Understanding of the game

[JKratzer]

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someone who has a comprehensive logical rationale for every action he makes. some people just can't think logically. other people use too many lines they've memorized from these forums or from other people at their tables, but dont really know why they are doing it. other players have enough experience to instinctively know the correct decision, and can't explain themselves, but once they hit a bad downswing their instincts will go to [censored].

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this is good

[6471849653]

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Another point is that somebody who has a good understanding of the game doesn't let emotions cloud his thought process at any point in any hand.


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This statement is pretty absurd imo.


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It depends of what one thinks it means and what the other means with the word "absurd." A "good understanding" is not necessarily what is needed to play a controlled game, but other than that if one knows what one is doing one can control the emotions better. Is that absurd to state here, I don't know and I don't care.

[sauce123]

i just dont fold

[jfish]

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It means they agree with me when they post.

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[jkkkk]

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It means they agree with me when they post.

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[Marlow]

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someone who has a comprehensive logical rationale for every action he makes. some people just can't think logically. other people use too many lines they've memorized from these forums or from other people at their tables, but dont really know why they are doing it. other players have enough experience to instinctively know the correct decision, and can't explain themselves, but once they hit a bad downswing their instincts will go to [censored].

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I agree, but I'd add that some people can have BAD reasons for every action. It gets even less straightforward when you realize that some of our reasoning is sound, and some is [censored].

To answer one of OP's initial questions, if a nutpeddler is making $, then clearly he understands what he needs to do in the situation that he's playing in. "Understanding" changes from table to table, limit to limit, and player to player.

[Choparno]

To me, someone who has a good understanding of the game, in addition to solid theoretical knowledge, sees the game from an "outside" perspective, putting themselves above what is just happening at the table. They are acting from this perspective in their decision-making and not just reacting to situations. I don't think that I really have this yet. Also, I don't think it is necessary to have this understanding to beat some levels - e.g. the solid nut-peddling 1/2 player can just react to situations as they occur and still profit.

[aislephive]

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Another point is that somebody who has a good understanding of the game doesn't let emotions cloud his thought process at any point in any hand.

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This statement is pretty absurd imo.

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I think it depends on how you take it. Just because somebody gets a little tilty doesn't mean they don't have a good understanding of the game, or even a great one. But if you understand the game you also know that short term results are meaningless in the grand scheme of things and the best players always win eventually so bad beats and stuff shouldn't really phase you too much. It's just like people who are very results oriented, they don't really know how good or bad their play was, all they care about is the result of that play. I do find that people who really get upset when they lose are often those players that I don't consider to have a good understanding of the game.

I'd say most live players fall into that category for me, which probably seems pretty ignorant but I think it's true for the most part. I'm mainly basing this on the fact that the majority of live players are not professionals, and recreational players naturally don't tend to have a clue what they hell they're doing.

I can tell pretty quickly by the way people post on 2p2 if they understand the game and if their logic is sound. When I see hands where somebody cbets KK on an Axx flop and says that they're "protecting their hand" I can be fairly sure they are not thinking very hard about their play, let alone the right frame of mind to begin with.

I believe I have a very good understanding of NL cash games, and I'd say probably half of MSNL has it, 80%+ of HSNL and maybe 10% of SSNL. Kind of a random guess though so I wouldn't put any stock into those numbers I just gave.

[Hattifnatt]

Any more ideas?

[john kane]

I think we have had the extreme luxery in the past few years of being able to play against such bad players that we haven't needed to have a good understanding of the game, only be better that the stupid players.

now as opponents are improving, so the keep ahead understanding the game is now becoming important, as i feel i am beginning to realise.

i remember reading on here how some people on thought about theory and such, i always thought why bother, its easy to win. now i dont have that sentiment, i think theory is getting important.