Psychological adaption

[ArturiusX]

When trying to achieve the perfect or near perfect winrate, one thing we must always be conscious of is adapting to how we're been running in terms of cards on pots, and factoring this into our decision making process. Experiences players often have this down to an art; they've seen so many situations, run cold decked or hot with as many combinations as is possible, thus have a greater fundamental understanding of whether they're making the correct decisions or not, as opposed to a novice player who may be running well and unconsciously believes its sustainable (or consciously, who knows).

From my own observations, my own winrate has reached new heights from taking part in this exercise. I stumbled upon this concept quite randomly, when I actually met a fellow partypokerer at a B&M casino who I played with regularly. I discussed a few hands with him we had played over the years, talking about how we ran, and we always talked about how we'd go for 2000 hands without a confrontation, then all of a sudden, over a 100 hand period, we'd go to war, pushing everything, or even vice versa, making big folds and generally trying to outplay ourselves. After talking with him for quite sometime, I began to see him make false assumptions about how I played, and he noticed that after observing me with more focus, that the original reason why he made such plays was built upon the emotion of the moment, and not upon sound poker reasoning. In otherwords, he let the last 100 hands dictate his play towards me, not the last 10000 we played.

But why would any rational poker play do this? Because we like to win, we're results orientated whether we like it or not, and winning money quickly causes us to feel a certain way. With some people, greed kicks in. Others, fear of losing the loot starts to affect their playing style. Even if after a hot 200 hand run, we may never have a situation where this is ever an issue. We pick up AK UTG, we raise, and we cont bet a flop, and win the pot. We're hardly going to [censored] this situation up, regardless of our mental state, because the answer is obvious and we're experienced in this position. The problem comes when unique and difficult situations arise, and our head is still clogged from the past results. I consider winning quickly in a session to start even more dangerous than losing quickly, but thats me personally. Winning quickly makes you feel bulletproof, but also fearful at the same time, which is a dangerous combination. You feel more hesitant to extract value, you settle for the pot on the river, you don't try and pick up on light river bluffs, you're more inclined to call with draws OOP and keep the pot small. All of these are certainly good plays in the right moment, but its all to do with the situation. Letting the emotion of your last 100 hands dictate the bias in your play can cause us to make some serious sub optimal plays.

How does one go about fixing this? My favourite has been shorter sessions. This is more of a bandaid solution, but it works. Sit out after 2 hours, browse your favourite sites, watch a quick movie, zone out with some music, anything. Get your mind back into reality mode. Poker can [censored] with you and put you in an isolated place. Counter this by taking yourself out, much like slapping yourself to keep yourself awake during a long study session.

Another good one is to chat while you play, about your play. I often take a few seconds to paste a hand to a friend, and have a quick discussuon. Remember, this guy doesn't know your history, and although this can be erroneous in the other direction (so much of poker is contextual, like snap calling a suspected bluff that you'd normally not call), sometimes preventing a large spew is worth it, because you're able to identify your heart starting to dictate your head. Its also sobering too, keeps your feet on the ground, and makes you an outsider to yourself, much like the first idea.

The next requires a little more digging. Hand reviews are nice, but they come long after the session is completed, thus being useless. The 2nd example is trying to cheat this catch 22, but a true HH review can't be completely substituted. I often try and picture myself in a B&M poker situation, rather then words and numbers on a party poker screen. I keep my thoughts more pure. I imagine WSOP commentators talking about what I must be thinking. I think of what my opponents WSOP profile would look like. I try to imagine all these 3rd parties analysing my position. And although this sounds lame, its a surprisingly good way of keeping ones feet on the ground. Suddenly, you're being watched by a group of people. Judged. Known. Your poker becomes more pure, less in your mind, and more objective than subjective. And with these simple thoughts, the tilt starts to erode, the play becomes more clear, and the dreaded stack spew is suddenly a non-issue. Sure you can still misplay a hand, but keeping your feet on the ground at all times ensures you're never going to bleed money because of the moment.


My advice is kind of lame, granted. But how many times have you seen a TAG makes a bonehead one in 2000 hand play? Why do they continue to spew by 3 barreling a suited connector they shouldn't even have called with preflop? We see it all the time, from good and bad players, from players on this board especially. Its a huge influence on ones winrate. Learn to be grounded, learn to keep it pure, learn to make your decisions free of your heart. Remember, the opponent who makes the least amount of mistakes, wins all the chips at the end of the day.

[Morrek]

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I imagine WSOP commentators talking about what I must be thinking. I think of what my opponents WSOP profile would look like. I try to imagine all these 3rd parties analysing my position

[/ QUOTE ]

lol, awesome.

I don't do this(maybe because I never ever watch WSOP or any donkaments on tv), but sometimes however (usually after watching a CR video) I'm kinda talking to myself like I'd talk if I was making a video and uploading it somewhere, going through my thoughts about the hand and why I'm doing this and that. It kinda helps me stay focused or something I guess, never really thought about it much but what you're saying here reminded me of this. Nice post

[ArturiusX]

You bring up another point I forgot to put in. I play my best poker when I'm making a video to show someone. This is not a coincedence. Think about it.

[jlkrusty]

Nice post. Most of us could use the reminders and the tips you've suggested.

In addition to imaging WSOP commentators, I imagine a coach is watching my play (regardless of whether I even have a coach). I like to think that my imaginary coach will ask me afterwards, "What the hell were you thinking?!?!?" Sometimes this helps prevent me from making the boneheaded mistake in the first place.

tl;dr

[ImJustAFish]

Just awesome;I love keep it pure whatever the way...

[FBP]

Know the feeling and agree to some extent.
But personnaly, i feel i manage to get to my least result oriented, purest poker, when i'm thinking G-bucks.
Suddenly all is fine, getting coolered/beated/caught bluffing/bluff catching the nuts just leave me indifferent.

[catcher193]

lol im so f'n drunk right now

[tufat23]

i've actually got a tonne of videos on my computer, of the last 500 hands or so of my sessions where i taped them cos i felt my mind was going a little but the games were too good to leave.

i think its really helped me play a solid B game at the end of my sessions, when maybe i might have dropped to a C/D game (or worse)