What I need to do at any moment, at the current moment, is find the path to victory. One shot, one kill, is my duty.
How do you do that? Don't reply with something analogous to "not successfully/easily."
Problem is, I make my mind up so quickly that I often have my next move planned out - or know when the hammer's going to fall (no, not *those* Hammers) that I reach for the damage/put my Pokemon in the discard anyway. Too often, I find it's a foregone conclusion.
You need to stop doing that. That's it. Doing this is detrimental to your frame of thought. Whatever it takes: hold your hands together and say a prayer, sit on your hands, keep your hands on your own hand of cards before the attack, associate it with rushing (which it is and can earn the player a warning penalty).
You can probably afford to go to a lot events, unlike me. I can only go to local, sometimes state, events.
I'll use this as an example of "rejecting advice." I don't think you are doing it intentionally, but this is an example of changing the subject onto me to invalidate the advice. The advice stands on its own no matter the number of events I go to because it is a technique to get keep you from dwelling on the event or connecting it into a pattern. It doesn't matter how few events you attend. We need to get you to a point where you are not fixated/demoralized by defeats.
For the record, I work a lot. To date, Virginia has had 13 LCs and I have played in 0; Virginia has had 5 CCs and I have played in 1. I was the TO in 2 of the LCs; I am scheduled to judge in 1 CC; I plan to play in 1 more CC. I did manage to get to 1 RC but I am scheduled to judge at an upcoming RC. I don't get to play much at league because I am the LL. To sum up, I do not get to play a lot.
There is merit to what has already been said in this thread: you have to play if you want to think like a champion. If you are going to stick to local level events, that will be the extent of your skills. We can discuss knowledge and good practices as well as techniques to bring to relieve "distractions" and regain focus, but you will have to do some work--get to events--if you want to improve. I see you live in Florida. Wasn't there a marathon this year? Marathons line up events conveniently in a concentrated number of days. Did you attend any of those events?
By "afford," I will make a guess that it is financial reasons that keep you from attending events. Those league players who present a comfortable level of play for you, would they like to play at tournaments too? Could you get them together, share a room, divide up gas money, and test decks the night before? If they are juniors/seniors, that is great because it is easier for them to win packs and you all as a group will benefit from the cards (you indirectly because they may get cards you are interested in or the new cards will help them improve their decks to be more of a challenge to you); if they are masters, then maybe you will be paired against them and since you already stand a good chance of defeating them, you will do better in the tournament
. On that note, I see FL's RC a 4-hour drive from you. You are going to the event, correct?
"Problem is..." NO! That has been said 6 times in the thread. We need to not fixate on a problem. You can't afford to go to events --> don't do it alone.
In post #53 and #55, there is a fixation on losing at past events and how it demoralizes you, using this to reject the advise about learning from a defeat.
"does nothing to help" is exaggerating. When reviewing a game, avoid exaggeration.
Problem is, sometimes I don't really know why I get distracted during certain games, other than when I get on losing streaks.
This is going to be something you have to work on. Again, it won't happen instantly. It may take months.
On the topic of work, while I am willing to admit that my presentation of the questions in my post #51 is poor,
"Too many questions to think about over the course of a game" will resonate with some as an example of not wanting to work. I'm unsure what you are looking for, but hopefully my revision below is more helpful. When you find yourself fixating on an outcome during a game or exaggerating an outcome, start asking yourself what of the opponent's cards on the list have been played.
_________________________________________________________________
Keeping your opponent's inventory:
Juniper:
N:
Level ball:
Ultra Ball:
Pokemon Catcher:
HTL:
Colress Machine:
Super Rod:
Stadiums:
Ace Spec:
# of energy cards (in best of 3):
What supporter was played last turn:
What energy card was played last turn:
Card Combinations:
Decks in general:
Super Rod + any ball
Ultra Ball / Dowsing Machine / Computer Search + N / Bicycle
Blastoise/Keldeo:
Professor Juniper + Superior Energy Retrieval
Darkrai decks:
Professor Juniper + Dark Patch
Ultra Ball + Dark Patch
Dark Patch + Energy Switch
Pokemon Catcher / Escape Rope + Night Spear
Plasma decks:
Ultra Ball + Colress Machine + DCE
Shadow Triad --> G Booster