Who is this for? Any players who think they might be able to benefit from some very solid advice in concerns to a human element of poker. Also, strong players who can contribute and add information I have missed.

I am creating this topic to get some more information on what type of different approaches I should take, to prepare myself for the human element of the game. We will not be discussing when to bet, raise, call, check, or fold. Instead we will focus on other important questions such as:

1. What psychological factors do you consider before you decide to start a session? (Do they increase or decrease your chances of winning?)
2. What are some realities of poker that every player should know and accept, before they choose to play?
3. What decisions in poker require assumptions or thought processes that are vastly different to the ones we encounter in our everyday life?
4. What reactions do you have when you lose a big pot? What are your coping strategies?
5. How do you prepare for and avoid tilt?

The following is what I can contribute.

1. The psychological factors I consider before I play are:
a) Has something upset me today? (Am I frustrated or angry at something?)
b) Do I feel depressed?
c) Am I afraid of something?
d) Am I happy? (Will I be prone to make decisions without due care?)
e) Is there a player I pity? (Will I play softer against him?)
f) Pride, generally come before a fall. Can I leave my ego at the door?
g) Am I nervous? Will I be able to focus and follow thought paths to their conclusion?

2. Five realities I have come to learn include
a) Poker is a game of both skill and luck
b) In the short term luck is king
c) In the long term skill is king
d) Poker is a game of small edges
e) Poker is a game of high variance

I have learned to play poker for the long term, I emphasize making correct decisions over making money, desensitize myself to money, leave my ego at the door, and remove all emotions from decisions.

3. Decisions in poker require assumptions or thought processes that are vastly different to those we require in our everyday life. It is human nature to look for the link between and action and its results. Making these links is the backbone of human learning. One huge benefit of observing these reactions is that it allows us to make changes. If your action doesn’t have desired reaction, then next time you can change the action to see how the reaction differs. In poker, the link between decisions and its results can be more difficult to identify. Any given action can have a wide range of results, both favourable and unfavourable and this makes the whole learning process a lot trickier. Some decisions in poker can be solved mathematically, most situations are far more complicated though. In these situations you can either learn from others with more experience or simply rely on trial and error.

The problem with trial and error is that when we perform an action and the results are perceived as bad, we instinctively want to change the action in order to get better results. This is a response of which the poker player must be very wary. When playing poker optimal actions can yield negative results, while foolish actions can yield positive results. This is a vital point for poker players top understand, otherwise you might end up making unwarranted changes to your game, or continue to make bad plays, on the basis of your short-term results.

4. Reactions I have noticed when players lose big pots are as follows. (I have rated them on a scale of one through four, one being the poorest, and included example of what someone may sound like who is experiencing this reaction)
1) Anger (Ex: “I can’t believe it! What was he thinking about calling all those bets?…)
2) Frustration (Ex: “What a bad beat! Losing an eleven big bet pot to a suck-out like that really hurts. How can you win at this game when players like that call down with garbage and hit?)
3) Acceptance (Ex: “Ouch! Oh well, that’s poker I suppose. If he keeps playing like that, I will take his money in the long run.”)
4) Indifference (Ex: “Okay, now I know that guy on the big blind will call down with pretty much anything, so I will take that into consideration from now on.”)
Different factors come into play and will have an effect on how the players responds, such as.
– How big the pot was
– How good you felt your chances were of winning the pot
– How you lost the pot
– How your session of recent results have been going
– Whether it is a tournament of cash game
– How adequately bankrolled you are
– Your attitude

A coping strategy I use is apply the poker mindset, the five realities of poker I briefly touched on earlier.

5. Five factors I consider when preparing for, and for avoiding tilt. (And why they are important)

1) Choose your playing times carefully
Don’t play when you are upset.
Don’t play when you have something big on your mind.
Don’t play when you are tilted.
Don’t play when you can’t focus 100% on the game.

2) Don’t keep score. Most players are guilty of keeping track of how much you’re “up” or “down” this session, but you should try to avoid keeping score in this way. There is no advantage to it; the best decision if the best decision, regardless of how well you have been doing this session.

3) Treat every decision as independent. Each decision should only be made with the intention of making the highest expected earn rate in the long term. If anything else plays a part in making a decision, you are tilting.

4) Have the correct attitudes towards your opponents. From one point of view your opponents are your enemy, it is your goal to win their money, and their goal to win yours. However, if you take a different perspective, your opponent aren’t really your enemy at all. While it is true that their collective success is inversely proportional to your own, they are really just another part of the game, which you must adopt to. Your goal isn’t to beat your opponents, it’s to win the most money, which can be done by making the best decision possible.

5) Ensure you are properly bankrolled. An adequate bankroll is fundamental to poker success, not just preventing tilt. If your bankroll is strong, you can easily rationalize any losses you experience.

OMG_EVERY_TIME