I got several positive PM’s from the last article I wrote, (“Playing For Tires”), and wanted to do a follow up on it. That article was more of a rah, rah type article to encourage people that were on the verge of becoming a winning player to stick with it. From the responses I got, I realized that there were probably a lot of players out there that were like me when I started out. They don’t play professionally but do take the game seriously and want to be in the black and stay there. For the follow up, I wanted to share some things that were more specific and concrete to help get those people on their way that were either losing players or marginally winning players. <READMORE>

I put together a list, and hopefully you’ll be able to pull a nugget or two out of this and use it to improve your game. This by no means is the only way(s) to become a winning player. People can get there any number of ways, so take whatever out of this that you think you can use. Most of us are never going to be professional poker players, so above all else, have fun playing the game and put it in perspective. Having said that though, many people equate fun with losing, that is not what I’m saying. To me, the fun is certainly in the strategy, maneuvering, and competing. But the real rush and fun of it is winning. I’m very competitive, and losing is not fun, so therefore if I’m having fun, that means I’m winning. So, here are some of the things that I did on my way to winning consistently:

Read

This one is probably the first step most people take when they decide they want to improve. There are self-help books on everything and poker is no exception. Pick an appropriate book for your playing level and read it. There is no recipe or cookbook for playing poker, but there are principles and concepts that must be learned. So if there’s something you don’t like in the book don’t throw the whole thing out just because there’s a strategy you don’t agree with it. That’s ok to disagree, just learn to be discerning and don’t throw the baby out with the bath water.

Game Selection

Game selection involves picking not only the right game (Hold ‘em, Omaha, Stud, etc.) but also the right stakes, casino or online poker room, and the right time of day. Don’t think that because you saw a well-known online player playing $30/$60 that you have to as well. Also, don’t get so wrapped up in the sizzle (or lack there of) of a website that you don’t check it out or on the other side you stay there exclusively. I didn’t play at Party for a long time because I didn’t like the interface, sng structure, etc. I play there now in the cash games because it’s extremely soft. I missed out for a long time though.

Bankroll Management

There are some great articles on Pocket 5’s about this so I won’t say much. What I will say is that this is probably the last thing that kept me from being a winner longer than it needed to. I was in the unprotected region of Fox’s article below (voted article of the year on P5’s). Read everything Seal and Fox have written on this and take it seriously. Here’s some links:

http://www.pocketfives.com/
5A894D00-98DE-4A83-856D-AD90D9BB4558.aspx

http://www.pocketfives.com/
5C57520F-8A89-43F3-97E6-54D240CB3E59.aspx

Notes/Tracking

I personally am not a big note taker. I do take notes on some players but it’s just too distracting for me to be taking notes all the time. If you are a note taker then give it a try because it works for a lot of people. I like to use Poker Tracker because I’m a numbers kind of person and being able to analyze my own play by the numbers is very beneficial to me. Can’t over emphasize tracking your results or play in some way, shape, or form though. Fox has a great series on Poker Tracker:

http://www.pocketfives.com/
B02C3D06-CAAB-41B3-941B-4F6194C84E60.aspx

http://www.pocketfives.com/
4C4B6983-5412-4C4E-BE31-148FCEF972CF.aspx

http://www.pocketfives.com/
EDE05BEB-182B-4D02-888F-F926D8ABA762.aspx

Honesty

Poker players are great liars by virtue of the fact that they have to bluff and provide misinformation during the course of a game. However, you are only bluffing yourself if you are not honest about your own play. I’m most critical of my own play when I’m either losing more than normal OR winning more than normal. You can probably see the losing but being critical when you win?

When you’re winning more than normal it’s generally because of 3 things. One, you’re playing great poker and better than normal. If that’s the case I want to know what I’m doing so I can continue to do it and raise my “normal” expectation. Two, you’re playing the same but the cards are hitting you in the face. In this case I change nothing but realize it’s not because of me and I just enjoy it. Three, I’m actually playing bad and overplaying my hands but I’m getting lucky. This is where the honesty part comes in. I want to think I’m just playing great but I’m not. It’s dangerous to continue playing this way because the luck will turn and then you’ll be in big trouble.

Losing is the same way. Examine why you’re losing. If you’re one of those people that complains about suck outs be critical of your own play first. Should you have even been in the hand to begin with? Should you have bet into a coordinated board with just a top pair? I can’t tell you how many times I’ve thought I was just getting sucked out on but when I examined my own play I realized I shouldn’t even have been in the hand or was overplaying my hand. Set the ego aside and be critical of yourself. You’ll benefit greatly from this.

Complaining

Remember you can do nothing about others bad play (and you wouldn’t want to) but you can change your own play. Complaining about someone’s fishy play to them will just fuel them to start paying attention when you’re in a hand. They may even start playing better just to bust you. Even worse yet they may leave the table or some other fish not even involved may leave the table. You want them right there in that seat. Someone who plays bad is exactly what you want at your table. Someone playing to hit their 2 outer against you is ideal. It means they were in a hand betting or calling as the underdog with little chance to draw out. Get it through your head that this is exactly the position you want them to be in. If they hit then so be it. You know they will put themselves in that position time and time again. Welcome this type of play and be glad that you get that kind of action when you’re ahead. This is an important concept to grasp so reread it and understand it.

Lurking

Lurk on the forums and get as much information as you can even if you don’t post. You’ll have to weed through a lot of noise but it’s worth it. There is a gold mine of knowledge posted right here on Pocket 5’s. Pick the posters that you like the advice of and watch for when they post. I read everything that Fox or Seal post even it’s just a one sentence post that has nothing to do with poker. I have others I watch too because I can learn from what they are saying. By reading forum posts you will get some nuggets that you can’t find in a book or you will see something that you’ve heard before but restated in such a way that really hits home with you.

Buddy System

If you dive they tell you to have a buddy with you. Poker is the same way you need a buddy. There are sharks out there! Seriously, Find someone you can talk with and discuss hands and situations with. Whether it be face to face, on the phone, sweating each other over IM, or e-mail get someone who is in your same situation or someone who is better than you but is willing to mentor you. You might be surprised how many people are willing to do this. My cousin did this with a guy he’d played against a few times. He liked the way the guy played and he just asked him if he’d be willing to help him. The guy did (he’s a sometimes poster on this forum and I know some of the ranked players know him) and it turns out the guy was being mentored by a very big online pro that you’d all know if I mentioned his name. This guy turned pro not long after that too. They spent tons of time on IM and the phone and my cousin is a better player for it and they became friends too. All of this happened because he asked. Build these types of relationships and you’ll probably make some good friends too.

Have a Plan for the Hand

You need to have a plan and a purpose for every hand you enter. Why are you playing the hand you are playing? What will keep you in the hand and what will drive you out? If you play A-rag a lot what is your purpose for playing those hands? If you hit the A are you happy with your kicker? Do you play the same hand the same way every time? Do you want to take the pot down on the flop or string it along? If your plan goes south what are you going to do? Being able to have a plan on how to play with certain types of hands, in different positions, in loose games, in tight games, with good players, and with bad players is important. The only way to do this is to think about situations away from the table. When you roll these things around in your head it will be a lot easier to act on them when you’re in a game. You will began to recognize that there aren’t all that many unfamiliar situations and you’ll be able to react accordingly because you’ve already played the situation in your head or talked about it with someone else.

Changing Gears

This is one that inexperienced players have more trouble with. We get used to playing one style and stay with what works. However, you need to change gears according to the situation. Some people say play the opposite of how the table is playing. So if the table is tight you play loose. Some people say play the same as the table is playing. So if the table is loose play more hands. So which one is it? I’ve found it’s not an absolute. Sometimes when the table is playing tight you have to tighten up too. But 3 or 4 hands later it may be time to raise a pot with 3-6o. To me this is very much a feel type of skill. It’s not ESP or anything like that. It’s understanding which players are likely to fold, raise, reraise, give free cards, or call in what positions (if they are even aware of position and it’s value). Do not label yourself as a TAG or LAG or Calling Station or whatever type of player. You have to be all of those at different times. If generally you are LAG that is fine but you have to know when to put on the brakes and be a TAG. Same if you’re TAG you have to know when to step on the gas and loosen up. All I can say is pay attention to your table and what’s going on and then react or initiate accordingly.

Reading Players

At the lower levels players are about as transparent as newly cleaned windows. If you sit down at a table you’ll pretty quickly find that you can guess what most people have and be pretty close. Most of the players check flush or straight draws, slow play a set, over bet top pair, way over bet JJ-AA preflop, don’t laydown AK when they need to, bet differently with different hands, and check the nuts. When you’re not in a hand try to guess what the other people have. When you’re in a hand and you pick up one of these reads don’t be afraid to act on it. If you’re wrong then you can analyze later why you missed the read. You have to sharpen this skill and learn to trust it. Reading players is not just guessing for guessing sake. It’s observing behavior and then recognizing when the same behavior repeats itself. At the lower levels there is no magic to this at all. Most people tend to act the same way in the same situations. Also realize that you will be wrong with your reads. No one gets this 100% of the time. That’s ok, just analyze the situation afterwards and learn from it.

Mixing Up Play

This is important. If I’m playing at your standard table I will bet draws more often, check the nuts less, bet sets on the flop hard, bet low pocket pairs from early position once in a while, and just generally do the opposite of what most people who do in the same situation a certain percentage of the time. You should mix this up and plan on playing same hands/situations differently about 10%-20% of the time. I’m not talking about being stupid just mixing your play up in the right circumstances to let your opponents know you could have anything. Most people won’t notice this at the lower levels but as you move up it will be good to already have this skill.

Watch Top Players

Pick your favorite ranked on line player and just follow them around for an evening and don’t play any games while you’re watching them. You’ll begin to realize that they’re not the crazy wild luck sack that people say they are. You begin to notice that very rarely do they get their money in when they’ve got the worse hand. You’ll notice they change gears pretty quickly and you’ll start to recognize the situations where they do that. You’ll see when they’ll take a coin flip and when they won’t. When they make a play think about what happened leading up to that and what the climate was at the table. You’ll also see they can make the same mistakes you do but don’t do it nearly as frequently. You don’t need to know their cards either. Learn to recognize situations when they are in a pot. What was their position, stack size, and image? If it's a tournament were they on the bubble, well into the money, short stacked, big stacked, etc.? Why did they check the nuts that time but raised it last time? Learn to think about these things and some of the possible answers. Now you can take notes because you are not playing so do it.

Multi Tabling

When you’re learning to play, making adjustments to your game, or running bad do not multi-table. I do multi table but if I feel I’m losing my edge I cut back to 1 table to regain focus and sharpness. Even when I multi table it’s usually only 2 or 3 tables. I personally can’t follow much more than that very easily and there is no way that anyone who is multi tabling 8 tables can either. I enjoy the strategy and the “art” of poker. I feel that’s where my edge lies is in understanding those parts of the game. I think my game suffers quite a bit if I get too many tables going. This opinion is obviously not shared by everyone. However, when you’re trying to do something new or improve on something it’s best to have your full attention on one game at a time. You will improve much faster if you give 100% of your attention to 1 game at a time. The goal here is to improve and get you into a position of consistent winning. You have to play mechanically with 4, 5, or 8 tables open and you will develop your skills much slower than if you concentrate on 1 table at a time.

Conclusion

What I’m telling you is not new stuff. It’s also not everything there is to know about winning poker. Playing winning poker is about making fewer mistakes than your opponents. You need to continually keep learning and to do this you must admit you need improvement. Even the best golfer in the world, Tiger, has a golf coach. Can his coach beat him? Absolutely not, but he realizes that he needs some one to see the flaws in his game that he cannot see or does not know he’s doing. You have to set your ego aside and continue to improve no matter what level you achieve.

I’m not a pro, I’m not ranked, and there are tons of people that win a lot more than I do. What I’m telling though are things that will make you a winner in this game. If you can attack each of these areas and add some more areas to your bag of tricks then you’ll do just fine. This game is enjoyable when you win, period. To use a sports cliché you have to want it though. Whining about rigged sites, terrible players, bad beats, or your poor lot in life won’t get it done. You can be a winning player but it takes work and willingness to admit some weakness. When you lose, I’m talking about over the long run, you have no one to blame but yourself. So if you’ve been losing take a look in the mirror but also take heart. The situation has a remedy and there are plenty of resources to get you into a position where you can be successful. It’s nothing to be ashamed or embarrassed about. Just suck it up and get to work. Every successful player had to start out at the beginning. Some became successful quickly and others took longer but they all started in the same place.
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