Alright, I'm gonna step in and be a killjoy, I'm afraid. OP, please don't hate me. I think 'the fire' is a very dangerous thing, and we should strive to put it out while at the table.

Let me explain. I definitely agree that it's crucial to be very motivated to play poker, to get yourself pumped up for big events psychologically, and to be alert and awake at the table. However, there are some severe drawbacks that come with feeling too much like you're 'In The Zone'.

Firstly, when you're truly 'In The Zone', you shouldn't be in a place where you're mentally acknowledging to yourself how 'In The Zone' you are right now. Every moment you spend thinking about how well you're playing is a moment you're not focusing on what's actually going on. Every moment you spend congratulating yourself for a successful bluff is a moment you're not spending thinking about what you would have done if you'd gotten raised, or if a different river card had come.

Secondly, 'seeing things coming in slo-mo' would indicate that you're focusing on one potential eventuality of a hand above others. If you're anticipating villain folding to your bluff ahead of time and you just KNOW it's going to work, how are you going to react if it doesn't? How are you going to plan the next street if you're too focused on this one?

Thirdly, things like 'talking shit to a blank wall' are only going to raise your heart rate. Raising your heart rate is good in some ways, but there is a state of physical and psychological arousal in which your ability to think straight is actually going to be impaired. If you're actually physically reacting to things, you're not 'In The Zone' – you're just really excited. There is a difference – the zone is that place just below the point where you're actually physically moving around. Raising your heart rate also puts you into a more emotional state, which everyone knows is not a good state to be in at the table.

Finally, and most importantly, putting so much effort and focus into each action you take at the table to the point where it affects your physical state is indicative of one thing – ATTACHMENT. Attachment is a silent killer at the poker table – the more you're attached to something, the more you want it, or even if you tell yourself you 'need' it, the more you're surrendering control of your situation, because guess what? Poker doesn't give a shit what you want. The moment you feel like you're playing better than you ever have and you're on the final table bubble of the biggest tournament of your life, the poker gods might decide to have you lose your whole stack with AA preflop and bust in 10th. How bad is that going to feel if you spent the last hour leading up to the hand thinking about how much you were bossing the table? And how much less would you care if it was a play money tournament? You're attached to the money and the success, and that's what makes things harder.

Ultimately, the mental state we should be striving for at the table is one where we are alert and attentive enough to be aware of every detail of a hand, but simultaneously emotionally disengaged to the point where it makes zero difference to us whether we win or lose. A player much better than myself once said of his approach to the mental game, “no sighs, no yays”. You don't sigh when you lose a hand, and you don't cheer when you win – you just move on, and accept that you made a decision to which the eventual consequences were out of your control. The more 'fire' you have, the more control you feel like you have, the more you're setting yourself up for poker to rip the rug out from under you. Confidence is vitally important in poker, but in order to achieve the ideal mental state at the table, it's crucial to supplement it by being calm, relaxed and emotionally detached. Next time you feel 'the fire', rein it in.

Absolutely, I'm not saying you shouldn't feel good when things go well, of course not. I would just be careful about your actual physical reactions, because your body and mind are closely linked. Every fistpump could just as easily be a fist slammed on the desk, and that's a dangerous road.