How to avoid this beginner's action?

[httassadar]

I'm a newbie to poker and just finished several books on it. My problem is that during a hand, I always get too excited/nervous to do some math.

Math is my strong suit (doing a math phd), so I want myself to be like Chris Ferguson that relies heavily on math. I can normally figure out what's mathematically right to do but only at hindsight.

The thing is how to overcome the nervousness when facing a large pot and calm down to do calculations? Any advice would be great.

[Cernunnos]

playing live or online?

[httassadar]

online, blinds .05/.10

[Rek]

If you are doing a math phd then that side of poker will become 2nd nature the more you play. It is not necessary to do calculations to the Nth degree.

If you are new to poker then you are sometimes anxious to act quickly. Just relax, calm down and take your time. You play at your own pace and screw the others if they say anything.

[Janis N.]

Put in 30k hands a month and the nervousness will disappear soon.

[gregorio]

Calculate things in advance. When you figure out the right move in hindsight, make a note of it so next time the situation comes, you already know what to do. You have AA and someone moevs all-in on you on a coordinated flop, know in advnace what your equity is against a range like TPTK, overpair lower than AA, flush draws, combo draws and sets. If you know in advance that AA has x% equity against a typical villain's range on a board with a flush draw, then it is easy to calculate whether you have the odds to call.

[Ender1553]

I'm there with you htt... math was my undergrad. What books have you looked up though?

[Cernunnos]

Keep something with the outs and odds beside your pc, or on your pc,
I used to keep two help files open and could click on them when when i needed to.

e.g something like this
Outs 2 Cards to come 1 Card to come
21 --- .4:1 --- 1.2:1
20 --- .5:1 --- 1.3:1
15 --- .9:1 --- 2.1:1
14 --- 1:1 --- 2.3:1
13 --- 1.1:1 --- 2.5:1
12 --- 1.2:1 --- 2.8:1
11 --- 1.4:1 --- 3.2:1
10 --- 1.6:1 --- 3.6:1
9 --- 1.9:1 --- 4.1:1
8 --- 2.2:1 --- 4.8:1
7 --- 2.6:1 --- 5.6:1
6 --- 3.1:1 --- 6.7:1
5 --- 3.9:1 --- 8.2:1
4 --- 5.1:1 --- 10.5:1
3 --- 7:1 1 --- 14.3:1
2 --- 11:1 --- 22:1
1 --- 22.5:1 --- 45:1

and then another goodthing to do is for whatever limit your playing do some math in advance for typical sized pots you encounter.

Also getting pokerstove and HERanger and running Ev calcs against typical hands is good for learning.

[SellingtheDrama]

Basic odds aren't too hard - as noted the most basic probabilities are pretty straightforward and should be memorizable.

After that, you probably just need to relax while you are playing. If you are tense/scared during the play of any pot, that's not a good thing.

[httassadar]

gregorio, thanks, that's a good advice. But the odds change from person to person. I'll need better odds against tight players than against lag players, right? What kind of things shall I remember/do you remember before go for a game?

Cernunnos, this is the easy bit for me. The hard bit is to put a percentage on the possible hole cards for my opponents.

Ender, I read Harrington's, Sklansky's theory, Greenstein's Ace on the river, and Phil Gordon's green book. H's is the best one I think.

btw, anyone has some good books to suggest?