Pokerwiner.com → Within poker principles
ARE THERE REMEDIES
As I stated in Part One, hand selection errors are avoidable. I have described a number of identifiable causes of such errors. If you find you are prone to such misplays, and are motivated to eliminate them from your game, you may benefit from determining which of the causes I have listed apply in your case. Those that apply will dictate particular remedies.
Cause 1 is tricky to deal with. In the short term your best insurance against overrating your ability is enough education in poker theory to have a sense of how much you actually know. This should be combined with a sound knowledge of the nature of the fluctuations which occur in the game. Study and experience can provide these. Over a longer period of time, however, your results will reflect how well you have played. If you think you have been playing well, yet your results have not been very good, you should consider that you may not be as skilled as you think you are. Furthermore, if you continue to maintain that you are an excellent player despite contradictory results, it may reflect an emotional problem centering around self-esteem. Moreover, it is a problem which will impact your poker results.
If you refuse to believe you are not a great player, you will likely ignore the study and analysis of the game that you need in order to improve. Without going into psychological detail, I will merely suggest that your best bet for overcoming such a problem might involve psychotherapy. Though entering psychotherapy may sound like an extreme measure, if you are serious about poker and want to earn math, that it is surprisingly cost effective. It may even save your poker career. (See the essay, “A Poker Player in Therapy”). It is up to you to decide what you are willing to do to improve your play.(You might consider as well the broader benefits you may gain from a well conduct psychotherapy). Unfortunately, the need to preserve self-esteem tends to be stronger than the willingness to confront oneself honestly. Therefore, most players who do overrate their skill will never acknowledge or even recognize this tendency in themselves. They will not likely seek help until their internal problems create intense distress in other areas of their lives.
Cause 2, going on tilt, can often be remedied without going as far as psychotherapy. Deepening your knowledge of the game so that you develop the “professional attitude” may help a great deal. (See the essays on the topic of tilt). For some players, going on tilt may be symptomatic of deeper psychological problems. Here again, professional assistance is indicated.
Causes 3, 4 and 5 are addressed through the study of poker. This can include reading, consulting with an expert, and analyzing poker problems and strategies. For the present purpose, study particularly the play of the first two cards, especially why certain hands are indicated in certain situations while others are not, and why hands are played the way they are. Dealing with Reason 3, the illusion that any two cards can win, requires the specific development of an understanding of the advantages of one starting hand over another in a given situation. If you almost always defend your bigs blinds, for example, you need a better understanding of the exact nature of the advantages a hand like
He has over something like
In a heads-up situation.
Cause 6 suggests a scenario in which there is actually no problem to be resolved. If a player is capable of playing consistently well, but for some reason chooses not to, that is his prerogative. I can only wish that the best players in the games I play in would make that choice more often. It is ironic that an area of holdem in which the correct decision is usually pretty simple is also such a common source of errors. I hope that the points outlined here have clarified the cost and causes of these mistakes, while providing some ideas on how to eliminate them from your play.
Playing Too Many Hands-I / Playing Too Many Hands-II
Bad Plays Good Players make / Self-Weighting Cold Calls
Do You Pass the Ace-Queen Test /