What do you
Bring to the Table?
No matter how good of
a poker player you are, you’re bound to have a few leaks
in your game. Maybe you get “lucky” feelings telling
you to chase inside straight draws. Maybe you can’t
escape from premium pairs even when the board looks unfavorable.
Then again, maybe it’s just you.
Take me for example. I’m
a fairly nice guy. I’m honest and unselfish. I enjoy
the occasional candlelit dinner and long walk on the beach.
Certainly I feel these are fine traits to have in life, but
take them to the table with you and KAZAAM, as Shaq would
say, all of a sudden you’re an ATM with legs.
Think about it. Poker
is a game that rewards certain traits and characteristics
over others. Aggressiveness over passiveness. Deceitfulness
over honesty. Fearlessness over fright. Calm confidence over
cocksure recklessness. The truth is that all players, and
all people really, have the capacity for both good and bad
poker dispositions, but it is often our individual inclinations
that push or pull us towards either end of the spectrum. Failing
to recognize when your personality is negatively affecting
your game can potentially become one of the biggest leaks
of your game.
In my past experiences
as a poker beginner, I’ve found out the hard way how
being a nice guy at the table can inadvertently turn one into
an overly-generous weak, passive player. Heck, I might as
well have been a rich philanthropist at a table full of cookie-pandering
girl scouts. Often times I found myself deciding to fold strong
hands pre-flop rather than coming in for a raise, checking
through in late positions instead of attempting to steal pots,
and giving my opponents far too much credit for their mediocre
hands. As many of the more experienced players at the table
probably could have sensed, I was “scared money,”
and was easy to push around.
Of course being a naturally
passive person is only one of many character traits that can
become a flaw when you’ve got cards and chips in front
of you. If you happen to be an arrogant hothead for instance,
you may find yourself getting far too deep in hands you shouldn’t
be involved in, being unable to patiently fold. Young males
in particular seem to succumb to this egotistical style of
play, constantly raising and re-raising one another like a
bunch of feces-slinging apes.
Sadly for them, but fortunately
for others, the apparent shock of constantly losing showdowns
with sub-par hands only aggravates their raging hormonal temperaments
and pushes them even further over the line of tilt. Players
like these eventually taught me that there is a profitable
middle ground between shy and reckless play that incorporates
both confident patience and timely aggression, though always
within a calm and composed mentality. It was a lesson I learned
not by following other players’ examples, but by adapting
to their mistakes and loosening or tightening my play accordingly.
It is not always easy
to step outside of our lives and consciously analyze our behavior,
be it moves we make at the table, on the job, or in interpersonal
relationships. But without doing so we can often find ourselves
losing out in some way or another, and this can certainly
become the obvious truth when you see your bankroll dwindling
down to nothing. Whether you’re having problems buying
in for the full amount because you’re scared you’ll
lose it all, or you’re having problems folding to a
re-raise because you think it’s not the manly thing
to do, I challenge you to reevaluate how you play, and why
you play that way.
Maybe you’ll find
the problem isn’t with your knowledge of pot odds, pre-flop
strategies, or any mechanical issues of the game, but rather,
that you just need a little brushing up on yourself.
Best of luck at the tables.
Mad Terp
Editor's note: The
Mad Terp, as we so fondly refer to him because of the university
he attends, also has his own website where readers may rate
their favorite poker site, or join in the discussion forum
of poker players.
http://www.imopoker.com/
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