Wednesday, June 17, 2009

The Consequences of Failing to Listen to Your Inner Voice



Am I on tilt right now?
Am I getting too tired to play?
Should I leave this table?
Should I call this raise?
Should I play ATo under the gun?
Should I go ahead and bluff here?
Should I steal with this turd of a hand?



No matter what the question is, the answer never changes. It's always the one you least wanted to hear. Notice how the simple act of asking yourself that question gives you the answer. Also notice how failing to act on the advice given back to you is a mistake about 90% of the time.

Ahh...one of the beauties of this game of poker. That same voice inside you that you use to consistently lie to your girlfriend, your wife, your parents, your kids, and even yourself will not persuade the powers of the universe that you are not completely full of shit. Because when you deny that inner voice, you are betraying your well-honed poker instincts in favor of your ego or your emotions, which are the least suited for rational decision making at the table. Decisions made on the fly are almost never good ones. Great decisions are planned in advance with contingencies already put into place for any card that can hit on the turn or river.

Though it is never easy, this is some of the most solid advice you will ever receive: if you have to ask the question, you already know the answer.

9 comments:

James P McAteer said...

solid

Anonymous said...

Very well put sir, as a counter to a quote I heard somewhere or other. 90% of my losses at the tables are not because of my opponent’s brilliance, but because I have the poker brain of a drunken monkey when tilted/tired/drunk/otherwise distracted.

SplitSuit said...

you may want to give the book "Blink" a read through. might change your opinion on the matter

def agree with quite a bit of this though

*SS*

Unknown said...

Lorin/Travis Strategy question. While this is a specific example it happens enough that I am curious what the pro short stacker response and not my newb thinking as I am just a convert.
Full Ring (I have 20 BBS)in MP1 I have AK suited, there is a limp UTG. I make it 4BBs MP2 makes it 10.5 BBs. Folds to me, and I push. Rolls AA. Similar situations that I have encountered with that kind of raise is always JJ+ or AK. Of course depending on the player (I have seen players roll that on me with AJ AQ etc) as well. I know you've been trying to stay away from HUD but for more info he was around roughly 240 hands played against played about 25% of those hands reraised about 10% of the time.

My main question is, is this just a standard repush for me almost always(unless I know the guy is super sick tight (where its only kk aa)), or am I missing something big that will/is turning into a leak.

It has just felt that recently many of these situations have been turning into the opponent rolling over KK, AA as opposed to flips or me dominating their hands (Over a small sample size like 10k hands but can never be to careful about leaks).

Thanks for the time and wisdoms.

On a side note have either of you been to a brazilian steak house.

Lorin Yelle said...

Unfortunately, there is no good news here. You are forced to pay it off, because of the very nature of your hand. Yes, this is usually a strong hand, but I see some really wacko shit here as well. Possibly a misclick? Could be, but...

I wish I could help you with this one. It's actually one of the hard situations to hand, since you MUST call. I can at least tell you this though...

If you hold a weaker hand like JTs, call and ONLY get in with two pair or better. If you flop a draw and they check to you (if they were in the blinds), ALWAYS check behind. After all, anyone sneaky enough to do this, is also likely to check raise you here.

Unknown said...

Thanks Lorin, at the very least I feel better. That's around what I thought, but hearing it from you at least is some relief. What about the brazilian steak house question?

Lorin Yelle said...

No, but it sounds like a "happy ending" of sorts, if you catch my drift...

Unknown said...

Lol.

All I can say is if you like meat search one up, (Texas de Brazil, Fogo de Chao, or Brazzaza is all I know of). For $40 dollars you get a 40 item salad bar (and usually a good soup like lobster bisque) and all you can eat of meats brought around to you on spits (Like 16 different cuts some wrapped in bacon, ribs, chicken, lamb). Its worth 40 BBs of .50-1.00. You and Travis should try it you'll thank me.

Anonymous said...

What Roenan said. Churascarrias are the stone cold NUTS.