Simple things you can do to improve your earn

[wiggs73]

I think since I've became moderator, I haven't really posted much worth reading. So hopefully this will help make up a bit for that and I can get back on track. The next step is to finish updating the freaking FAQ (hycayhcayhcya) and then I'm going to start posting some hands from $114s here and there, which unfortunately means that I will have to play some $114s here and there.

Anyway...

I've been thinking a ton lately about how to improve my game. Obviously it's good to always review hands and analyze your play, but truth be told, that will only get you so far. Now of course you NEED to learn fundamentals and theory... you need to know what the standard line for a situation is and you also should know how to spot good times to deviate from whatever the standard line is. That's a huge part of being a good player, but there's a lot more to it than that so I'll go into a bit of what I think separates a great player from a merely good or very good player.

The good thing is, none of it has anything to do with poker theory, so everyone can apply these things to their game. These will probably all seem obvious at first glance, but I guarantee there's at least one area you could improve in if you stop to take an honest look at yourself.

Bankroll management
Obviously you need a bankroll to play, so the first step to a good bankroll management plan is to simply figure out how deep you want to roll. Personally, I wouldn't play any of today's SNGs with less than 100 buyins in my account, but that's only because I don't want to have to move down if a minor downswing strikes. If you play mostly for fun, you don't need so many buyins in your account, but to compensate, you should be very willing to drop stakes if a bad run hits. One thing that makes doing this unappealing is that it will usually take longer to recover from downswings because you'll be trying to do so in smaller games. But to each his own.

The 2nd area of good management is pretty simply, not doing anything retarded. I've seen a bunch of good players take drunken shots, or tilt off large sums of money. That's dumb and you won't succeed doing stuff like that. You can be the best poker player in the world, but if you can't control yourself after a few drinks or after a few bad beats, then you're doomed.

The third thing you should keep in mind in regards to your bankroll is that you will never be properly rolled for a game that you're -EV in. Now it's never fun to admit you can't beat a level of SNGs but it's necessary to honestly analyze your play and if that's the conclusion you come to, then don't play those levels. Personally I think can beat the $60s right now for a decent clip, am a slight winner at the $114s, and a slight loser at the $215s. So even though I'm properly bank rolled for all of those levels, on the rare day I play SNGs now, I don't play higher than $114s. And I won't until I feel like my game is at a level where I can beat $215s.

Game (and seat) selection
This is one thing that I think a lot of people struggle with. What this really comes down to is ego and logical thinking. We all have egos, but I firmly believe that it's in one's best interest to keep their ego in check while playing poker. Yeah, I think I'm +EV in $114s. But what about in a $114 with Ryanghall, Shillx, Pudge, DDBeast, and Bigjoe registered for it? Ok, I'd like to think that none of these guys would see me register and think to themselves "oh good a donator is sitting"... but really, why on earth would I want to register for this SNG? These guys are going to tear into my hourly rate. It's especially dumb to register for this SNG online because here's what's gonna happen. If you wait 10 minutes, these guys will be done loading their sets. So really, go grab a drink, put a load of laundry in or something and come back in a few minutes and register for a much easier game.

To take this a step further, in cash games, you can also seat select. There are regulars at 2/4 - 5/10 that I won't let have position on me. I just won't. If I'm playing and they sit on my left, I just get up; it's that easy. On the same note, I feel like if I can nab a seat in position on them, all will be well. There are like 2 or 3 regulars I don't even want at my table. Good thing there are plenty of tables usually available.

I've never quite understood the "I'm +EV in any game at these stakes" mentality. Good for you. I'm +EV in that game too. However, I'm more +EV in this game that has 3 fish at the table and 0 solid regulars. I have 0 desire to prove to any regulars that I'm better than they are. I would much rather sit at a table full of fish and print money than eek out a slight win versus a table full of good regulars. I saw a 3/6 table last night that had 4 2+2ers on it. There's no reason for that to happen, ever.

I've also seen the guy that registers for 12 SNGs at once and then sits back and waits. Again, I don't think this is the optimal thing to do. You might be +EV in those 12 games, but it's just as easy to register 1 at a time and make sure you aren't getting in any games with 6 other good players.

Number of tables
You don't win a prize for playing more tables than the next guy. I wish I could 16 table. I'd get a lot more hands in. For that matter, I wish I could 8 table. I feel though, that on an average day, I make great decisions 4 tabling, so that's what I do. Once in a while I feel sharp enough to 6 table so I'll do that.

Again, it comes down to doing what is best for you and your hourly rate. But don't just blindly play as many tables as you can because it's trendy to say you play 2384 tables at once. Play however many tables lets you achieve your maximum hourly rate. If that's 20 tables, awesome. If it's 2 tables, that's cool too.

Monitor your play in-session
I start many a session feeling fresh and sharp only to have one of two things hit me half an hour in. I lose focus for whatever reason, or I go on tilt. The best thing to do when either of those happen is to take a short break to re-focus. If you can't re-focus, then you need to stop playing.

It's pretty easy to just ask yourself every few minutes, "Am I focused? Have I been making good decisions the past few minutes? Am I playing tilt-free?" If you can't answer yes to all 3 of these, get up. There's no shame in walking after a bad beat if it's going to cause you to tilt off your stack 3 times in the next five minutes. Same with playing when you're tired... You're killing your earn by trying to pound out hands under bad circumstances. The games will still be there in 5 minutes, in an hour, and tomorrow. Play them then. Seriously, if you need to, literally ask yourself those questions out loud every 15 minutes during your session. If nothing else it will make you pay attention to your state of mind, which you should always be aware of anyway.

To compound the problem of losing focus, a lot of people play poker while multi-tabling AIM, reading 2+2, downloading music, talking on the phone, watching TV, smoking weed, and washing their car, all at once. That's rarely a good thing to do because like 1/10 of your attention is devoted to your games. If all that other stuff is so important, then do it while you aren't playing for hundreds or thousands of dollars. If you really want to make good decisions and play good poker, then you should be willing give all your attention to your games.

Think about every possible action on every street of every hand
We're getting more towards poker theory here than I want to, but it isn't really so I'm including it. But seriously, I have been an 8-tabling drone before. I see a hand and within a half a second, know what I'm going to do. I might even be right 90% of the time, but what about that other 10%? It's possible that I replaced the optimal move with a merely 'good' move. In games where your edge is small, you simply can't afford to pass on the optimal move many times over the long run. So every single time action is on you, you should consider the merits of folding, calling, and betting/raising. There have been sooo many times where I almost instinctively clicked some move, but once I considered the tendencies of the particular people involved in the hand, realized some other move would be much better in this specific situation.

Actually, I think this point is huge. Don't be scared to make a move that isn't standard if you feel that it is optimal. On the same note, don't make up reasons to make a non-standard play. Often, the best move and the standard move are the same. It's all about balance... all about knowing the standard line, but also spotting better lines the few times they come up. Cliff notes of this one would just be, "think while you play".

Don't be results oriented
And I don't just mean not getting mad when someone hits a 2 outer on the river. That should be the absolute least of anyone's concern.

I mean, did that 3 barrel bluff not work? Ok fine, but would you expect it to work enough of the time to be profitable? If so, then tell yourself 'well played' and move on with life. You shoved and picked up the blinds. Congrats. Was it a +EV shove? If not you made a big mistake, regardless of the fact that it worked this time. Sometimes it's hard to evaluate decisions outside the context of results, but it's necessary to.

Get reads
I have played with thousands of players online. I don't remember all their names or how they played all their hands. What I do know is that I have a poker tracker database, I have a HUD that gives me a bunch of useful stats, and I take notes like it's my job. Utilize what's out there. Get PT and PaHud and use them. How are you supposed to find that optimal line if you don't know how anyone plays?

Notes are huge. I mean f'ing huge. If I know that a player who leads the flop into a preflop raiser is weak, I can raise him with any 2 cards and it's a hugely profitable move. If I know a player who leads the flop into a preflop raiser only does so with the intention of 3betting, I can make some bigger than usual laydowns on the flop. Same with knowing how people play draws, under pairs, etc etc etc.

And just because you folded preflop doesn't mean the hand is over either. Keep paying attention, see if you can pick up something. Find out what ranges the regulars are shoving with in SNGs. Find out what they're calling with. Make a note of it. Every time a hand gets to showdown, information becomes available to you. USE IT! SNGPT isn't worth anything if you have no idea what ranges to put in it.


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None of this is ground breaking in any way, but the more effort I put into these things, the better my results get. And I'm confident that if everyone would concentrate and try to actively do EVERYTHING they can to be a better player, not just learn what move to do in such and such fairly common situation, they too would be better players. Really the beauty of all this is it's simplicity and obviousness. It takes a special player to beat 50/100 NL. It does not take anything special to just maximize your return at the games you're already playing... just focus and self control. I didn't make this post to teach anything as much as I made it remind everyone that hey, there are probably things I could do, starting today, that would make me a more profitable poker player than I already am.

I try to reach some sort of zen state of mind when I play poker now. I have no desire to battle regulars that I only have a very small edge over. I have no desire to prove anything to anyone. I treat my bankroll like I can't lose it. I honestly evaluate what games I'm +EV in and what games I'm not +EV in. Then of the former group, I try to pick the 4 (on a good day, 6) games am I the most +EV in to sit at. If at any point, those games cease to be +EV for me, whether by poor play on my on part or by regulars sitting, I get up. Before I make a decision I try to evaluate everything I can think of... how do the blinds play? How does the person who raised before me play? How have I been playing? How much money does everyone have on the table? What notes do I have on these guys? Finally, should I call, fold, or reraise? Some of these might not be applicable to SNGs... you can't just get up if you go on tilt, but you CAN stop registering and you CAN make it a goal to just will your way through the end of this set and then take a break. You CAN not register for a game that has 5 regulars already registered.

I don't expect to hear "wow great post wiggs" but this is just a reminder that over the long run, poker is about so much more than knowing how to play your 2 cards, so don't neglect all the other nuances of this lovely game we play.

[luthar]

nicely wrote... general stuff but helpfull for at least 40% of regs and mostly 100% of trolls..

GJ

[RexWoo]

tl; but I did read and liked it. Thank you.

[Onyyn]

This is like a coach teaching and reminding his players about the importance of fundamentals. It's a good reminder of how the details can make a difference.

[Indiana]

good post wiggs...i don't use Pahud and I don't seat-select. I was criticized by a fellow $50 HU-er for not using sharkscope before sitting with a "regular" and making our lives more difficult. Perhaps I need to rethink my style.

[TruFloridaGator]

NH, I think table selection is your most important point and even at lower levels this is crucial. I know some people who have issues with the 60s & 27s because they blindly just auto register their many tables and don't realize there are 3-4 regs registering at the same time.

[Indiana]

I don't know if u mentioned this wiggs but another thing that really helps me is to meditate on what my purpose is before every session. If I come in cold, and don't know what my goals are for a session, I usually don't do very well.

[Mingdu]

[ QUOTE ]
"wow great post wiggs"

[/ QUOTE ]

Much more important than whether to call with my AK to an UTG shove in the first hand of a Sng ...

[Longy]

Good post wiggs, it's always good to keep the fundamentals in mind.

On the table selection issue, i must admit i got annoyed when even playing the lower levels, when one of the handful of good regs starts his set at the same time as me. Im just like "geez wait 10 mins make a coffee or something", its mutual beneficial for both of us.

[wiltronic]

good post....thanks!!!