Only Angelo can take on the dreaded cell phone with so much wisdom. www.poker.org/poker-strate... @tommyangelo.bsky.social

"When we aim our eyes and ears at a screen, we starve our analytical mind--a mind hungry for intel on each opponent--and we deprive our intuitive mind, a mind that only functions properly when glutting on info." -- @tommyangelo.bsky.social for @pokerorg.bsky.social

Missed information in a cash session "is like money lost. Money that can never be recovered. Consider the gorgeous geysers of information that we call showdowns. Each time I miss one due to distraction, it feels like my net worth just took a hit." @tommyangelo.bsky.social for @pokerorg.bsky.social

Hats off to Poker.org for featuring Tommy's work. Such a joy to read! www.poker.org/poker-strate... @pokerorg.bsky.social @recpokerjim.bsky.social @bluffdu.bsky.social

Long, inspired, and worth it. www.tommyangelo.com/reciprocality/ @tommyangelo.bsky.social

Breathing slowly on purpose is breathtaking.

Why meditate? To make things better. Why daily? To make sure.

Quitting takes years of disaster to master.

I see every flop with larceny in my heart.

My fault-finding mind lusts for the perception of imperfection.

A mindful breath doesn't need to be deep or long. Most breaths are short and shallow. You can be aware of those too.

There must have been a time when I was so green at poker that I didn’t even know when to get upset. That lasted, like, a week. Now, fifty years later, I can touch that innocence, but without the ignorance, and the only word for it is bliss.

Your best shot for finding time every day to be unplugged is to do it before you first plug in.

Why meditate? To reduce unhappiness.

Graceful winning and graceful losing both sound the same at the table.

When the loser of a cooler keeps their cool, it creates a shell of silence that no one dare shatter, out of respect for the pain surge being endured. For the uninjured bystanders, it’s a time to say a quiet prayer of thanks: There but for the grace of variance go I.

How many songs are in a piano? That’s how many ways there are to meditate.

It’s never too late to start stopping.

Here’s something I’ve never heard anyone say: “I started paying attention to my breathing and it made things worse.”

I’m playing poker right now which means life is provably awesome.

Every instance of waiting is an opportunity to hone your waiting skills.

Folding the blinds a lot is not a strategy decision. It’s a lifestyle choice.

Meditation is the rising tide that raises all boats.

When you know anything at all about your current breath, you are breathing mindfully. Mindful breathing never just happens on its own. That’s why it helps.

To create time for meditation, wake up before your world.

After a painful hand is a good time to assess your combustibility. Only you can prevent soul fires.

Mindfulness is a game that you win by playing.

Doing home yoga is like playing music. You don’t need to know all the chords to be awesome.

Try to remember that everyone forgets.

Mum Poker is a mental condition. Mum Poker is no complaining, no blaming, no regretting.

Everyone plays poker exactly the same way. As they please.

You can meditate while sitting, walking, lying down, or standing – which means you’re out of excuses.

How many dealers does it take to change a light bulb? It depends. Are they pooling tips?

The only way to prove that you can live a happy life as a poker pro is to do it. Only you can quiet the skeptics.

When we get better at poker, we get better at life. Poker teaches us to be more realistic, more strategic, more patient. When we carry these qualities from the table into life, life gets easier. And then, poker gets easier. Here’s to getting better. At everything.

Big pot. Big three-way showdown. All three hands are seen. Vital info is being revealed at that moment and it’ll be gone quick. But I missed it. My eyes and mind were elsewhere. I wonder how much these mistakes have cost me over the decades.

I still myself in dicey situations and I can feel my irritability melt.

Moe: Well this is no fun. That’s twenty preflop folds in a row. What do I have to do to get a playable hand? Joe: Lower your standards.

Dissatisfaction is a thought thing. Anger and envy are thought things. Thought things are just as real as real things. The difference between thought things and real things is that we can make thought things disappear.

How much of your bankroll should you risk per session? Not much.

Daily sitting-meditation is like pushing one of those heavy cylindrical lawn levelers. It’s hard to get it going, but once you do, big bumps get smaller and small bumps vanish.

When I join a game I progress, I feel like I’m late for a movie. I’m desperate to find out who the characters are and what happened so far. Who is winning? Who is losing? Who is on point? Who is on edge?

Dailyness is the nuts because there’s never any confusion as to whether or not you’ll meditate today.

Being last to act is like coffee at sunrise.

How many songs are in a piano? That’s how many ways there are to meditate.

Stop-losses protect us from financial and emotional disaster, and by disaster I don’t mean losing money. I mean the disaster of playing bad.

Poker requires your attention. As does your phone. With your attention divided, neither gets enough.

One pair is the second-worst hand in poker. Pocket aces unimproved is one pair.

A client asked me if it’s good to quit on a whim. I said it’s bad not to.