The Mental Game of Poker Vlogging
Jared Tendler discusses whether poker pros making YouTube videos during the WSOP will help them mentally or distract them.
One of the most striking things about this year’s World Series of Poker is the ascension of Vlogging in the poker world. This time last year most of the videos on YouTube during the WSOP summer were from poker media websites, but now many stars of the game are documenting the WSOP on their own poker channels.
It is remarkable that the best players in the world find the time to film, edit and upload videos considering they are all playing packed schedules full of very long days. I’m aware that many of the bigger names hire people to do the bulk of the work for them, but many others do everything from filming, editing, marketing and so on.
When you consider that the WSOP is the World Cup or Olympics of poker, it seems insane that they would be doing anything other than poker. However, I suspect that the mental game benefits to Vlogging can outweigh the time and energy needed for them, even in the middle of a long and elite level series like the WSOP.
An elaborate way to cool down
The process of Vlogging mimics the benefits of a more traditional cool down, something I advocate my clients to do at the end of their session or tournament day. First and foremost, it gives them a chance to vent. Often the players recap key hands and frustrations from the session, which is an important part of getting the tough hands out of their head. That makes it easier for your mind to reset and be fresh the next day. Otherwise, day after day more and more data accumulates in your mind and your mind will get foggier and less sharp, and ultimately your decisions will get worse. I recommend my clients do it by writing, but a Vlog is just a more elaborate version of that.
I’m heading out to Vegas next week and meeting up with some players who have Vlogs. One thing I am looking forward to finding out is whether they see a difference in how they feel and perform on days after they make videos compared to days they don’t. Likewise, whether they see a difference this year compared to prior years in terms of how sharp they were able to stay at this point in the series.
I would speculate that the Vlogging is helping to prevent burnout. Especially around now, four weeks in, when it can really start to feel like a slogging grind. Vlogging alone isn’t going to prevent burnout in a series like the WSOP, but it certainly can help a player to continue to improve, think deeply and avoid emotional blow-ups.
A potential distraction
I’m not suggesting Vlogging is without the potential for downsides, especially if you focus too much on it. Vlogging can take a lot of work if you are editing and uploading the videos themselves. That mentally taxing work is the opposite of the relaxing down time players typically need to decompress and recover from a 12+ hour day of poker. Any cool down gains made are negated if the Vlogging process creates burnout.
Another potential issue, perhaps a subtler one, happens when you think too much about the Vlog while playing. If a Vloggable moment comes up at the tables, let’s say a super interesting hand, the desire to create content about it might stay in your head for the rest of the session or tournament. This distraction may not make your game go to hell, but at a minimum it’ll cause you to drop out of the Zone, which could be significant enough to cause to miss out on some key opportunities.
This problem is not unique to Vloggers. Many players want to update their friends, social media, a poker fourm, or their backer on how they’re doing. My advice to everyone who gets distracted by the need to update, is to simply make a note of it, maybe on your phone, so you can focus on playing. Do the updating on a break otherwise, the updates are likely to be worse.
Poker Vlogs are here to stay. Not only are they a welcome new form of media everyone can enjoy, they are a perfect way for poker players to feel they are giving something back and feel part of something, in an otherwise solitary game. And they might just provide an organic way to let off some steam and prevent poker from feeling too much like a grind.
Do you Vlog? Do you think it would help your game or be a distraction? Let us know in the comments:
