There is almost no argument that to improve as a poker player, you need to constantly analyze and evaluate your own game to find areas where you can improve and leaks that you can shore up. Players who continue to think and question will not only see improvement in their own game, but they will also be able to adapt quicker as the game itself changes and evolves.

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The issues I have seen frequently with players wanting to get better revolves around what they are trying to resolve. All too often, players are worried about losing an individual hand. At times, you are going to fold the best hand and call with hands that will lose. If you aren’t doing both of those on occasion, you are way too far on the spectrum one way or the other.

Take, for example, a hand at a cash game table where both players are involved and deep stacked. The first player has an overpair against another player’s flush draw. The player with the pair makes a three-quarters pot bet on the flop and the draw calls. The flush card hits on the turn and the pair checks behind when it was checked to him. On the river, he check-calls a half-pot bet from the flush and loses the pot.

As the next hand is being dealt, the player who lost with the pair asks his opponent, “Would you have called if I went all-in?” What? Huh? Why? The number of times I have heard questions like that is baffling. Why would you go all-in for 150 big blinds into a 6 big blind pot? You wouldn’t, of course.

The reasoning here is straightforward. Player A lost the pot. He didn’t want to lose the pot. He is too shortsighted to think about the long-term analysis of whether his play was “good” even though he may have lost this particular hand. He is trying to find a way to improve by winning this particular pot and the only thing he can come up with is shoving 25 times the size of the pot to get his opponent to fold.

To improve as a player, you have to be able to get beyond individual hands, bad beats, coolers, and everything else and get into the long-term ramifications of playing styles and patterns. Instead of trying to figure out the hand, our player should have been thinking about how he needs to be prepared to better capitalize on similar situations in the future.

Did he bet enough on the flop to get his opponent to make as big of a mistake as he was willing to with a flush draw without overly exposing himself to hands that beat him? Based on previous plays and reads, how aggressively would this opponent play draws? How would he play a set? How would he play top pair with a middle kicker?

Factoring all of that in is the best way for me to get as much value out of my hand as I can over the long-run. All of those factors and elements are where you can improve by challenging yourself mentally to work through different permutations of specific hands. Solely focusing on ways to win pots without any consideration of maximizing your value in each one is a road of thought that won’t get you anywhere you want to go.

Don’t get too caught up in trying to find ways to win every pot. Focus more on getting the maximum value you can out of your winning hands and minimizing your losses on the losing ones. The fine line in between those two is where you can be the most efficient and profitable as a poker player.

Court Harrington has worked on the business side of the poker industry in roles including tournament reporting for PocketFives, radio hosting for PokerRoad Radio, coaching for the WSOP Academy and privately, and a variety of behind-the-scenes responsibilities for poker media businesses. He also plays in cash games and tournaments. Harrington is currently doing consulting work and exploring business opportunities outside of the poker industry. You can contact him at Court@CourtHarrington.com.