratch this year wheras before it was one of my strongest aspects. Thanks great vid.

Hey James, very good video and I play 99.7% cash and don't always watch MTT coaches videos (well rarely). I had an lol moment when you began describing those people that post "update" graphs. I have been doing this since ~April and I have never (rarely) included my all in EV line. Subconsciously this might be because I am running above my all in EV over the entirety of my graph, however I would like to believe I don't include for the reasons I am about to state: I don't like it, it only tracks one form of variance and just because a player runs good or bad in all in situations doesn't mean they run good or bad in other situations. I don't think it does any good to harp on your all in EV. I post 2 updates a month, on average, and have had opportunities to post "unlucky" months and include my all in EV but don't see the point. (I do occasionally mention something along the lines of ran 4 buy ins below EV last week - which is a bad habit and something I am going to work on in the future).The point in starting my thread was to give myself something to look back on, a place to measure my growth as a player. I think it has served that purpose for me and I have no problem posting about my failures as well as my successes. That is the point actually. It always feels better to post a good winning graph at the end of the month than it does to post a losing or break even graph but it is the recording of my results and my thought process that is important to me. I want to have a place to hold myself accountable. It is mid-October now and if my mentality and overall poker IQ is not higher now than it was when I started the thread then I need to work harder on my game. I feel the difference from beginning to now is tremendous - yes, I do have some whiny run bad posts scattered throughout it, but in general I feel I am twice the player I was at the beginning and I can see it in my posts even if no one else can. I created the thread for myself, but people have found it and offered encouragement and support that I found very useful. 

BOOM this hit me hard. thanks for doing this video.

Ok, I see I didn´t think it 100% through. It might be benificial when Things go well, but to much focus on results is wrong :) especially when results are bad.

For me any focus on results infact have some negative inpact on my game.

If I win in PLO I either have difficulties to motivate myself to play the NeXT session And when I do play I expect to lose, and lose focus on my play because I have to also evaluate weather I will win or lose the flip, or that he propably have have top set or nut full house because im supposed to lose now even tho his range clearly might indicate that its right to call. Same when I have a winning SNg or tournament session, I might shy away from marginal or high variance standard spots because I think im supposed to lose.

And I am definitely guilty of bad eating and exercise happits. But it can be tough to break the bad circle :(

Thanks everyone for the feedback! If you have any ideas for a future video that I might be able to talk about, something off the beaten track like this one, I'm interested to hear them

Very good video, liked the change in format.  I think the point that most stuck to me was being self-aware and evaluating your game.  We all have major leaks in some facet of our game, and most of us are very unaware or simply too stubborn to look for leaks.  It is really important that we evaluate hands, and look over all our hands after a session.  One thing that has been holding me back is not evaluating my sessions or hands after I played them.  I used to be on top of that, but been lazy as of late.  As a result my winnings haven't been consistent and my game hasn't been improving as much as it should.  Thanks for your insights about poker, I will definetly make some tweaks in evaluating myself and being more self-aware.

Watched it for the second time now. One of the most insightful from the site and I should look this adrenal stuff asap. Thank you James.

@Raphael do you even breath?

Class vid, ty.

Prolly the vid providing the most individual insight I've gotten to watch. Thanks for that.

Hey James, any chance you could make more 8game videos? I really enjoyed the cash game one where you 2-tabled midstakes 8-game but I'd absolutely love to see more of the same. Essentially I'd pay the monthly fee just to watch you with hole cards and hear your thoughts on every hand / game, and a replay of some WCOOP/SCOOP 8game or the weekly 8game would be a wet dream :)

Loving the video and at the 29 minute mark atm. You're talking about the self-aggrandizement aspent of the game (which, admittedly, I need to work on). That said, and excuse me if you cover it later, as far as the updating aspect goes//that making you make possibly tighter or less spewy looking plays, I actually only let people sweat me/update frequently when I feel im going to be more prone to making overly agressive spewy plays (most often in SSMTTs where im apt to out-level myself//just be a spazz where they really aren't 4betting light). I guess that feeds back into the non-standard styles segment you had at the start...but for someone w/ that set of leaks updating etc can keep you in line while still making the marginally +EV agro plays for sure.

Hey James, if you have time I'd love to have you take a look at this thread if you have anythoughts? http://www.runitonce.com/chatter/live-poker-anxiety/

Really good stuff here. You've motivated me to get back into my usual healthy lifestyle. I was in tremendous shape in January working out like an animal and competing with university kids in wrestling tournaments, maybe not winning but hey I'm 38 and these kids are getting allot tougher! Things have changed for me recently, my life's got more complicated and I let things slip. The only exercise I've had in the last 6 weeks is my volunteer coaching work, I'm not getting enough sleep and started drinking coffee again after quitting caffeine for months. I've forgotten about the fitness triangle, physical, emotional and mental all depend on each other. Thanks for reminding me to take care of myself first and then let the poker take care of itself. I'm looking forward to watching the rest of your videos.

If you want to be more "Zen", I recommend "Zen and the art of poker", it's a fairly small easy reading book that you don't really have to read cover to cover. I like to just turn to a random page and read a section every now and then.

I just noticed your double cash this past Sunday, you must be doing something right, those are big fields! Congrats! I'm looking forward to the videos.

this is such a good video! thanks loads

like you're thinking and thoughts on the subject, totally how i feel about the game with some new angles too. +1

New to the website, great topic! Eye opening on angles from health to posting on social media about your poker results...