Pokerwiner.com → Within poker principles
1.Habitual Play.
One insidious threat to sound judgment in poker is the adoption of habitual ways of playing hands. Sometimes these are correct under the conditions in which they develop. Game conditions may change, however, making the same plays now incorrect. If, for instance, you are playing regularly against several very aggressive players and habitual bluffers – note that sometimes the distinction between the two is blurry – as well as a couple of “weak tight” players, you will learn to call down the aggressive players with modest holdings fairly frequently.
Simultaneously you will know to fold the same hands when bet into by the weak tight players. In neither case are you required to exercise a great deal of judgment. In fact, you may find that you have almost put this aspect of your play on “auto-pilot”, automatically calling here, folding there, because you have analyzed your opponents’ styles and little additional thinking is needed. The trap is that if you move on to a different game containing different types of players, or there is some turn over in the regular players in your game, you may forget to the plays you have become accustomed to, without applying considered judgment to the changed conditions in which in which you now find yourself. In this case you might quickly and incorrectly label your new opponents as “bluffers” or “non-bluffers”, because that is what you are used to, failing to consider that they might in fact lie somewhere in between.
Eventually, when you realize that you seem to keep “zigging when you should zag”, you may take a step back and analyze what you have been doing wrong. In the meantime you will cost yourself some money. (*It can also happen that those same players have moved into different categories as they have changed states. Habitual play can also arise from excessive adherence to a “cookbook” approach to the game. You have determined some effective plays for negotiating a variety of situations, but poker is a game of continual adjustment and counter-adjustment between observing opponents. Any plays that you make without variation, are vulnerable to exploitation by those who notice. Thus, the real problem develops when your god, profitable plays become so habitual, so automatic for you, that they make you more readable. It is certainly easier to play in a rote, automatic way, but the routine failure to apply judgment to individual situations will cost you.
2.Subtle tilt.
Another kind of lapse in judgment is seen in the subtler varieties of tilt. (We have already discussed less subtle verities). These can be triggered by a losing streak. If an otherwise solid player becomes repeatedly frustrated (or in some other way distressed) about his poor results, the frustration can become an ongoing problem, threatening to interfere with judgment and affect his play on a continuing basis. If you find that over multiple sessions you are preoccupied with the “bad beats” you have taken or the bad cards you have been receiving, this problem may be close at hand.
Some typical responses, for a better player, are to begin playing a few sub-marginal hands that he normally would fold, to overplay some hands (e.g., raising when he should call or fold), and to go too far in calling with hands, perhaps rationalizing his calls with unfounded suspicions that his opponents are bluffing, or pushing weak hands. More generally, anything which shifts your focus strongly away from the quality of your play to your short term results is likely to trigger subtle tilt. This can range from concerns over “quitting winners” to feeling competitive with certain players. These are foci which only distract from the precise judgment needed to make consistently correct decisions. Subtle tilt is a broad category, encompassing any adverse, subtle impact of emotion on your play.
3.Misinformation
A third enemy of sound judgment is any misconception that a player may adopt about what constitutes profitable play. These can start with something you might read or hear from another player. If it is incorrect, or you misinterpret it, then acting on it is likely to cost you. For instance, you might hear from a skilled player that “Good players can play some lesser hands because they outplay opponents after the flop”. While there is some truth in this, it is dangerously easy to take the idea too far (particularly in holdem), using it to rationalize the play of hands that dip below “marginal”. Similarly, I frequently see poker advice on the Internet which is submitted very confidently and articulately, and eagerly accepted as correct by players hungry for knowledge.
Unfortunately, despite its attractive packaging, the advice is often inaccurate. You must assess very carefully any poker advice that comes from a source you are not sure of, including making sure you understand correctly what that person said. Often, plays made in the absence of optimum judgment may be just barely wrong. For this reason they can be difficult to spot in your play, and may persist for some time. Because they are made repeatedly, and because some are errors which compound themselves during a hand, the cost can add up significantly. A vicious cycle may develop with your poor results increasing your frustration, and leading to even worse play. It can also happen that these enemies of sound judgment work in combination. For example, being subtly on tilt for a period of multiple sessions, your errors may become habitual, especially if they are reinforced by some short term winning results.
You may then have great trouble seeing them as incorrect even after you have resolved the emotional factors underlying the tilt. This is an insidious process indeed. In Part II, I will describe some typical errors which result from these subtle losses of judgment in poker.
On Tilt: Part II – The Professional Attitude / Subtle Losses of Judgment: Part I
Subtle Losses of Judgment: Part II / A Poker Player in Therapy