Poker Video: Misc/Other by Travis Steffen (Micro/Small Stakes)

great intro vid!

I am very excited about this series!

This looks like an incredible series! Looking forward to this immensely!

I know it is time to do some changes in my life, and I really hope this series will help me! oh, and could you please post your wallpaper?

looks great, having just lost a ton of weight I am up for all round life improvement stuff!

Rusty, would it be possible to produce this series in a somewhat smaller resolution? When I start it, my VLC consumes the whole screen and I have to manually resize it, because the controls are not visible. I think that big of a resolution isn't really necessary for this type of video.

Looks GREAT. Really looking forward to it.

Rusty, would it be possible to produce this series in a somewhat smaller resolution? When I start it, my VLC consumes the whole screen and I have to manually resize it, because the controls are not visible. I think that big of a resolution isn't really necessary for this type of video.

Resolution is based on recording resolution by the coach so I will pass this note onto Travis for the remaining episodes.
-Rusty

Great start! I got a copy of the book a few days ago and I'm looking forward to this series...

I read Peak Performance Poker after Travis was on deuceplays and the book was great and has helped me a lot already. Looking forward to the series!

really looking forward to this!!!!

I know it is time to do some changes in my life, and I really hope this series will help me! oh, and could you please post your wallpaper?

This, looking forward to the series Travis, as in-depth and ipod/mp3 friendly as possible please!

Been looking forward to this since hearing the Duece Plays shows. Great series concept.

Really look forward to this series. Also lol at Emil+Jay pic.

what makes someone good at poker in the first place? what cognitive capacities does the game itself require? intelligence? working memory capacity? reasoning ability? or some other attribute like inhibition? emotional control? if we don't know the mechanisms that makes a good poker player, how do we know how to mentally help them? and what makes techniques that helps a poker player any different from all the other 500 self-help books in the barnes and noble that anyone can pick up for 10$?

part of me wants to say this is post hoc science and pop psychology, part of me wants to believe you and pick up a copy of the book. I don't know, I need to be convinced some more.

what makes someone good at poker in the first place? what cognitive capacities does the game itself require? intelligence? working memory capacity? reasoning ability? or some other attribute like inhibition? emotional control? if we don't know the mechanisms that makes a good poker player, how do we know how to mentally help them? and what makes techniques that helps a poker player any different from all the other 500 self-help books in the barnes and noble that anyone can pick up for 10$?

part of me wants to say this is post hoc science and pop psychology, part of me wants to believe you and pick up a copy of the book. I don't know, I need to be convinced some more.

You're right to be skeptical. In fact, it's dangerous not to be. Here's my response to your questions:

The qualities that make up a good poker player, as you've said, are many - and some aren't even necessarily concrete qualities that can truly be pinpointed. You did identify a number of characteristics that are extremely helpful though, which leads me to question why you've stated that we don't know the mechanisms that make up a good poker player. It sounds like you know a number of them already.

However, the fact that poker players possess different styles of play which are characterized by different qualities is not something that's independent to poker. This phenomenon is present in pretty much all sports to differing degrees.

As a coach, my job is first to instill general helpful qualities, skills and habits in a player in a certain sport. As I get to know that player more, teachings, techniques and lessons can be varied and tweaked in order to apply more to that specific player.

Finding the qualities that appear to be beneficial to that specific player and amplifying them, as well as identifying habits that are detrimental to performance and eliminating them is something that can only be done after getting to know a player. This is something that remains constant over all sports.

The techniques that are listed in Peak Performance Poker actually aren't fundamentally that different from techniques sports psychologists use to help other athletes. In fact - the research that PPP is based on comes from studies done on other athletes in different sports. The fact they haven't been really compiled into a work that targets specifically poker players until now is what makes it unique.

As for the 500 self-help books, I'm definitely not saying that they aren't helpful. In fact, many of them are. They just provide more generalized info and don't really apply specifically to poker players. You're definitely free to buy the 90+ books, medical journals, case studies, etc. to get all the info that you get in PPP, and you'll likely see similar results by doing so - you'll just spend way more money and waste a lot of time.

In summary - you could accuse a number of sports psych and physiology books of being post hoc science and the like, but there's a reason why athletes at the highest level have been using and benefiting from these concepts for years. If you're skeptical, don't question the book itself - but the 90+ studies that make up the research it's based on, as well as the panel of PhDs that gave my thesis an A

Hope this helps clear a few things up - but in the end you're the only person who can decide to buy into the concept or not. That's true for not only this concept, but any series on DC.

Would you believe me if I said my first boxing experience was a lot like most people's first poker experience?

Having your wife write a five star amazon review is the epitome of a shill! haha jk, looking forward to the series.

Thank you Travis.

I would like to point out a few things to clarify my comment. I did list some individual characteristics that might attribute to poker playing ability. However, I think its a MUCH more difficult question to say what exactly makes a poker player successful. I think the methodology will be extremely difficult as there is soo much variance in poker and the ecology of competition makes an empirical study that can closely assess these qualities very difficult. So my point there is, there are a LOT of possible things that MIGHT lead to poker success, understanding it is difficult. Also one has to consider the nature of the game itself, I think this is where I disagree with your point that poker is like any other sport. I simply don't think a game of poker, where MONEY is involved directly, can be compared to other games/sports. And just saying, "well, losing at boxing cost you money too", (of course we can pick commonalities between boxing and poker) is NOT a strong argument for saying poker=any other sport. Money does VERY weird things to decision making (see kahnemman tversky) Therefore, I think poker success needs different treatment than any other self-help book/sport psychology findings.

I'm NOT saying what you recommend does NOT help poker playing. I'm sure good diet, good physiological state helps mental acuity and make good poker decisions. However, I think there is more to succeeding at poker than more traditional sports.

Love to talk more, Thanks.

GREAT, GREAT, GREAT. One of the best series on DC!!!

Thanks to that

can't wait for the next episode. Will be picking up a copy of this box

Brilliant, thanks very much Travis and DC

Thank you Travis.

I would like to point out a few things to clarify my comment. I did list some individual characteristics that might attribute to poker playing ability. However, I think its a MUCH more difficult question to say what exactly makes a poker player successful. I think the methodology will be extremely difficult as there is soo much variance in poker and the ecology of competition makes an empirical study that can closely assess these qualities very difficult. So my point there is, there are a LOT of possible things that MIGHT lead to poker success, understanding it is difficult. Also one has to consider the nature of the game itself, I think this is where I disagree with your point that poker is like any other sport. I simply don't think a game of poker, where MONEY is involved directly, can be compared to other games/sports. And just saying, "well, losing at boxing cost you money too", (of course we can pick commonalities between boxing and poker) is NOT a strong argument for saying poker=any other sport. Money does VERY weird things to decision making (see kahnemman tversky) Therefore, I think poker success needs different treatment than any other self-help book/sport psychology findings.

I'm NOT saying what you recommend does NOT help poker playing. I'm sure good diet, good physiological state helps mental acuity and make good poker decisions. However, I think there is more to succeeding at poker than more traditional sports.

Love to talk more, Thanks.

No worries - I'm definitely glad you're thinking hard about this concept.

While poker does differ from other sports, each subsequent sport after that also differs. The stakes in poker (money) definitely has an interesting effect on people - but at it's core, the money won or lost is simply a way of keeping score. It absolutely adds an additional complexity to the game and how it's approached, but that's the beauty of competition - and it's why I decided to make poker the focus of my research instead of something like boxing that has been studied again and again.

In the scientific research field, you sometimes have the luxury of falling back on previous studies to provide you with direction. There is no such study that targets poker specifically as of yet - but I firmly believe that the similarities between poker and other sports are more than sufficient to fall back on some of the research meant to provide other athletes with assistance in order to then provide direction in the development of what is truly a new and different concept - namely poker as a sport.

While I can definitely see your concerns (and they're definitely common ones that I've encountered numerous times while developing the concept) I still maintain that any competition in which an element of skill and an element of physical and mental conditioning make an impact on results - even by a small amount - can and should be treated as a sport to those coaching it.

Awesome so far really looking forward to the rest of the series.

http://www.deucescracked.com/blogs/acombfosho/38101-Shuffle-and-Flow-Prelude-exercise

I like the look of the next video, I love and live by the quote "the world is your mirror"!

I love the homework with the episode, if you could add assignments with every one you produce, that would be such a great help.

I love the homework with the episode, if you could add assignments with every one you produce, that would be such a great help.

+1... The homework is awesome

Thank you Travis.

I would like to point out a few things to clarify my comment. I did list some individual characteristics that might attribute to poker playing ability. However, I think its a MUCH more difficult question to say what exactly makes a poker player successful. I think the methodology will be extremely difficult as there is soo much variance in poker and the ecology of competition makes an empirical study that can closely assess these qualities very difficult. So my point there is, there are a LOT of possible things that MIGHT lead to poker success, understanding it is difficult. Also one has to consider the nature of the game itself, I think this is where I disagree with your point that poker is like any other sport. I simply don't think a game of poker, where MONEY is involved directly, can be compared to other games/sports. And just saying, "well, losing at boxing cost you money too", (of course we can pick commonalities between boxing and poker) is NOT a strong argument for saying poker=any other sport. Money does VERY weird things to decision making (see kahnemman tversky) Therefore, I think poker success needs different treatment than any other self-help book/sport psychology findings.


I'm NOT saying what you recommend does NOT help poker playing. I'm sure good diet, good physiological state helps mental acuity and make good poker decisions. However, I think there is more to succeeding at poker than more traditional sports.

Love to talk more, Thanks.

Firstly Donny,can I say that I agree with you that poker isn't a sport because of the money element and the heavy influence of variance. In swimming, power lifting, shot putt, etc, these elements have no baring. But the abilty to easily draw comparrisons between poker and sport (boxing in this case, but as proved, boxing is interchangable), means that we can use sport psychology techniques to optimise our thinking and concentration to better improve our game.

Let's take the effects of sleep on poker. For years it has been recognised that a lack of sleep can be detrimental to your poker game. The checklist provided in chapter 2 of According to Doyle states as it's first point "Have you had enough sleep?If not don't play". It then goes on to mention not playing on an empty stomach, not playing when stressed, drunk, stoned etc. These concepts are all widely recognised as sound, but most would admit that they don't follow them often, if at all.

Now with this series we get a more scientific look at how bad habits effect our performance, and ways to change this. Surely this runs suplimentary to all of the tactical information that Deuces Cracked provides? Or would you argue that there is so many factors that make a winning poker player, that these don't suffice either? This isn't a criticism of your arguement, but genuine curiosity.

As Travis said, the information won't make a looser a winner, but may enhance a winners perfomance. Kind of like having a hearty breakfast.

tommy angelo opened up doors in my mind. I hope this series will as well. Can't wait for the rest. Wish I didn't have to wait to watch them all.

Also, my video looked fuzzy. basically green snow. Any technical help on this? I ended up dling the ipod version because it was so annoying. The ipod dl worked and the audio is all that is really important but can anyone offer any suggestion as to why its not working from me from the site?

tommy angelo opened up doors in my mind. I hope this series will as well. Can't wait for the rest. Wish I didn't have to wait to watch them all.

Also, my video looked fuzzy. basically green snow. Any technical help on this? I ended up dling the ipod version because it was so annoying. The ipod dl worked and the audio is all that is really important but can anyone offer any suggestion as to why its not working from me from the site?

happened to me too being i was using chrome, try using internet explorer

happened to me too being i was using chrome, try using internet explorer

Same here with Chrome, but for some reason it's not doing it now.

Time Link to 00:20:10

Flow... as in the Csikszentmihalyi book?

Really looking forward to this series. On a personal note, I have gone from basically getting no exercise and not really caring about my fitness level to working out 6 days/week ( Insanity program ), cutting all of the junk out my diet, and really focusing on my health and wellness. I really, really didn't want to have to buy new pairs of pants.

This has all translated into a much better poker game for me. I am much less irritated by bad beats, plays not working out even though they are +EV, and general run bad. My thought processes are so much better and my mental clarity is ten times better. I can't even imagine playing poker now without some sort of fitness routine and nutrition plan.

Flow... as in the Csikszentmihalyi book?

The very same!

I will love this series, I strongly believe

The very same!

Hey guys. I'm about to watch the vid and wanted to know if you would recommend reading that book. If you don't mind can you also mention why you liked it?

Thanks, and I'm looking forward to the series.

Great opening vid. Btw, I wikied Mihaly and went tight down to the bookstore to pick up a copy of Flow...

When you asked about preparation, I was not thinking about warming-up because preparation in my eyes is EVERYTHING done outside the realm of competition. Did you mean "warm up"?

When you asked about preparation, I was not thinking about warming-up because preparation in my eyes is EVERYTHING done outside the realm of competition. Did you mean "warm up"?

You're right - and preparation is the same in my eyes as well. While I do advocate certain pre-competition rituals, this isn't the only realm falling under the heading of preparation.

Flow... as in the Csikszentmihalyi book?

I've taken a bunch of psychology courses as electives for my undergraduate degree, one of them being sport psychology.

Here are some factors (from my sport psychology textbook) that disrupt and prevent flow.

I'm interested to see how Travis addresses getting into a flow state given that variance is built into poker and makes it harder to attain flow than in other activities.

I have experienced flow playing poker, sports, and while public speaking, the latter two to a much greater extent.

Flow primer on Wikipedia for those who want to learn more about it.

Book here.

I think that achieving flow is independent of variance really. Factors beyond your control are unrelated to your performance and physical and mental state, but poker does add some interesting and unique wrinkles into the concept. I'm excited to hear your thoughts on the book/videos.

The quote in this video is very similar to one that I would put on my notebook in college to remind me that I had to put the work in to get the most out of my studies. "It's not the will to win- everyone has that, but the will to prepare to win that makes the difference."
Bear Bryant

Do you offer a discount price for DC Member who wanna buy your book? Tx

Do you offer a discount price for DC Member who wanna buy your book? Tx

Unfortunately pricing is out of my hands - it's the stores carrying the book who set those!

Good video. Was very patronising how you insinuated that poker was a sport and failure to see that would hurt progress. It seems perfectly reasonable to mantain that poker is a game, yet the application of sporting principles will be of great benefit. Three sports: Hunting, shooting and fishing!

Good video. Was very patronising how you insinuated that poker was a sport and failure to see that would hurt progress. It seems perfectly reasonable to mantain that poker is a game, yet the application of sporting principles will be of great benefit. Three sports: Hunting, shooting and fishing!

I didn't mean to patronize anybody here. Regardless of your belief on whether or not poker is a sport or a game is up to you - though I would ask that before you do to think about what the main differences are between the two.

I do firmly believe that if you approach poker as a sport you can gain an edge over those who don't. I do apologize if this seemed a little patronizing - one of my tragic flaws in this particular realm I suppose!

Thanks interesting stuff

Time Link to 00:15:31

This guy has an abnormally long thumb!

Seriously though, I'm definitely enjoying the series so far, we'll see where it takes me.

Time Link to 00:00:00

The one sentence "how do you PREPARE to win" was a real enlightenment to me. I am now determined to do a whole ritual pre-session. Am I hungry or tired? Is the lighting and temperature in the room ok, and is it quiet enough to concentrate? How many tables am I up for playing today? I also always used to say out loud, "I will play a tight, disciplined game of poker today. I will not be results oriented, and will not play emotionally." I've gotten away from that. No more; it's time to get back in the habit.