Entries Tagged 'Psychology' ↓

Spotting A Tilter

I like to observe a few things about my opponent as I play:

• Is there a consistent fold/check/bet speed?
• Is s/he saying anything in chat?
• What is my opponents “comfort zone?”

Especially in HU, it can be easy to recognize a consistent speed at which your opponent acts, usually a couple seconds for each decision.

A player on tilt, however, may start making decisions incredibly quickly - calling or betting near-instantly for multiple hands in a row.

Sometimes chat is a dead giveaway. If you see lots of cursing, “OMG I CANT BELIEVE YOU HIT THAT,” etc in chat, keep your eyes out for erratic play. This can be faked of course, but it is often accurate.

What Is “Comfort Zone?”

Comfort Zone is how I describe a players “normal” habits of play. Does he like to limp alot preflop, or does he like to raise?

Usually when a player gets out of his or her CZ it’s for a reason. If Mr.Limpy min-checkraises the turn for the first time in 200 hands, he’s probably got a big hand.

However, sometimes it is drastic and consistent…all of a sudden Mr. Limpy starts raising every hand preflop. Or, Mr.Tight starts calling you down with mid pair.

What has happened? The player has told himself something about you, perhaps “He’s crazy! I wont stand for it any more!” or “I’m not going to get run over any longer, now I’m going to win some pots!”

Regardless, he’s gotten out of his comfort zone and is now playing erratically and irrationally.

Now is the time to adapt.

Adapting To A Tilter

Now once you are quite sure your opponent is actually tilting - he’s gone from limping and calling to uttering a non-stop stream of obscenities into chat, and raising every hand - now is the time to adjust.

So, we want to encourage whatever he’s doing wrong. If he’s raising and betting, lets let him do that. Call KQ-type hands preflop, and let him hang himself with bluffs if you flop top pair.

Note that a tilting player may stop tilting if he wins a good size pot, so it’s important to play a bit tight, and let him win tiny pots until you have a hand to make your move with, like TP or a decent 2nd pr.

If he’s started calling you down light, or calling bets very fast without thinking, it’s time to run a fake bluff.

Example:
2/4 NL HU, 100bb eff

Hero raises 33 from the button/SB to $12, Tilter calls in the BB.
Our opponent has started calling bets very fast, and seems to have told himself that Hero is crazy.

Flop: 3QTr ($24)
Jackpot flop, now it’s time to get some value.

BB checks, Hero bets $20, BB instacalls.

turn: 2o ($64)

BB checks, Hero bets $60, BB instacalls.

At this point, the super-fast-calls usually mean he has either a made hand that he’s decided to “call my bluff” with, or he has a strong draw like JK. The draw is folding the river UI, so we can ignore it and go for value from made hands.

River: 2o ($184)

BB checks, Hero goes All-In for $308, BB instacalls with Q7o.

BB in this hand clearly only beats a bluff, but he has convinced himself so thoroughly that Hero is crazy that he is willing to put his whole stack in to try and beat a bluff.

Ordinarily this might not be the most optimal way to extract value, but if you can spot changes in your opponents play you will see new areas for profit.

First off, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

The holiday season is incredibly busy, and at times it can be quite difficult to balance poker with all the other facets of holiday life.

It’s important to budget time to make sure you get some hours in during this busy season.

However, there are many other things that are more important.

There’s More To Life Than Poker

The beautiful thing about online poker is that it’s there 24/7. Because of that flexibility, it’s important to make time for the big things in life, like family, friends, and the events and people that you love.

Don’t miss out on going ice skating(or swimming, depending on where you live ) with your friends, or spending quality time with family.
These things are more important than poker!

While earning income from poker seems important, the games will be there, and they will be great, after the holidays are over.

Don’t lose sight of why we work so hard to improve and make money at this game - it’s to give us the freedom to spend our time as we please.

So, enjoy the holidays, and have fun.

See you at the tables in January!

Sounds good, right?

The biggest winrate-killer in poker is simple - TILT.

However, it is within each player’s power to control tilt. It takes discipline, and self-awareness, but to be successful one must master tilt.

It is very do-able with a couple strategies:

Prepare before Playing.

This is simple - make sure you are well-rested and well-fed before playing. There’s nothing that tilts me faster than being tired or hungry.

Don’t Play When Emotionally Agitated.

Did you just have a fight with your girlfriend?

Did your cat run away?

Are you sobbing because your favorite person got voted off the island?

Don’t sit down and play when upset, poker requires calm concentration.

Know Thyself

It is critical to know your own symptoms of tilt. They differ from person to person - some examples are:

• Whining about bad beats, either in chat or on IM or to a friend
• Feelings of frustration or despair about lost money
• Feelings of anger or thoughts of revenge towards a specific player
• Impatience, the desire to win money back right now
• Making decisions based on emotional wants rather than logical reasons

Which leads us to….

Take Breaks

If any of these tilt symptoms show up, it is time for a break to cool off.
Take a walk, get some water, grab a sandwich, check your email, whatever. Give yourself a chance to calm down so you can return to the game clear-headed.

Also, marathon sessions can be dangerous, as one’s ability to focus dwindles as sessions get longer. Taking a break every hour or two helps tremendously.

Last but not least…

Stay Hydrated

The brain needs water to function properly, and many people drink caffeinated beverages like soda or coffee which actually dehydrate the body further.
Grab a glass of water, stay hydrated, and stay focused.

With a little practice and effort, these tips will help any player cut down on their tilting.

Less tilting = less losing, and more winning!

Henri posted some good links today, the Phil Ivey vs Paul Jackson hand is pretty intense! Let’s break it down and see if we can get into the heads of these high-stakes players.

Opening moves

Preflop: Ivey completes, Jackson checks. This is going to happen often, both players just want to see a flop. We can narrow ranges a bit - they probably don’t have AK, AA type hands - but not much else.

Flop: JJ7r
Jackson checks, Ivey stabs 80k into ~180k, a little less than half pot.

As the narrator correctly points out, Ivey will be making this bet with a very wide range of hands, putting pressure on his shorter-stacked opponent.

First Blood

Jackson clearly can’t call his 65o, but he realizes Phil’s range is wide, so he takes a shot at the pot, raising to $170k hoping to take it down. Many opponents will give up their bluff here and yield the pot, so it’s a decent move. Unfortunately, his opponent is Phil Ivey.

Ivey thinks for a moment, and likely realizes that there are very few calling hands on this flop, so Jackson is forced into a “raise or fold” situation when he holds, say, K-hi or worse. Jackson’s checkraise could be pot-building with trips, but it could very well be a cheap bluff - Jackson’s raise is barely over a minraise!

I’ve Got It, Do You?

Ivey doesn’t buy that Jackson has trips just yet, so he puts out a “I’ve got trips - do you have trips?” raise to $320k. This is a nice raise size, it forces Jackson to call only $150k more, but it says “we’re getting all-in on the turn if you call,” so it essentially forces Jackson to decide for his whole stack.

The wheels are turning in Jackson’s head, too. He realizes what Phil did earlier - that if he actually had the J he probably wouldn’t play it so fast, and that Phil might have caught on that the flop check-raise was likely to be a bluff. Jackson essentially is saying “yup, I’ve got it” as he re-re-raises to $470k.

Jackson’s Mistake

Jackson clearly has game, and is not backing down from Ivey here in this pot. However, he made one critical mistake at this point.
Phil asks him “how much have you got left?”
Jackson counts it up, about $380k - but the pot is $1 million!

Phil’s thinking it over… asking himself questions like:

• “why did he leave $380k behind?”
• “does he want me to call or fold?”
• “What does he think I have?”

A bad player might min-re-re-raise with the nuts to try and induce a call. However, Jackson is a savvy opponent, one who knows that if Ivey’s got a hand it doesn’t matter whether he bets that $380 now or on the turn, it’s going in regardless. Jackson realizes his mistake as he counts his chips and tells Ivey how few he has left. He’s thinking “damn, I should have gone all-in, I only have 380 left.”

The most likely hand that would min-re-re-raise 150k more, leaving 380 behind, is a seat-of-the-pants bluff. It wants to risk the minimum, and doesn’t care about remaining chips because he(Jackson) will fold to further action. If he actually had a Jack, he would have counted out his remaining stack before acting, realized his opponent was pot-committed, and pushed. Occasionally this will be a clever trap with a full house or trips, but most times huge hands will move all-in rather than making a tiny re-raise.

This is (somewhat) apparent as we analyze it away from the table, with the privilege of seeing both hole cards. It’s an absolutely incredible move by both players, their insight and awareness of the other’s thoughts and likely holdings make this a truly awesome hand.

1. The Rules Do Not Apply

Many absolute beginners who’ve maybe played a few months for fun know the rules but they do not follow them. Why is that? You’re obviously setting yourself up for failure if you’re acting like this.

The past few days I’ve been talking to people I haven’t seen in a while and they’re all pretty happy to talk poker but when I talk to them there comes a point where I just can’t help them, because they set up a mental barrier.

For example; someone might know that you should play tight and you shuold practice proper bankroll management but still they play with 50% of their bankroll at the table and see every flop. Why is this? Only you can answer this question and in the end you will be the one that determines how successful you will be.

2. Bankroll Management

When I tell people that they should have AT LEAST 20 buy-ins to play any limit of No-Limit Hold’em (assuming they are winners which most are not) their jaw drops. It goes against the quick fix mentality we’ve been indoctrinated with since birth.

It shocks people that you actually have to put in some work and discipline to succeed. Poker isn’t all luck, if you play for a month or two (depending on how much you play) you should come out ahead about 95%+ of the time.

There are no excuses when it comes to bankroll management. If you’re playing with less than 20 or 30 buy-ins at any level you are probably fooling yourself in some way, especially if you’re constantly losing.

3. Start Low

Another poker tip that drops jaws and breaks the get rich quick mentality. Most will not put in the work so they will keep deluding themselves that they are just unlucky. When you’re beginning to learn poker you should go as low as you can go.

My advice is that you start at $25 buy-in NL with as many buy-ins as you can afford because it will take time to learn. Read books, read forums and talk to poker players better than you and you will improve.

Focus on improving and not on making millions of dollars the first week or the first year because that is not going to happen for 99.99% of poker players.

4. Study

Put in your study time. I’ve heard many beginning poker players ask me how many poker books I’ve read and when I reply with “I have 35 poker books on my shelf” it is too much. They usually reply with something like “I think self-taught players are the best”.

Now why do they do this? The case mostly is because it justifies them not reading any books. Just playing and suddenly they wake up and they’ve made $1,000,000 playing poker, not going to happen if you don’t study and analyze your game.

5. Awareness

Poker is a tough game to learn because it will take a lot of self-observing and expanding awareness to become good. If you’re fooling yourself and not noticing it your growth as a poker player is severely stunted.

I know some players who never take any coaching because it is against their beliefs. They might think something like “If I take coaching I have lost, I have to learn this on my own” and my question to this is always “Why re-invent the wheel?”.

I even asked a friend of mine why he doesn’t take coaching and he answered “It would be kind of like taking a blow to my ego”. These are all things to be aware of and things that severely hinder your growth.

Be open to ALL forms of learning and I promise you that you will learn fast and you will even grow as a person while becoming a better poker player.