The Anatomy of Good Play (tl;dr)

[Mercman572]

Have you ever had a night where you just know exactly the right move to make, hand after hand? You're bluffing at the perfect spots, and just when someone plays back, you stack them with the nuts. You're leading the table in a carefully orchestrated waltz, and the chips are just piling up. I'm sure you've been there before, or you probably would have given the game up long ago.

Have a few days like that and you think you've mastered poker. Variance is some other poor chump's excuse for not playing as well as you. Play long enough, and you come to understand what variance really means. Catch the bad end of it, and you feel like you just can't beat the game anymore. Nothing you're doing is right.

Time teaches us that our fortunes are often controlled by forces outside of our conrtol. But often we neglect how much external factors can affect our play itself.

Take, for instance, your flawless night of poker and look at what was going on. Maybe you caught a few good hands in early on in the night. You caught an aggressive image, and since you had the goods you went to the felt when someone challenged you. By doing so, you earn the respect of the table. You start taking the lead with your raises, and the table lets you. When someone sticks around, you know it's usually with a hand since they are giving you so much respect. You can toss your weak hands and know it's the right decision.

Sometimes you just get your better hands in position, and they are that much easier to play. At one table tonight I must've gotten AK on the button 3 times in a row and QQ the next. It was easy doubling up on that table. Or you get to sit to the left of an uber fish. He just keeps check-calling like the perfect ATM. It is important to note, however, that running well can give you the illusion of playing well. You might just get so many sweet situations that leaking some EV here and there just doesn't seem all that important to you.

It also is important to remember that bad play isn't always totally in your control either. Sometimes you'll get all your good hands in bad position, and be prone to making more mistakes. It happens. Other times, you'll have to bet/fold a bunch of hands in a row. It will feel like you're being outplayed, and maybe you are, but you could just be running into someone elses hot streak.
----This can have a negative effect of its own, however. If you are forced to play a weak game, people may perceive you as weak. They will challenge your bets and raises constantly, and you will often have a marginal hand you'll have to let go. You further their image of you by playing correctly, and begin a downward spiral. All of a sudden the guy on the button is floating you and you're losing money raising Q10 suited in the CO. When you finally do play back, they fold rightly assuming you have a legitimate hand. Sometimes there isn't much to do in this situation except leave the table.

So what's the point of this? It's to realize the next time you get down on yourself (or your head starts swelling up), that you might have to simply take a closer look at the situations you've been involved with. If you find yourself in an environment conducive of bad play, leave that environment.

[bent96]

Good post. This is a series right?

[the machine]

thanks for taking the time to write this post. some players need ego checks or some uplifting and this a a good post to do so. i need uplifting and i hope my heater comes soon....

nh

[MilkMan]

ntl;r

[Johan L]

Nice post.
Analyze the good nights and try to learn from them, is a thing I often forget.
Analyse the bad nights looking for errors comes more natural.

My mood has a short memory, it doesnt reflect my BB/100 for the last 50K hands more my BB/100 for the last 500 hands.

[keikiwai]

Very nice post. I've definitely been at both ends.

And I've definitely stayed at some tables too long.

What's interesting to me is that I've seen the strong image / weak image effect at 50NL. When you win a few hands people give you respect. You do a few bet / folds and everyone is on top of you, making moves. This is interesting to me, since most people contend that worrying about your image is pointless in SSNL, since no one pays attention....

.... this shows that they do.

[jii]

I really like the idea of reviewing your "hot" sessions. I'm pretty confident that I leak a lot of value by being too confident about my play and by not extracting more value from pots that are already very big.

[Fallen Hero]

I think this is one of the best posts I've read in this forum. Very important content and very well written. Thanks for taking the time.

[ToDissemble]

Awesome post. I like the idea of analyzing the hot streaks because I really identify with the feeling of not worrying about a little equity loss when I'm "running red hot anyway."
Missing opportunities to extract value in big winning sessions should be viewed as a mistake at least as major as it is viewed in losing sessions, but I frequently focus analysis on only losing sessions. Thanks for the idea.

[RUSE]

Nice, balanced and thoroughly sympathetic breakdown of the emotional rollercoaster that is NLHE. Thanks!