Comments on recent poker play
I have not been doing too well recently at online poker, so I wanted to regroup and to think about the reasons and the weaknesses in my game.
It seems that the key factor is that I play “too scared”. And I see monsters on every board. The way we remember events is that the most traumatic ones will leave a deeper print in our memory. There are some violent scenes that will never leave our memory, such as scenes of accidents.
In poker the equivalent is the memory of the times when we lost huge pots and felt humiliated, because we thought we played very well a very strong hand, but it turned out we were deceived and trapped by an even stronger hand. A monster. The unexpected and unlikely nuts was held by our opponent. We did not believe it, but it happened.
After getting a few of these bad scenarios, some players may develop a tendency to see monsters everywhere. And to play extremely passively, failing to raise to protect their hands for example. But the reason why aggression is the winning strategy in no-limit Texas Hold’em poker is that by raising, you will give bad odds to your opponents, you will force them to make tough decisions or you will get information.
By playing passively, you are just waiting to get run over by the bus.
Another important element for playing successfully online poker is that you should be very careful when you sit at a new table. Because if you do not know the players and what has been going on recently, you cannot judge the meaning of the players’ actions.
For example if there is a maniac at the table, players may play very aggressively medium hands in order to win big pots against the maniac. So a big bet may not represent a very strong hand. But at another table full of rocks, the same big bet means the nuts.
It is important to first gauge what is going on. Observe and play cautiously until you feel you understand the table and the players. Then start progressively to take more risks.
