I suck at poker.

Chuck requested that I’d make a poker video where I commented on one of my own sessions, much like Chris has. Flattery will take you a long way, and I’m easily flattered. But it’s not like I’ve done this sort of thing before, so I decided to try it out for myself last night, without a microphone, and just try to comment to myself while reviewing one of my sessions in PokerTracker.

You know, kinda like trying out facial expressions in front of the mirror that you can use if someone will take a picture of you. I like practising my “tough guy” face. I don’t think too many people have ever seen it, though, because as tough as I feel in front of the mirror, I’m really not that tough of a guy. Anyway, I digress.

So I’m sitting there, reviewing a session of my own from two weeks ago, and I’m explaining what I’m thinking. I’m stepping through the actions one by one, saying “now, 5-5 on the button is a good hand and I will definitely raise it if it’s folded to me, but it’s a little too weak to be played if there’s a raise in front of me” (remember, this is limit hold ‘em). The UTG player raises, two people fold, and I comment “and now I unfortunately need to fold” as I click the “next” key, and… And I 3-bet!

What?

Hrm. I didn’t see that coming. Why would I 3-bet 5-5 in my third hand at the table? Do I already have a developed read of the UTG player as a maniac? Or is he incredibly weak-tight and will usually raise a lot but fold on the flop? No, actually, he’s extremely loose but not a maniac preflop. I probably have an edge over his range of hands, but 5-5 is a hand I’m likely to make a fair share of mistakes with.

But I’m still in a bit of a shock over my 3-bet. I shouldn’t have 3-bet that with the information I have. Why did I? I feel like a person with alien-hand-syndrome. Is this me playing? So I went through the rest of the session, doing my mock-commentary and noticed LOTS of places where my commentary and my actual play didn’t match. What the hell? Often in debatable places, I should add, but still enough for me to realize that I’m not spending enough time consciously thinking my decisions through before acting. I’ve now discovered that the self-commentary is actually a great tool for spotting my own mistakes.

The video will come eventually, as soon as I can find a session where I don’t constantly go “Okay, so I need to f… Uh, okay, no, apparently I need to checkraise him. Now why would I do that…” or “there’s probably a decent chance that he’s bluffing, but the pot just isn’t big enough to warrant a ca… Oh, apparently I had reason to believe his chance of bluffing was bigger than I now think it is.”

The PokerTracker playback experience, coupled with my recent NL escapades, have taught me that I’m too loose. The good news is that I’m happy to get to work on that problem. While I’m doing that, I recommend that you pretend to record your own commentary of a session; it’s a great tool for spotting leaks.