Lessons at the Poker Table

Hey guys,

Ever get that moment when you say "I am happy that I learnt ....."

Well in this case, I was happy I paid attention to the players at the table

Villain shoved and doubled up and kept shoving for several hands while the table kept folding to him. So I figure that there is no way he could be running that hot for so long and decided to gamble with him.

So I called his shove.

See action here: https://www.boomplayer.com/30771652_C6E8A8C5BD

The next hand he shoves again, so I figure he did not get the message the first time and I called his next shove too. This time, someone else got in on the action and I got more excitement than I bargained for.

See action here: https://www.boomplayer.com/30771661_1994B09B57

Needless to say he took a while before he cooled off. He shoved the next couple of hands and climbed from 710 chips back to about 6000+ on the next couple shoves. I was speechless. Lucky for him, I did not get any cards to call his shoves!

Later, I noticed a villain calling with a wide range. So, I waited for the right time. Finally I was in position to steal his blinds BB vs SB.

Well you can only imagine my shock!

See it all here: https://www.boomplayer.com/30771712_C5C74EC5D2

Of course, I got a chance to try again. Well what do you think happened.

Catch the action: https://www.boomplayer.com/30771719_02C18BB2D9

I invite you guys to share any hands where you learnt something or something you learned clicked at that moment.

I appreciated the value of paying close attention to your opponents. Of course, luck has a part to play in the game - I appreciate that lesson too but remember, in the long run - you should be fine if you do things right and play within your bankroll

Lessons learned!

Poker is a very situational game and even though things like default ranges can be learned quite easily.You still have to then adjust the ranges to suite specific situations and villains it's why generic questions without hand histories are almost imossible to answer. One key aspect of poker is what your explaining which is your reads/tells on a player. Even online alot of information is on offer through betting patterns. So paying attention and taking notes is very important for players as you have learned.

My biggest "Ah-ha" moment was actually a positive one for me. It was extremely early in my poker days (maybe 1 month in playing for money) when I came to the realization (don't laugh at me over this) that it was OK to continually fold hands and not play until you had good cards. I had been under the mistaken impression that if you keep folding you are being a poor sport and so you have to play more hands than you want to keep the game fair. So, my Ah-ha moment came when I graduated from being a complete moron to a donkey.