Poker A-Game vs C-Game: Understanding Your Range

## Understanding Your A-Game, B-Game, and C-Game Every poker player has an A-game (peak performance), B-game (competent but suboptimal), and C-game (poor, often tilt-influenced play). Your long-term results are determined not by your A-game ceiling but by how little time you spend at your C-game floor. Map out your three levels: what does your A-game look like (focused, patient, disciplined)? What triggers your B-game (mild fatigue, distraction)? What triggers your C-game (tilt, significant fatigue, life stress)? Understanding these transitions lets you intervene before reaching your C-game. The goal is not to eliminate your B-game and C-game (impossible) but to reduce the time spent there. If you normally play 60% A-game, 30% B-game, and 10% C-game, shifting to 70% A-game, 25% B-game, and 5% C-game dramatically improves your results. ## Mental Game and Rakeback A strong mental game helps you play more consistently, which means more volume, more rake generated, and more rakeback earned. The psychological stability to grind through variance without tilting or quitting early directly impacts your rakeback income.