Poker Pays My Bills

The best poker players in the world all know one simple rule: Stop playing immediately if you aren’t playing your best. Monitor your mistakes and emotions to identify when your game is off. Even if stopping just means you just take a ten minute break to regroup, get up and walk away from the game.

Our poker game fluctuates from day to day. We are only winners when we play our absolute best poker. Our edge over even the worst opponents is never very big. We are only one mistake away from playing as bad as that guy on our buddy list.

Our “A” game is what makes the money. When we are playing our best, we are calm, relaxed, and our thinking is clear and focused. We are not attached to anything, and the decisions are natural and correct. Our intuition is also very sharp. When playing our best we can achieve win rates that look statistically improbable, such as beating a 2/4NL game for 2 weeks at 12BB/100 hands.

Our “B” game might be break even. If we review some “B” grade hands, we’ll usually come to the conclusion that we are not playing terrible, but there seems to be slightly better decisions we could have made in these hands.

Our “C” game is the wrench in the works. When playing “C” game, we make mistakes. It might be subtle, like playing slightly overly-optimistic pre-flop. It might be obvious, like calling river bets when we think we’re beaten just in case the guy has the one hand we can beat. When we play “C” game, we are losing players. It is the reason we do not sustain the marvelous win rate we had with “A” game.

Ideally, we would always want to be playing our best, our absolute “A” game. In reality, we might play mostly “A” game, with some “B” game mixed in and the occasional terribly played “C” game hands. Our win rate is highly dependant on how much “B” or “C” game is contaminating our “A” game. If you are a winning player in the long run, it is because you play far more “A” game than “B” or “C” game.

While playing a poker session, jot down hands you play that required some thinking. Note if your decision was correct or incorrect. If you make a couple mistakes, especially expensive ones, sit out from your games for a few minutes. Take a moment to analyze the hands you played to see if you are perhaps playing the dreaded “C” game. If you even suspect you might be, stop playing immediately. You will only cost yourself money in the long run if you continue playing. Go do something else for a while. You can always come back to it later, and you might find you “A” game has returned.

Aside from monitoring mistakes, you can also monitor your emotions. If you feel negative emotions while playing, stop immediately. Negative emotions such as anxiety and anger are a strong indicator that “C” game has arrived. It is only a matter of minutes before it does something to cost you money. Take a good long break, and do not play again until you are relaxed and will enjoy the game.

By monitoring your mistakes and emotions during session, you reduce time spent playing “C” game. This will significantly increase your overall win rate.

September 11th, 2009 Magdalena posted in Good Poker Habits