The A-Game

◇ Just read — no action needed

A job with rituals

Your A-game has operating conditions. Sleep is one. So is a capped session length — attention decays, and the last hour of a long session plays measurably worse than the first. No poker when angry, hungry, or drunk; the cards don't care how you feel, but your bankroll does. Build a warm-up: before playing, review three hands from your last session and set one focus goal for tonight — 'tonight: no limp-calls out of position'. Afterward, tag three hands to review. The rituals look small, but they are the difference between actually studying your game and merely remembering it. The session is a job with a start ritual and an end ritual. Show up for both.