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I have mixed feelings about people qualifying their poker advice. There are two sides to the coin. Sometimes you see people give out advice without any qualification and the advice given is not applicable except for in certain games. Other times, players discredit advice that is correct a large percentage of time by finding the theoretical flaw in it. Which philosophy is more correct and why am I making a big deal about this?

In all forms of poker there are many variables that need to be considered. (more…)

I have a new article, “Understand Yourself”, that has just been published in the January issue of the 2+2 internet magazine. Stop by and check out it!

Feel free to add any comments about the article in the comment sections of this blog entry.

P.S.

For those wondering, this little project is why I haven’t had as many new posts recently.

Over the last 9 months or so, I have been spending most of my “posting” time in the PL/NL Full Ring Hold ‘Em forums¹. I believe that discussing strategy at the forums and with other players in a one-on-one scenario are some of the best ways to improve your game. However, I do see the same couple of issues popping up over and over again when players are starting out in No-Limit. If you want to get better at No-Limit you must learn to ask the right questions and you must understand how to plan your hand around commitment². Learn more about asking the right questions

1. This forum has now been split into the Micro limit and small-high limits [↩]
2. Both of these should be something that you are constantly working on [↩]

I have decided to continue my psychology thang I am on. They say you write about things you are interested in and as of right poker psychology is my main squeeze. I would like to get some hands up soon so that maybe we can get some strategy discussion on here.

I find that once a poker player reaches a certain stage that his biggest limiting factor is himself. Pretty much all players can get a good general grip on strategy such that they will be able to beat games that aren’t too tough. At a certain point a player must look inward to find new leaks. I have discussed this somewhat in my Ask Why blog.

I believe two of the most common flaws I see around the forums are the “I am not weak-tight” flaw and the “I watch too much TV” flaw. These two flaws are closely related to each other and often have the same symptoms. Read more about these flaws

They say lots of things. They say… a bird in the hand is better than two in a bush. They say… be careful what you wish for. They say… the man who goes to bed with itchy butt awakes with stinky finger.

They also say that the first step to fixing a problem is admitting that you have one. I have a problem. I can’t focus as well as I would like!

There – I said it.

I’m a daydreamer. I spend a majority of my time not really where I am at.

I can study poker, post on forums, discuss the game with respected players, and read all the books I have five times. I study poker constantly. In fact, I am often daydreaming about poker when I am anywhere. The irony of the situation is when I sit down to play poker after work, like I have been waiting to do all day, I daydream about something else! When I sit down to play poker I am a daydreaming aficionado. This is not a good thing.

Now, I am exaggerating a bit. It is not 100% of the time that I don’t focus while I am playing poker. However, it still is pretty high. It is hard to guess a number when you are trying to guess how often you aren’t paying attention. If I had to guess, I would say something like 50% of time. It’s pretty embarrassing to admit actually, but that brings us back to what they say. So, there. It’s out!

Let’s think only in poker terms. Why do I have trouble focusing when playing poker? Show me more!