I really enjoy reading about poker, self-help books, stories about games, analyzing of hands, tips, etc. Here are some excerpts from an article I enjoyed.
Investing, like poker, requires cold, calculated decision-making. You must remain completely objective and emotionally detached. Most of all, you have to stay firmly planted in reality. I was recently sent a quote from the cutting-edge website scopelabs.net that read: "Trade what happens, not what you think should happen or want to happen."
What am I talking about? First, let's substitute the word "play" for "trade", with play encompassing all actions-checking, folding, calling, betting, or raising. Now, let's look at an easy example. We've all witnessed beginning players chasing down straights or flushes despite greatly unfavorable pot odds. They aren't playing what is actually transpiring at the table. They are playing what they want to happen. They are gambling in the purest sense--hoping to hit their draws. For them, it is much more about hope and gamble than making objective, calculated decisions based on all of the relevant factors happening at the table. This sounds exactly like Moose poker!
Poker can be a very cruel and unjust game in the short term. If you don't accept those terms, you can get into a lot of trouble. If you try to take matters into your own hands and excercise vigilante justice, the results can be disastrous. Take the situation of the guy who plays everything (now we are talking Moose) and gets a mountain of chips due to a great streak of luck. Most of his opponents will be salivating as they try to get their hands on those chips. You have to be smart about it, though. You can't just indiscriminately attack him because you believe those chips rightfully belong to you. If he's going to call no matter what, you have to wait until you have something to beat him. Yet, so ften I see players just continue to feed the luck monster needlessly instead of waiting for the right set of circumstances. If a player wants to give his chips away, you have to be ready to pounce and take advantage, but you can't play just because you think or want him to give those chips to you.
Anyway, I like the theme of this article...and how it can plug a leak in your game. You have to play according to what is happening, not what you wish or hope to happen. People will still draw out on you when they are not given the correct odds, but you always want to be on the side of getting all your chips in with the best hand.
Speaking of which, on another topic, whining now, I keep losing coin flips! It seems like I am losing every flip no matter which side I am on. With a pair, I lose to overcards, with overcards, I lose to a pair. When it is pair over pair, they hit their set! I even hit my overcards (ace king vs. pocket jacks) as in AK flop, and he hit his jack! This has happened to me at least 15 times this week. Sick of it!!!
1 comment:
I really like this post. I am beginning to see the light as regards pot outs and trying to play based on what is happening. I think this has a lot to do with playing many more tournaments and less live games. Also, I can definitely relate to your last paragraph. Last night I was as patient as possible and finally woke up with pocket aces only to have a guy with pocket jacks go all-in which is OK but then he hit a jack on the flop and I was gone as he barely had me covered. Oh, well . . . all-in with the best hand is always where I want to be!!
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