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The Scruff

One of my biggest failings in Hold'em is that I'll get tunnel vision, and stop looking for hands that might beat mine. I've done this in B&M casinos (and it is usually expensivee) and I did it here last night.

I called into a cheap pot (.10/.25) with Ac3s. Flop came something like
245 all clubs as I recall, or something similar to that.
So I'm sitting with:
straight.
nut flush draw.
straight flush draw.

Yee-haw. So it comes down to me and this other player both making pot-sized raises and calls. I miss all but the straight Sad

but make a call on the river anyway, figuring to push my opponent out of the pot. Completely miss that there is now a pair on the board and lose to a boat. Oops. Complete donk play, or $8 poker lesson depending on how you look at these things.

Other than practice, any tips for not getting so caught up in my own hand?
Or is it just a clueless n00b thing that you get over?

griffinlord

Gypsydc · Posted: Tue Apr 18, 2006 11:49 am Post subject:

Griffin's advice is great. Also, take your time. I mean, don't act like your at the final table at the WSOP, but don't feel like you have to rush your action. Take a moment and go through a check-list in your head.

What hands could beat mine? (were there raises/calls/reraises preflop)
How much of my stack am I risking?
How sure (%) am I that I have this hand?
Is my opponent giving any tells? (acting nonchalant or staring me down)

That's not necessarily the list you need but you get the jist of it. Good luck next time.

FatStacks06 · Royal Flush Joined: 26 Jan 2006 Posts: 736

There's a great article by Phil Gordon on the ESPN archive about the different levels of thinking. He lists 4 of them.

1. What do I have?
2. What does my opponent have?
3. WHat does my opponent think I have?
4. What does my opponent think that I think he has?

The first is what the typical amateur player thinks about (your tunnel vision). A good player will go through the first level rather quickly and get to the 2nd level. A really good player will get through all 3 levels, and most pros get through all 4. Obviously getting through all of this means taking your time. Bet your strong hands pre-flop to narrow down your opponent's possible holdings. Everything your opponent does will give you more information that you can use to make your decision and get through these different levels. By the river you should have a general idea (4-5 hands) of what your opponent has. If you don't, you're probably in trouble unless you hold the nuts and it doesn't really matter what he has.
Online you only really get about 25 seconds to make a decision, use it to your advantage in situations where you are investing a lot of money in pots.

Wusthof · Posted: Tue Apr 18, 2006 12:58 pm Post subject:

I had this problem when I first started playing and what has helped me a lot is the following....

I would take a deck of cards, deal out a flop and ask myself what 2 cards would have the nuts, then deal out the turn, ask myself the same question, then deal out the river card and ask it again. Put the cards back in the deck, shuffle 'em up, rinse and repeat.

This is basically programming you to do the opposite of your problem, at least it helped me to do the opposite. I now analyze every board, whether I am in the hand or not. Its saved me a lot of money.

princebalf · Flush Joined: 15 Jan 2006 Posts: 129

IMO one of the best ways to teach yourself how to read boards better is by playing OMAHA. the reason why i say this is because u u are not playing with just 1 hand but 6, as well as your oppenents 6 hands. this lets u play the "what does my oppenent have" game
also its lets u start doing more math in head faster as u start thinking about so many outs and which outs WONT help u.
by this i mean lets say u have 10s 10D AD KC

flop is KH 8H 9D
so now u look at your, u have TPTK, so what are your outs to win?
AS, AC, KS,KD,

your 10's are dead, any 10 on turn gives u set but gives str and flush
not eh best example but its early morning lol
but just by doing this u can learn it better and it make holdem alot easier when u only have to think about 1 hand vs 6 and in omaha u learn to think fast, so holdem comes faster

The Scruff · Posted: Thu Apr 20, 2006 11:18 am Post subject:

All good points, and thanks.

This is one area where No-Limit is more fiscally exciting (shall we say) than Limit -- all of a sudden, instead of putting in 3 big bets, I'm fully pot committed anyway.

Still, I'm getting better (where deterioration is impossible, improvement is imminent)

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