I would love to be a great poker player, but I'm not.
Some conversations I've had with the
world's greatest poker blogger have convinced me that it's okay
to go public with why I'm not a great poker player, because
not only will it improve my game, it might improve others' games
too.
This article isn't meant to be an exercise in masochism. I'm not an
awful poker player by any means; I'm just not a great poker player.
And when you're a poker webmaster, there's a sort of unwritten
expectation that you be a really terrific player. (It's possible
that expectation only exists in my imagination though.)
I'm really just trying to get all my fishy ways down on paper so
that I can start eliminating them, one at a time. If you've read Ben
Franklin's autobiography, you'll remember that he made a list of
virtues so that he could aspire to them and become "perfect". Maybe
if I can find some poker virtues by examining my poker sins, I can
come a little closer to perfection in my own poker game.
Not Keeping Records of My Play
When I say I'm not a great player, I'm being intentionally vague.
I'm vague because I don't keep good records of my results. This is
like "fool mistake #1". In the business world, managers always say
that you can't manage what you don't measure. The same holds true
for poker.
If I ever truly get serious about my poker playing, I'll start
keeping thorough records of my results
Not Paying Attention to My Play
I play mostly on the internet these days. And I usually check emails
and message boards while I'm playing, instead of paying attention to
the betting patterns and tendencies of my opponents. I know this is
a big leak, but I haven't stopped doing it yet.
Even when I play live poker, I don't pay enough attention to what's
going on in the game. I'm a chatty type by nature, very friendly,
and I pay attention to conversations. I need to spend more time and
energy paying attention to the other players' tendencies, and
thinking about why they do what they do.
Playing Too Aggressively
I play a lot of short-handed no limit ring games at
Full Tilt Poker, and I've found that a super aggressive approach
tends to work fairly well for me. It works for a while, anyway.
Eventually and inevitably though, I wind up pushing too hard with a
hand where the only hand that can call me is a hand that can beat
me. And usually there's enough money involved that it's a massive
mistake. It doesn't take a smart player long to figure out that all
they have to do is wait until they have the goods, then check to me
and wait for my all-too-predictable raise with a 2nd-best-or-worse
hand.
Targeting Players
I don't necessarily go on tilt, but I do sometimes get irritated
with individual players and "target" them.
Wait a minute. That IS going on tilt, almost by definition, isn't
it?
Sigh - my fishy ways are worse than I thought. Someone should go tell
Socrates that even though an unexamined life might not be worth
living, the examined life is no picnic either.
The Next Step
This article could be considered a fearless, searching and thorough
inventory of my biggest poker mistakes. In a 12 step program, the
next step would involve making amends to anyone who had been harmed
by my "moral defects." I think that I'm probably the only person who
needs amends at this point, because I'm sure I've probably lost a
lot more money than I realize over the last couple of years playing
poker.
The only way to make amends to myself is to start plugging the leaks
in my game, stop making the mistakes, start playing better poker,
and winning.
I've written other articles about poker strategy, but not all of
them are focused on my mistakes. Some of them are about
Texas holdem starting hands. I've also expressed some thoughts
about
Texas holdem sit and go strategy, and about
Omaha sit and go strategy.
This page was last updated on January 5, 2006.
