I think I've Realised Something Very Important about Playing Poker

Just a rambling of sorts.

I think Ive worked out what ive been doing wrong playing online poker and why I seem to always lose my winnings in the end.

Firstly correct me if I'm wrong but a big difference between a winning poker player and a losing one is the winning one folds more losing hands. Its natural to want to gamble and play a lot of hands or make calls based on feelings or thinking the opponent is out to bluff you but a more tight approach followed with some careful bluffing seems to be doing well for me.

A BIG problem Ive had which I suspect many players face is the constant action of expecting to win too much with a single buy in especially when the buy in/game is so low.

For example playing razz I may start off with $10 and get it to $15-20. Yet as I continue to play that session I end up losing a good chunk of the winnings which begins the tilt stage, and results in losing everything.

This always happens to me in Razz. I kick ass on the table and and up pretty much every time I play, but then a few bad beats sets me off and I end up losing most of not all.


Ive come to realize doubling or tripling your buyin in one session is an amazing achievement if you think about, what investment can get you 200-300% gain in such a short time - the problem is such a gain is not sustainable and is only temporary until variance kicks in.

Most players that double their buy in think they played well and deserve all that profit and if they keep playing that way they expect to win even more and get frustrated when they lose some instead.

An example is last night I played 2-7 single draw - not a game I play often at all.

I started off with $10 and got it to $38 ...I played for quite a while and my stack stayed at $20-$25 for most of the game before a big beat and it went down to $12 before I closed the dame in disgust.

I should of been happy with the increase from $10-$40 or even doubling to $20 and just closed the game before variance and tilt kicked in.

However even at $12 thats an increase of 20% which is really good if you think about it. When people invest in stocks and gain 20% in 1 day thats excellent.

I learned my lesson today though.

I played 2-7 again and went from $10 to $22 - a 102% gain if I'm correct and simply left the room, which isnt something I'd normally do. I now have profit, have taken a break and can go back into a game of my choosing with a fresh mind.

Anyway am I on to something with this theory? I guess time will tell.

120% gain actually, but close enough haha

interesting...this i have realized and still does nothing!
Tilt never hinders the amazement

Very nice observation. I notice this of sort but could never really understand this. Thanks it make perfect sense, got to play with better money management and less greed when I'm ahead.

nice insights. i think because it's competition and occasionally fun often i feel it to be a challenge or enjoyable to keep playing. more work in salaried jobs doesn't have quite the same benefit

Good observations, the only game I know a lot about is hold em..You said early in your post about not gambling and playing more tight. I have learned if you do more gambling while playing holdem then you will not come out positive over a period of time.

I would suggest following Chris Ferguson's rule of leaving a game if, at any point, the amount of money in front of you represents 10% of your bankroll.

Poker is a game of decision making. Make good decisions and you will make money, make mistakes and you lose money. Its not about how much money you win or lose per session but the quality of your decision making.

I suspect that your profits go down because you play too long or your mindset changes into "well, I have enough chips to gamble on this hand". Or, "I can afford to call here and still have lots of money". This snowballs until you are upset for losing some of what you were ahead and have to get it back.

If this means that you have to leave the table when you are up, then do it. If you can recognize when your play starts to change and stop it without leaving, that's good too. Whatever works for you.

Control these things and you will be well on your way to being a winning player.

I usually leave a table after I've built some profit there. This way I protect the winnings and will only lose the maximum of a buy in at the next table.

I rarely get involved in all in pots so having a greater than original buy in stack doesn't really help me too often.

Keep in mind too that playing deep is different than playing with 100 bbs. Not when you're playing some form of limit poker, but it applies to no limit.

If you and your opponent are deep, your potential implied odds increase, meaning that you can play much more speculative hands hoping for those few times that you flop big and your opponent is willing to stack off.

The other thing to try to be aware of his how and if your mindset shifts when you are ahead. Do you try to bully? Do you get overconfident? Or maybe you've just played too long and need to take a break.

If none of those thing apply and you know how to adjust to playing deep, then there's no reason not to keep playing. Unless the negative effect of losing your winnings is going to affect your future sessions.

lol. But its good for you to went out as a winning poker player,

Good question! Its probably a combination of those things. I think start to play more marginable hands which are costing me pots. Also just the fact that losing half my winnings in 1 or 2 "sick" pots sends me on tilt.

However lately Ive been playing a lot more tighter game, (folding more) and thinking what the opponent may have instead of telling myself ("surely they cant have it! OR "he must be bluffing me" which has helped)

I understand what you are saying and this can work well in a cash game. But what about tournament play where you can't just get out and leave.

I play alot of tournament poker because that is what I enjoy. Ihave tried many different strategies, but still haven't found that one particular strategy that works well for me.

Should you try to build your stack early or play tight in the begining and be more aggressive in later levels.

normally I play tight in early stages and more aggressively in later levels. Sometimes however I question whether this is the best method, especially on those nights that nothing is clicking.

I seem to go thru such terrible dry spells. I know one can't expect to win every game, but I would like to play more evenly and not have my bank roll go as far down before I bring it back up.

I wasn't trying to change the original subject, but I just couldn't see how stategy mentioned above could be aplied to anything other than cash games. When you can't just walk away, what is the best strategy??

Yes this only applies to cash games.

As a player who has won and final tabled many Razz tourneys and even came 1st in a 3,700 player $1 Holdem tourney....I still dont know the right answer to your question.

I think tight aggressive play works well in tourneys and just play your good hands early on as best as you can to build up your stack and be prepared to get it all in without being too scared.

The larger your stack is early on, the easier it will be to be more selective later on and also bluff pots after the flop and keep building your stack.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized that one particular strategy is not possible.

One has to play the table they are at. Observing the other players at the table and getting to know their betting habits may be the best strategy. Maybe I need to stop playing too many games at once and concentrate more on one or at the most two games. What ya think?

Good insight.....and glad you have shared that with us. continue to use this to your advantage.

That kind of stuff that you posted happens to me all the time!
Esp when playing live, which I haven't done seriously in a while.

One thing that has helped me was to say to myself, Hey Big deal if he bluffed me. Who cares, lol.

If you think about it, it's really not worth finding out if you got bluffed or not most of the time. It's our curious nature that makes it such a big deal

It happened to me a lot of times. Getting greedy because I'm in a good run, double up at the table and not leaving like I was suppose to, that ends with me losing all my winnings and my stack.

Like someone else mentioned before, following Ferguson's advice will be a benefit for you and your bankroll in the long run.

agreed with ninelions in the sense that your mindset is completely different once your over 100BBs deep...its true

i need to start practicing that thing from the ferguson rule you posted duffer once 10% of my BR is on the table ..i gotta get out..i have trouble doing that