The Battle Against Degeneracy

I believe the most challenging aspect of professional poker is the struggle against disorganization. I use the word disorganization as broadly as possible. I refer to disorganization as the following:

• Lacking daily routine (disorganized schedule)
  
• Disorganized and inconsistent living arrangements caused by travel
  
• Disorganized timing and consistency of meals
• Lacking consistent exercise (disorganized/nonexistent physical routines)
• Disorganized social life
• Inconsistent, often ridiculous sleep schedule
• Unreliable and inconsistent pay scheduling
• Disorganized personal affairs, bills, taxes, documentation, etc.

Many poker pros decided to be take this career path because they are inherently lazy people. They don't like routines, schedules, bosses. They don't want people telling them what to do and they don't want to wake up to an alarm clock.

These qualities, while they make poker a desirable career choice, also make it a difficult one. It's so easy for us lazy folk to start sliding down the slippery slope of degeneracy. Once that slide begins, it's hard to get traction. It's much easier to avoid falling down in the first place.

Every day is a battle against degeneracy. It's easy to sleep till 2 PM, play online poker for a couple hours in your underwear, eat a frozen pizza for breaklunner, watch youtube videos for a while, then get back on the tables for another session. I've done this. We've all done this. Probably even PiMaster.

I don't believe this is the right way to go about it. My own struggles against degeneracy have been well-chronicled in this blog. Time after time, I have suffered my worst results during periods of high-volume gambling and low-volume "other activity." Conversely, all my best results in both tournaments and cash games have come after prolonged breaks from the game.

I can cite Taylor Caby and Brian Townsend, two of the most successful internet pros on the planet, as players whose attitudes and results follow a similar pattern. I don't know either of those guys but read their blogs and it's the same thing over and over - they take breaks, they have active social lives, they spend a lot of time on business activities away from the tables, they only play when they want to, and they absolutely annihilate the games when they do sit down to play. I remember reading one of Taylor's blogs where he spent about three sentences describing a cheeseburger he had recently eaten and one sentence about his recent poker results. There's a guy who has his priorities straight.

I can cite Shannon Shorr as the opposite. Shannon was on top of the poker world during the middle part of 2006 but has had a miserable 2007. I feel bad using Shannon as the bad example here, because he writes one of the most consistent, entertaining, and honest poker blogs out there. I've read his blog for the last eighteen months, fascinated by the inverse relationship between poker obsession and poker success.

Little things can make a big difference. A twenty minute walk before dinner. A correspondence with a friend you haven't talked to in a while. An episode of Survivor, or whatever nonsense you happen to enjoy. In Europe, for me, it was a cemetery in the village of Patsch, quiet afternoon contemplation in cathedrals, and pre-tournament walks around Baden.

There are players who are reading this and chuckling cynically. I ask these players to spend a couple hours every day the next week on organized activities that have nothing to do with poker. Make it a priority. It will pay off, I assure you.