Poker News

Dr. Scott Aigner

Are you a beginning or intermediate player who can only play poker on occasion? Do you sometimes struggle with your game or wonder how the better players seem to outplay you or act so much quicker than you do? I did well as an amateur poker player although the experience I have gained in the past year as a professionalhas completely revamped my game. An example is that I am able to read situations faster and weigh my options without having to take the time I needed before in similar situations. This gives me more time to think about other variables in the game that I never really had time to analyze before. The tangibles rarely change like pot odds, position, and my outs. I know these things now before it is my turn to act. I focus more on my opponents’ styles who are still in the hand, and which action is the better play for me to do based on the variables in the present situation. Here are some suggestions to improve your own game that does not require you to spend 40 (or more) hours a week playing the game.

There are a few players who have done remarkably well in the game without ever reading a book. That does not mean that they did not learn in other ways though. Just like with any job, poker does require some on the job training. I recommend that you read about poker and to discuss poker situations along with playing. I read and discuss poker at a number of online forums including my own. I find these discussions to be very cheap lessons. Learning about certain situations that someone else experienced first can save you from making that same mistake later on. Learning concepts like the free card raise, a protected pot, basic differences between tournament strategy and ring (live games) or between online play and ring games can change not only your win loss rate but your volatility on a day to day basis. These type of discussions occur at a number of forums online. Spending an hour or two each week reading about poker can make a difference. How valuable would that be to your own game?

When you are done playing a session analyze every hand that took time for you to make a decision or any pot you think you could have won more or loss less with. Just because you won the pot it doesn’t mean you played it properly. I see this mistake so often at the table. We seem to always be pleased with our play when we end up a winner of a pot or after a session. That should not be the case if you really understand that these results are short term and does not reflect anything in your game quality. Did you really play that ace-5 suited properly or did you end up calling a capped pot when you should have folded it in the first place? Some of the biggest pots won are a result of a bad beat or bad play on someone’s part. You cannot chase with a bad hand and expect to beat the odds every time you play. The instant rewards in poker are more a reflection of luck than on your play. A professional player might not win as much as you did on a certain day playing your hands but I bet he would have lost less on those days you lost the most and over time he will win much more than you.

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