Pokerwiner.com → Within poker principles
You, The machine
Imagine a computer program of the future, or perhaps some superior “intelligent ” creation descended from today’s software. Suppose you had such a program running on an equally advanced computer, playing poker for you today in $20-$40 holdem game which went around the clock. Naturally, the program would use highly sophisticated artificial intelligence, observing and listening to the other players with the computer’s advanced audio and video capabilities, always determining the best play based on all. The idea is that there is really nothing wrong with, and may be benefits associated with making a slightly incorrect play if it might substantially cut your loss.
For instance, you might play a small pair with one opponent fewer than you normally require, or draw to a gutshot straight with slightly insufficient pot odds. Neither of these is going to cost more than a tiny bit in the long run, but either may win you a decent pot and lift your spirits, thus helping you continue to play your best. This is especially applicable to holdem where you always have the dubious chance to see whether you would have made your hand, and will thus likely be further demoralized if you see that, for the sake of perfect play, you missed your chance to get close to even available information. While you sat home, the computer, starting with a generous $30,000 bankroll, would play, always with an extremely advanced level of “skill.” Because it would play better than any human it could be expected to achieve an hourly rate of somewhere over two big bets per hour, the exact rate determined by how tough the game was over time.
Most knowledgeable players would see such a situation as a virtual guarantee of making good money over time. Thepokertree would of course be some periodic downswings, but they would always be overcome. This would be a “sure thing ” if there ever was one. Now imagine that although you would spend most of your time in other pursuits, you could, at any time, turn on a monitor and check in on how your computer was fearing in the game. Let’s say the computer has been playing for several months, and has generated something near the expected profit for that time span. Now, at 1:35 p.m. on a Monday you check in and learn that the computer was just drawn out on by a player who had only two outs. In fact it has sustained a $960 downswing over the last few hours, having been similarly drawn out on several times and after missing a number of big draws of its own.
Do you worry? Are you upset? Most good players would answer something like, “Of course not. That machine will just keep playing and eventually win more than any other player in the game.”(*This frame of mind is not as hypothetical as it seems ). Yet many of these same good players, become sullen and feel dejected when they sit through a similar downswing during their own play. For many it affects their play, only making matters worse. You must realize that as long as you continue to play as correctly as you can, given the information available to you, you are really quite similar to the computer. You aren’t quite as skilled, so your hourly rate will be lower, but as long as you have an adequate poker bankroll and play in games in which you have a positive expectation, you will win over time, just the computer.
So the next time you are stuck or have lost back a good win, think of yourself as a computer, playing on, playing correctly, hand after hand in a game that never ends.(*Bear in mind that if your are losing, and this causes your opponents to respond to you differently, you may need to adjust your play. Most casino owners possess it as we speak. Rest assured, if you are good enough to win, you will win over time. Poker is tough enough; don’t make it harder on yourself by going on tilt in response to natural variations in the cards.
Danger in the Goal of Winning?
Aside from it’s skill, the great strength of the computer program I described above is that it has only one purpose: To play very well. That’s all it does. It is incapable of tilt. It doesn’t try to get even, it doesn’t get mad and try to beat a specific player, it doesn’t worry about losing back a win. It just plays on, expertly. In so inhuman degree. Though you are human, by adopting the professional attitude to the extent that you can, you can separate yourself form the poker crowd. Only a tiny fraction of players truly embrace it. Perhaps the single greatest obstacle to it arises from what is for most players the very essence of poker: Winning and losing. Most players naturally see poker as a competition, a game they try to win. Just one tiny step further, and winning becomes their primary focus as they play.
That’s the problem. By fixing their focus on winning (in the short run) they concern themselves with what they hope will happen in the future. Yet they are constantly confronted with decisions in the present. Moreover, it is their handling of those decisions which determines their long term results. Their focus is thus misplaced. Please don’t misunderstand me. Certainly any serious player aims to win in the long run. There’s no need to deny your reason for sitting down at the poker table to begin with, but beware of confusing your long and short tem goals. Focusing your attention strongly on winning in the short term will promote tilt and damage your results. What, you don’t believe me? Then try this sometime. For an hour of your play stop thinking about the decisions you face at the poker table.
Don’t assess your options as you play each hand. Put those things out of your mind. Shift your focus instead to your desire to win as soon as possible this session. You want to win each pot right now. Put your mind intensely and exclusively on winning them. Now, how well do you think you’ll play during this hour? I can tell you I don’t like your chances. Well, though few players take their minds that far off their playing decisions, I hope that scenario makes clear that it is really only on the objective assessment of those decisions that your mind belongs as you play.
On Tilt: Part II – The Professional Attitude / Subtle Losses of Judgment: Part I
Subtle Losses of Judgment: Part II / A Poker Player in Therapy