Pokerwiner.com → Within poker principles

PLAYING TOO MANY HANDS II
CAUSES AND REMEDIES

In Part I of this examination of overly loose poker hand selection, I detailed the nature and cost of this obvious but serious problem. Here I will outline some causes of this class of error and suggest some remedies.

WHAT BRINGS ABOUT TOO-LOOSE PLAY

Why, given the cost, do so many players, even some very good ones, play hands with a negative expectation? Shouldn’t better than average players know that this is a costly practice? Many undoubtedly do, but act counter to their knowledge. Though my ideas about why they do this are conjecture.

I BELIEVE THE ANSWER USUALLY INVOLVES ONE OR MORE TO THESE CAUSES:

1.Players overrate their abilities:

Some players, after developing a modicum of skill, begin to see themselves as playing somewhere near a world-class level. Consequently, having heard that the best players can get away with the best players they think they can do this too. Their overrating their abilities may have to do with the chance element in poker. Because players often win despite flawed play, sometimes for extended streaks, some erroneously associate their results with their play. That they arrive at this faulty conclusion while others don’t can result from a lack of knowledge of the fluctuations to be expected in poker. In other cases it has a psychological explanation which is beyond the scope of this essay. Sufficient to say that many people unconsciously seek ways to boost their self-esteem. For some, deceiving themselves about their abilities in poker provides this boost.

2.They go subtly “on tilt.”

As my essays on the phenomenon of “tilt” explain, I define tilt as the effects of emotional reactions on one’s play. I believe the majority of players spend a certain amount of time on tilt without even realizing it. When their misplays are fairly innocuous – a call here, an extra hand played there – they are less likely to identify them as the result of being on tilt. But when you make an error when you know better, that’s tilt. It may be a mild instance of tilt, but it is emotion affecting the play of a hand. Your intellect says to do one thing but something makes you do otherwise. That “something” is an emotional reaction, be it frustration, anger, boredom, is an emotional reaction, be it frustration, anger, boredom, or nearly any other feeling which becomes strong enough (perhaps unconsciously) to affect your actions. Playing a hand that should be folded, even though you know better, is simply a moment of tilt.

3.They are influenced by the illusion that any two cards can win

While this notion is, of course, true in the short term, it is false in the long run. Still, this sense that any two cards can win seems to be so strong in holdem that it affects even some of the better players. While they may pay lip service to the importance of selecting the right hands to play, on another level, they don’t truly feel it is of much consequence to play a few weak hands, as the flop changes things so much anyway. This illusion is used as a rationalization which facilitates going on tilt.

Next >>

Playing Too Many Hands-I
Bad Plays Good Players make / Self-Weighting Cold Calls
Do You Pass the Ace-Queen Test /

Conjecture on the Limits of Tell Detectability
Quick Indicators / Afterthought