Thinking through hands faster

[swannymojo]

I have played live poker for a couple years now and am a small winning player at the 1/2. Online i'm a small losing player at the small stakes and part of the problem (or what I beleive to be the problem) is that I have a really hard time when facing tough decisions with only 60 seconds to think through a hand and each of its streets.

When playing live and facing a tough spot its not uncommon for me to take 3 minutes or so to carefully think through the pre-flop action...the action on the flop and the following two streets, the previous hands with the villian, how the player likes to play his draws IP or OOP.

Every time i face a tough decision while online i only have 60 seconds (max) to decide to calll or fold and I make alot of bad calls and folds due to lack of time to think through which is the best decision.

How can i improve my ability/speed to think through hands in order to make better decisions when crunched for time?

 

[63burner]

facing tough decisions with only 60 seconds to think through a hand..

I have played live poker for a couple years now and am a small winning player at the 1/2. Online i'm a small losing player at the small stakes and part of the problem (or what I beleive to be the problem) is that I have a really hard time when facing tough decisions with only 60 seconds to think through a hand and each of its streets.

When playing live and facing a tough spot its not uncommon for me to take 3 minutes or so to carefully think through the pre-flop action...the action on the flop and the following two streets, the previous hands with the villian, how the player likes to play his draws IP or OOP.

Every time i face a tough decision while online i only have 60 seconds (max) to decide to calll or fold and I make alot of bad calls and folds due to lack of time to think through which is the best decision.

How can i improve my ability/speed to think through hands in order to make better decisions when crunched for time?

Since you are uncomfortable making decisions under the time gun, a cheat-sheet of moves, to make in various situations may help. Not that there isn't variance in any move you make.


If you googled "poker decisions tournament and cash game scenarios", the answers will help you to see what the odds, "the book": say is the move to make, and balance that with what you observe your villains are doing.
With "the official 'book'", you can modify it, with your own experience, so that you will have a better "book" of moves to make, so at least you won't have to agonize on some hands; endless second-guessing.

 

[braveslice]

Well you learn it by doing it. Already after 20k hands, you notice you do some stuff automatically even so that you need to delay not to give tells. After 200k hands even more so etc... Also recognizing the situation in theory and in book knowledge speeds ups the decision process like 63berner says.

Only trick there really is to manage time is by jumping of the table when too low time buffer. It's a bummer to lose the info on players, but time is more important especially when starting.

 

[TheCrownGuy]

You may look in constructing ranges.
For example Pre-flop opening ranges and Pre-flop calling ranges should increase your overall speed.

Just an idea

 

[Hujiko]

Another thing to look at is to start thinking ahead when e.g. you call on the flop you should have a plan on what you will do when facing another bet and you did improve and also if you did not improve etc.

Thinking ahead will lead to better decisions in the early streets and also save time in the later streets.

 

[oriole]

Yup, I have the same problem. I'm a slow thinker and I can't go through all of opponents range and how he would play on all streets and then calculate my odds within 20 sec.
I don't understand how someone like Tom Dwan who used to be the slowest player in live games was able to play 6+ tables online.

 

[VanWilder]

I was a multi-table reg on Stars at 100NL - 200NL. Occasionally up to 14 tables but this was always too many.

Three things I think would help:
1. To do things fast it needs to be automated. Like driving a car where you don't think about it. Memorize your entire preflop range from every position (include open, call, 3bet, 4bet etc in range).

2. Post flop you should have already know all the possibilities your opponent could make and already know what you're going to do. This takes time and experience.

3. Use programs that automate your bet sizing and track players. Different sites allow different programs so would need to check.

 

[cheeeer]

As I noticed if I can't decide about the hand during 15 sec I will not decide it after even 1 min or 2. Even after a month I realized I can't decide what I had to do during that hand.
As I noticed I played since 2009 and had only 3 hands where I couldn't decide after 1 min.
So it doesn't matter. The longer you play the more often you see all possibilities.

 

[oriole]

As I noticed if I can't decide about the hand during 15 sec I will not decide it after even 1 min or 2. Even after a month I realized I can't decide what I had to do during that hand.
As I noticed I played since 2009 and had only 3 hands where I couldn't decide after 1 min.
So it doesn't matter. The longer you play the more often you see all possibilities.

It's not possible to see all possibilities since there's no limit bet sizing. Some supercomputer will figure out the perfect gto strategy one day, but it won't be human.

 

[Poker Orifice]

Play more. Put in more hands.

How many hands do you figure you've played online?

I play a fair amount of FastForward on partypoker, where they were only giving 8sec. to make a decision (they've changed it a bunch of times to where now it is 15sec. with a 15sec. extra timer.. not once have I run out of time while 4-tabling (I'm 2-tabling it while writing this response)

 

[cheeeer]

It's not possible to see all possibilities since there's no limit bet sizing. Some supercomputer will figure out the perfect gto strategy one day, but it won't be human.

I talked about small, middle, big bet on pre-flop, flop and so on. Not exact amount.

 

[grumblbrumbl]

Some poker rooms offer very little extra time. I also feel in complex distribution of the lack of time to think, which is why taking a wrong decision.

 

[PLAYFUL1]

There is too much time to think especially on some sites, so that the old stalling techniques takes place slowing the game even more .Fifteen seconds is plenty, more than enough time to make a decision especially when playing multi-boards which I always play.

 

[Wiliest]

Doing work away from the table should help speed up the thinking process. Anytime you face a tricky situation, once your done playing and have time, come back to it and do the GTO calcs so you know what the optimal way to play the situation for both players are. Then you should figure out what the best way to adjust to the common mistakes in the situation are. You won't remember the exact numbers at the table, but you will have good idea what to do the next time you come across the situation in question again. The more you do this, the more situations you will catalog in your mind, the more second nature it will become at the tables.

 

[Gambit123]

Another thing to look at is to start thinking ahead when e.g. you call on the flop you should have a plan on what you will do when facing another bet and you did improve and also if you did not improve etc.

Thinking ahead will lead to better decisions in the early streets and also save time in the later streets.

I agree with this, think a head. Then you will be less stumped

 

[lcid86]

Play more hands and multi table. Put yourself in positions where you have to make lots of decisions.

 

[blanktheman]

The more you play online, the faster you become. I used to take up so much time thinking about my next move but now i'm so quick. I'm quick and it's the correct move to make. It takes time and practice. You know how to think through a move, that's a great start. Playing online is different to playing live, you don't have too much to go on. Due to having less things to worry about, you'll find you become faster in your thought process.