How to Become Lucky in Poker According to Chance Kornuth

Stop Complaining About Bad Beats

First of all, if you make it publicly with other poker players, you show them your weaknesses and ways to exploit you in the game.

Poker is a long walk in a desert where bad beats are just inevitable grains of sand that you can’t avoid. Complaints about becoming “sandy” here aren’t just meaningless but also harmful for your mental state and overall perception of your poker journey. It can alter your mindset towards a “bad things happen to me” mindset, as Phil Galfond names it, and make you miserable.

However, not every poker pro fully agrees with that. Some of them, for example Collin Capone, see moderate complaining as something therapeutic:

“If them telling the story and you listening helps them move on, why not just hear them out and say: “That sucks man” — and then they can move on. Better than them bottling it all up inside or becoming numb to pain.”

So, if you are one of the people who finds solace in yapping — go ahead and do it, but know when to stop before it becomes an annoying and harmful bad habit.

And if you are already have a mindset clouded by bad beats and can’t stop complaining even when you want to — these three practices from Phil Galfond can help you stop struggling:

1. Acknowledge the good. Instead of complaining about the bad things, make it a point to acknowledge when good things happen to you. Remember a lot of your “lucky” moments as well as bad beats and spend some time celebrating them.
2. Call yourself a lucky person. Remind yourself that you are objectively fortunate in some things — it will help you to be more positive and emotionally stable in a rough situation. Do not let your brain see an occasional bad luck as your luck and be aware that there is enough good luck in your life every day.
3. Uncover and practice gratitude. As Phil describes it in his own example: “Whether expressing it to others or simply acknowledging things in my life that I’m grateful for, actively acknowledging gratitude can work wonders on your mood”.

Cut Out Weed / Alcohol & Go to The Gym

Chance Kornuth said: “Becoming physically strong helps you become mentally strong.”

Science shows that it is true: being consistently physically active, managing bad habits and choosing a healthy lifestyle at any age are a great recipe to keep your brain highly functioning.

However, if becoming gym-goer isn’t your cup of tea, you can always pick some other physical activity for your health, for example try:

• Hiking, like Victoria Livschitz
• Running, like Scott Davies and Chris Brewer
• Calisthenics, like Lenny “illusorypoker” Foley
• Yoga, like Sofia Lövgren
• Basketball, like Mikhail “Innerpsy” Shalamov

Your main goal is to find something active that brings you pleasure and do it regularly.

Weed and alcohol are specifically named in the title of this section since they both are addictive and can harm your brain on an organic level, making your mind slower and dull, emotionally reactive and constantly hard to focus. They are so harmful, that quitting them makes poker players much happier — some of them even celebrate this decision annually, like Kevin “KMartPoker” Martin or Shennon Shor.

Study The Right Stuff & Do It Everyday

As Dan Cates stated in The Secret of Jungleman: Change Your Approach to Make More Money in Poker:

“There’s loads of content currently on the Internet about how to get better at poker, how to play GTO, how to play this spot — and a lot of that unfortunately is bull***. Or rather it’s not worth exactly all the effort that a lot of you guys are necessarily putting into it when it comes to actually getting better.”

So, if you want to become “lucky” in poker, you should be not only picky about the content you choose but also know what exactly you need to study at the moment. That’s why, for example, you should review your database to find leaks and select the best content for self-development according to your needs.

However, it should be not a one-time promotion but a consistent work targeting your own and opponents’ soft spots to find the best protection for yourself from exploitation and at the same time the best way to exploit others weaknesses.

Find Your Poker Community & Help Others

Surrounding yourself with ambitious people, who share your passion for poker and are ready to lend a hand on a bumpy road of poker career, is a no-brainer way to grow faster and more effectively.

Chance Kornuth is sure that finding or building your own “poker tribe” is essential for any poker player who pursue a long-term success in the game:

“Find your community – the ones who share your passion and dedication. They’re your lifelines when things get tough, your sparring partners, and your knowledge sources.”

Ben Rolle shares the same value, as he stated on Instagram:

“Having the right people in your circle will make you succeed a lot faster.

Be kind, provide value, do them favors, listen and learn, shut up your Ego and see the results flying in no time.

This journey is not meant to walk alone.

People are your greatest resource. Be someone that provides value and not leeches value.”

By the way, helping others is a great thing to give your life and poker career meaning if you struggle with finding one. Just remember to choose people for support carefully: there are a lot of scammers lurking in the poker community — it is in your best interest to be able to identify them before they use you and go to the next victim.

Meditate & Stay off Your Phone

Meditating is one of the most popular forms of mindfulness and self-awareness practices in the poker community. It shows great results in reducing anxiety, helping people to clear their mind, manage tilt and become more happy overall.

A lot of highly successful and joyful professional poker players practice meditation — for example, there are Ben Rolle, Patrick Leonard, Jonathan Van Fleet, Daniel Cates, Ebony Kenny, Charlie Karrel, Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier.

ElkY even talked about it in his AMA thread for GGPoker on Reddit:

“Everyone is very different in regard to what works or not to manage emotions. Long term and process oriented thinking helps, as well as meditation for me. I am lucky enough to always have been fairly in control of my emotions, as my competitiveness made me tame my emotions, since winning was more important than anything, and many emotions would have been a handicap to win.

There are a lot of other tools out there though, control breathing, and gratitude: in the grand scheme of things, a downswing isn’t such a big deal, it means we are lucky enough to play the game we love as a hobby or job anyways.”

Meditation also helps players to deepen their focus and attention span — and there is the moment when we need to talk about your phones.

While our mobile phones give us a luxury of constantly being in touch and having access to almost all kinds of information within a second, they also became constant distractors alluring us to doom scrolling, social media checking and participating in some brain-rotting disputes.

You can’t become more focused and attentive just through meditation — if you want to have real results, you need to find a way to stay off your phone and concentrate only on what is happening right now. This works the same way for poker sessions too — as Chance Kornuth explains:

“Most poker players are glued to their phones. You gain a significant edge by simply paying attention at the table.

I learned more by playing Poker than watching videos, studying solvers, or reviewing hands. 

Increase your volume, put your phone away, and stop autopiloting.”