One thousand is the number of times you breathe in an hour.  Try to be mindful of as many of your breaths as you possibly can.  By mindful I mean that you know when you are breathing in, and you know when you are breathing out. …

If all this stuff about breathing seems out of place in a poker book, recall my premise.  I am assuming that you are a poker player and that you want to make changes that rate to raise your score.  Breathing rates to raise your score, thus:

If we define tilt as any deviation from your A-game and your A-mindset, however slight or fleeting, then any reduction in tilt improves one’s theoretical score.  The primary cause of tilt is mental pain, such as anger, fear, regret, injustice, disappointment, and shame.  The only place that your mental pain exists is inside your mind.  The only thing that your mind does is think.  When you place attention on your breathing, you take it away from your thinking.  Therefore, awareness of breathing reduces thinking which reduces pain which reduces tilt which raises your score.  Or simply, breathing improves scoring.