My winrate started going downhill because I wasn’t keeping up with what was going on at the poker table.

I wasn’t paying attention to my opponents and I wasn’t REALLY studying the game.

Sure, I was getting coaching and watching poker videos at deucescracked, but I wasn’t really paying attention or even caring.

And that’s when I hit a pretty bad downswing and it has taken me awhile to get back on track. I lost focus and started to focus on the money more than the strategic aspect of the game.

It’s funny because it happens in cycles. I have soon been playing poker full-time for five years, and I can only laugh at myself because I go through the same cycles over and over.

I play well and I win a bunch of gold, then I’m like “this is so easy, I’m going to play more tables and own people even more.”

After that I usually hit a downswing and I am oblivious to why it has happened. Cards do matter, but often enough my play has deteriorated and I have no one but myself to blame.

I then whine to everyone I know about how unlucky I am and how I am the unluckiest guy in the world and why me. I consider doing animal sacrifices for the poker gods, but always decide against it.

That’s usually how the cycle goes for me. The animal sacrifice thing is usually rock bottom for me, and that is when I get a coach and slap myself in the face.

Lessons Learned

1 – Don’t play 8 tables and think you can play ABC poker and own people.

2 – DON’T whine to your friends, because it is a waste of energy and your friends will want to do bad things to you.

3 – Pay attention while you play and really THINK about every decision.

4 – Try to figure out your opponents thought process. If they show a weirdly played hand, think about why they’re playing it that way. What is their reasoning? Can you learn anything about them that you can later use to crush their soul?

5 – Do other stuff! Don’t take poker so seriously, poker has variance and you’ll get destroyed by poker if you take it too seriously. Get a hobby, girlfriend, dog, meditate or whatever you want.

Photo taken by Craig Dennis.

It’s almost like The Sims but in real life where the website is the theme park, wee. I am not entirely satisfied with my poker website (texasholdempoker101.com). It’s about 1½ years since I first put it up and my lack of writing skills really shine through. Live and learn I guess.

I started trying the Sedona Method and having some interesting results so far with it. It’s basically a “method” of releasing emotions which comes in handy at the poker table for me. I’ve been able to stay tiltless longer, so the results so far are promising. I’ll let you guys know if I still like it after a month.

I also got caught up in playing online blackjack (for play money ofcourse) at http://www.777.com, and don’t ask me why 777.com, it just kind of happened and I was stuck there for a few hours. I’m glad I don’t play blackjack for real money because I would be broke in notime!

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.

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!

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!

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.

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.

And with that semi new-age meditation talk let’s get to today’s post which revolves around an epiphany I had a few days ago about setting goals.

You see, I am what you would call your typical over-achiever. I set crazy goals and force myself to do them, I want things to be pretty close to perfect otherwise I’ve done a seriously bad job and can now scold myself for a perfect amount of time.

I do not wish I wasn’t an over-achiever, not at all, I like it and see it as a strength. Although sometimes my ambitious nature gets the best of me which brings me to our topic.

Reaching Your Goals, Feeling Like Crap

A few days ago I sat in my chair with a weather I wish upon no one, the wind was howling and throwing water at my windows. You could say it was a gloomy evening, but I find weather of similar nature fun and interesting. My favourite kind of weather is a thunderstorm, because the thunderstorms in Northern Europe are pretty harmless and beautiful.

As I sat there, deep in thought about my situation, I had a private storm going on in my head like so many of us. Juggling an infinite number of things at the same time thinking that if I do not handle all of them I suck.

At that very moment I began thinking about my goals for how much poker I “should” play each month. My goal had always been to play at least 50,000 hands of poker a month. That equates to about 125-135 hours of playing 4 tables of 6-max No-Limit Hold’em

This is of course nothing in terms of normal working hours but I do not think you can compare the two.

A-ha!

The thing that struck me was that when I succeeded in reaching my goal, I was burned out and couldn’t play poker for a few weeks because I just hated it. That got me thinking. Why am I setting a goal that will make me feel bad when I reach it?

I started pondering on the fact that on average during my poker career I had played about 30,000 hands a month. In the beginning I only played 3-4 tables and a maximum of 30,000 hands a month and felt fine.

So what if… I should adjust my goals? What would happen if I did this?

• I would earn less money
• I would have more time for other things I enjoy even more
• There would be balance
• I would feel happier

That seems like a pretty good list where the pros outweigh the cons. I do not really need the extra few thousand dollars it gives me to play more, I have never been one that really needs excessive amounts of money as I have never craved expensive material things.

Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy driving a nice car and having that new shiny camera, but it is not something I MUST have.

Do You Want Happiness?

We all want happiness, that is one thing that is certain. But are we going about it the wrong way? In the early days of poker I looked to the game as a vehicle, the money would give me freedom to avoid taking a loan when I went to study at a university.

Along the way I forgot that money is just a vehicle. Money is not the end goal for most of us, it is a middle-man for time, freedom or even that nice car or house.

Keep setting goals and figuring out what works for you, because if you feel like shit then obviously something is wrong.

How Will You Know What Works?

Your body has a feedback mechanism. Feelings like pain, happiness or misery are there for a reason. If you feel content and happy you are probably heading in the right direction. On the other hand, if you’re feeling depressed or especially gloomy you should think about what needs to change. Listen to yourself.

Recommended Reading

Here are a few links I recommend you look at that I’ve read in the past and which I really enjoyed.

How to Set Goals You Will Actually Achieve by Steve Pavlina

How to Find True Happiness by Erin O’Donnell