Our Goals and the Invisible Target

We all play the game. Making the goals for ourselves. “I want to make ‘X’ amount by ‘Y’ date.” “My Goal is to FT Such and Such a tournament”. Then it happens or it doesn’t. We at times focus so much on the results that we forget that the short term results don’t matter in the long run. This is a long run game. Goals that are fixed and solid often will not help us. We must look beyond that to what is really out there.

I am going to invite a friend to join me in this little rambling right about now. His name is Quality. I have known him for a really long time, but I really started to find him much more interesting after my last read of “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance”.

Now Robert Pirsig really messes with that term until it sings to you like an Aria of the Heavens. Now he states at one point that quality can’t really be defined but it is often just “known”. “Any philosophic explanation of Quality is going to be both false and true precisely because it is a philosophic explanation. The process of philosophic explanation is an analytic process, a process of breaking something down into subjects and predicates. What I mean (and everybody else means) by the word ‘quality’ cannot be broken down into subjects and predicates. This is not because Quality is so mysterious but because Quality is so simple, immediate and direct.”

He also equated quality to the Greek areté, in the following quote from his book. "What moves the Greek warrior to deeds of heroism," Kitto comments, "is not a sense of duty as we understand it... duty towards others: it is rather duty towards himself. He strives after that which we translate 'virtue' but is in Greek areté, 'excellence' — we shall have much to say about areté. It runs through Greek life."

Now think this over. You want to win. Not just now, but in the future as well. Your goal is now the Invisible Target, Quality. Every action you make, should be trying to invoke Quality for it is in that term that you will see your rewards. If you make Quality descisions at all parts of the hand, all parts of the session, and all parts of your career, then it is imposible to fail.

Quality and the Greek areté are here to make it simple. Striving for these, through the time honored aproaches of practice, study, review, and experience will get you to advance your knowledge of Quality. Every action, should be thought over before it is made, every action should be reviewed in hindsight, and every action of the others at the table as well. Learn it all, every time, from every direction.

With a focus on Quality, the long term becomes a smoother road.

“The quality of decision is like the well-timed swoop of a falcon which enables it to strike and destroy its victim.” Sun Tzu quotes

“Quality is never an accident; it is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, intelligent direction and skillful execution; it represents the wise choice of many alternatives.” William A. Foster quotes

“Quality is not an act, it is a habit.” Aristotle quotes

“Quality means doing it right when no one is looking.” Henry Ford quotes

“I have offended God and mankind because my work didn't reach the quality it should have.” Leonardo da Vinci quotes

“The quality of a person's life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor.” Vince Lombardi quotes

Follow up discussion on Quality with a buddy.

The discussion Maj and I had following him reading the article. The only editing done here was so it could be easier to read.

Maj: nice article

Maj: and i like the quotes at the end

Ezarc: I thought they fit the theme of the article

Maj: but BECAUSE quality is tough to nail down it's impossible to have as a "goal"

Ezarc: Bingo, now you are thinking

Maj: your point is saying that poker isn't just cards and chips on the table

Ezarc: So, Pirsig left us with the corralation between Quality and areté or excellence!

Maj: but something done before, after, as well as during a session

Ezarc: No, it is about the pursuit of doing things in the best manner you can.

Ezarc: Learning, practicing, and applying everthing you know to play your very best every moment.

Maj: that takes emotion out of the equation

Maj: no annoyance when you lose

Maj: OR glee at your win

Maj: disconnect

Maj: u say something?

Ezarc: No, there will always be a certain satisfaction for doing well, but there also will be an anticipation to try to do better

Maj: and you can't do better than your best?

Ezarc: Perfection in poker is not available.

Ezarc: There are too many variables.

Maj: right Ezarc: But, you keep striving for it.

Maj: you can't control or anticipate everything

Ezarc: Exactly

Maj: u raise with aces, but your opponents don't have to play with you

Maj: therefore the "perfect" result of doubling up is impossible

Ezarc: Sometimes a fold of cards in the bb to a raise is the best move, so you do so.

Ezarc: That move then has Quality.

Ezarc: Think of Quality as a maximizing of expected value.

Maj: looking at each situation unclouded from previous experiences?

Maj: like someone may raise your blind 10 times

Ezarc: You have to from an emotional stand.

Maj: and it is Quality to fold it 10 times

Ezarc: Ahhh, that is where traps, raises with nothing, and psychological factors come in.

Maj: but re-raising with Q taken by itself is a bad move though E

zarc: From a hand stand point, folding the tenth time might make ev sense but from a quality point of view, what is your best option at the moment? Are you playing live? What position is he on steals from?

Maj: so then it's not just correct decisions, you're saying that it's correct TABLE decisions

Ezarc: What is the best play for your long term game.

Maj: not to play weak hands from out of position

Ezarc: That is simple, but if the guy is sitting there all night, I am going to reraise with air about three times in a row.

Maj: but that could turn what is a "correct" play into a monster mistake

Ezarc: I am not going to let anybody at the table hit me in the head that many times without decking him.

Ezarc: If he thinks I am a target, then the target gets to shoot back now.

Maj: that's emotion. You are fighting against a person, not against cards or hand standards Ezarc: It is a purely psychological move, not emotional.

Ezarc: You are changing perception of the table with the reraises. Ezarc: Your table image is the whipped dog under the table.

Ezarc: Now you are biting the hand that is slapping you around. That is not emotional, but table image psychology.

Maj: and that is a "quality" decision?

Ezarc: It can be.

Ezarc: Ok, if the table thinks it can run over you, how can you play effectively?

Maj: let them "run me over" until i get a hand and whack them in the face with it

Ezarc: Then you are a nutpeddler and the table runs over you until you bet and then they run away.

Ezarc: If a table nit raises, or reraises and you have tpmk, you fold right?

Maj: yea

Maj: so then, quality isn't about making +EV decisions?

Maj: you're confusing me now

Ezarc: It is about making long term EV+ decisions.

Maj: but long-term one table one day doesn't matter

Ezarc: Even if you lose those hands from the BB with air, you have made a better winning environment for the session.

Ezarc: I am not saying this move will always have quality, but it can if it changes things to a more suitable playing situation.

Maj: so overall picture from losing a buy-in on a resteal is "this guy can put in his money with anything"

Maj: "so we need to call him down"?

Ezarc: Ok, here are the points made by this move

Ezarc: 1) I can be aggressive

Ezarc: 2) I don't always have to have cards to be aggressive

Ezarc: 3) If you try to push me around, we will tangle

Ezarc: 4) I am not quite the "weak tight" guy you thought

Maj: ok, but this is great and all for the session, or maybe that specific game

Maj: but overall, in the long run, how does this matter

Maj: you don't do this EVERY game you play, right?

Maj: b/c that could get expensive

Ezarc: Profitable decisions have quality.

Ezarc: if you think this decision is profitable, then it holds some degree of Quality.

Maj: and letting them know u aren't a nit is a "quality" decision because it can ultimately be profitable for that game

Ezarc: yes Maj: i think i get it a little better now

Maj: it isn't about one play being the "correct" play in everything

Maj: but each individual play being put together

Ezarc: YES!!!!

Maj: lol, i'm not that hard-headed

Maj: i just like going back and forth

Ezarc: It helps to maintain and clean out your poker thinking then it is all good.

Maj: cool Ezarc: Very cool conversation by the way.

Maj: thank you, i enjoyed it