Poker Insights
Bad Beats are overhead; Chips, the cost of doing business, and business is good.
There is never a certain prescribed way to play a hand, just a way to think about them. There's the expected result, based on analysis, and the actual result, based on events. Every search begins with beginner's luck. Beginner’s luck in poker feels like winning a big hand on your first night at the table.
That rush? It’s unforgettable, and it hooks you. Suddenly, poker feels like your calling. However, beginner’s luck can mislead. It’s easy to overestimate your skill, mistaking chance for mastery.
I always say, "Whether my decision is good or bad depends on how I make it, not on the outcome." Loose
players are looking for reasons to CALL; TIGHT, to FOLD. Last night, I sat down with a bunch of loose
players — and when the right people show up, the right game does too.
Focus on Decisions, Not Consequences
Here’s the scenario: Preflop decision with K10 off suit in a multiway pot. There’s a six-dollar straddle, I re-raise $15 last to act, trying to steal the straddle or at least go heads-up with the button! I get reraised to $100. Then something crazy happened: call, call, call. Pocket 99 folds.
Making the Wrong Mistake at the Right Time
I call with ATC’s (Any Two Cards). I get lucky and flop a made Broadway straight with no draws! I rake in a massive pot — going from zero to hero.
Poker is too random to be left up to chance. It’s situational too. Big hands for big pots — not committing your big stack with weak small hands. Think about good decisions, not results. It’s about the process, not pots won — the chips will come.
Do what you love, and the money will follow. Have a love affair with making sound decisions based on partial information. It is, after all, about excelling, not winning or losing a particular hand.