P
PokerDev
Rock Star
Silver Level
At the beginning of my journey…like a month ago…I started reading a little bit online about “how to play poker”.
I almost wish now I hadn’t. It poisoned me, much of it.
They started talking about multi-tabling. Which I promptly tried and lost a lot of money on.
I promise you that there is more than I could ever pay attention to on one poker table!
I play so much better in just one cash game at a time.
If there were an algorithm you could use to play poker, we’d let the machines fight it out for us and save us all the time and worry.
And, indeed, many many people are trying this approach.
But how do you think you really get better? How do you ascend up the ranks and work on higher and higher tables with greater and greater stakes safely?
It’s by thinking and learning.
If we are on 8 tables at once, are we really observing? We are not watching for what actually happens. We are thinking about the theory the poker teacher is putting into your head.
Unfortunately, poker instruction is like most instruction in the US…teaching you what to think instead of how to think.
I’m talking to myself constantly when I’m playing online. Why is this happening? Why is that happening? What happened there? Why?
What are the ‘streams of communication’? Who is saying what (via bets, raises, folds, calls, and all-ins) to whom? About what? Who is believing it? Who is ignoring whom? What is it costing them?
How long are people thinking about decisions? Or are they just pretending to think? (Hollywooding)
How good are my cards? What if the cut-off goes all in? What do I do then?
There’s an infinite amount of information in any given poker hand to process. I am trying, rather than trying to maximize the number of hands I to play, maximize my learning from each hand. Think about what went wrong when you get beat on a hand. Think about all the things you could have done differently.
If there is a coach who teaches this way, I always learn and kick ass much faster.
--
What do you think? Should you multi-table? When?
I almost wish now I hadn’t. It poisoned me, much of it.
They started talking about multi-tabling. Which I promptly tried and lost a lot of money on.
I promise you that there is more than I could ever pay attention to on one poker table!
I play so much better in just one cash game at a time.
If there were an algorithm you could use to play poker, we’d let the machines fight it out for us and save us all the time and worry.
And, indeed, many many people are trying this approach.
But how do you think you really get better? How do you ascend up the ranks and work on higher and higher tables with greater and greater stakes safely?
It’s by thinking and learning.
If we are on 8 tables at once, are we really observing? We are not watching for what actually happens. We are thinking about the theory the poker teacher is putting into your head.
Unfortunately, poker instruction is like most instruction in the US…teaching you what to think instead of how to think.
I’m talking to myself constantly when I’m playing online. Why is this happening? Why is that happening? What happened there? Why?
What are the ‘streams of communication’? Who is saying what (via bets, raises, folds, calls, and all-ins) to whom? About what? Who is believing it? Who is ignoring whom? What is it costing them?
How long are people thinking about decisions? Or are they just pretending to think? (Hollywooding)
How good are my cards? What if the cut-off goes all in? What do I do then?
There’s an infinite amount of information in any given poker hand to process. I am trying, rather than trying to maximize the number of hands I to play, maximize my learning from each hand. Think about what went wrong when you get beat on a hand. Think about all the things you could have done differently.
If there is a coach who teaches this way, I always learn and kick ass much faster.
--
What do you think? Should you multi-table? When?