The Boy Scouts Got it Right

The Boy Scouts slogan, "Be Prepared," certainly applies to our game. If you don't prepare well, you probably won't win. Unfortunately, most people don't do it, which is one reason they lose.

Poker requires extremely fast, complicated decisions: In just a few seconds, you must assess:

• your own cards

• the other players' probable cards

• the probability that you have the best hand

• the probability that your hand will improve enough to win (or that others will improve enough to beat you)

• the odds being given by the pot

• the potential costs and profits of future betting rounds

• the other players' likely actions

• many other factors

If you haven't prepared carefully, you won't have enough time to consider all the variables and make good decisions. Therefore, the better prepared players (whom I'll call "winners") have an enormous edge.

Winners prepare at all of the following times:

• long before the game

• on the way to the cardroom

• before taking a seat

• while playing a hand

• after folding their cards

• after finishing a session

Hardly anyone is that thorough, but the closer you come to this ideal, the better you will do.

Long Before the Game

Winners memorize the odds, study strategy, and master the theory of poker. They buy many good books, read Card Player, attend seminars, and treat poker the way doctors and lawyers treat their professions.

A few successful players brag that they have never studied a book (just as a few people brag that they never cracked a book in school). However, studying greatly improves your expected value, which is what poker is all about. On this point, David Sklansky wrote:

"I contend that no more than 1 percent of those who try to make it as poker players without serious study succeed. On the other hand, I think about 10 percent of serious students succeed. But since the first group is much larger than the second … we wind up with about equal numbers of successful players from each group." (Footnote: Poker, Gaming, & Life, Page 11)

"It is no secret that many successful poker players have learned little or nothing from poker books or articles. However, that doesn't mean that reading about poker is of little value. The fact is that many of the superstars are freaks. They have an inborn talent for the game as most champion athletes do …

"With proper coaching, practice, and study [most people] can frequently surpass people who have much more talent, but don't want to study and practice the fundamentals." (Footnote: Sklansky, David, Poker, Gaming & Life, Page 25f)

In other words, unless you have immense natural talent, you had better study carefully. Unfortunately, many people overestimate their abilities and don't understand how much their laziness costs them.

Some intuitive players detest that sort of preparation. They regard it as a mechanical, unimaginative approach, similar to "painting by the numbers." They say, in effect, "You simpletons need to prepare, but smart people like me are beyond it."

I'm reminded of an English professor's comment: "Some aspiring authors insist that they don't need to learn the rules of composition because James Joyce violated them in his greatest book, Ulysses. But he didn't break them until he mastered them in his earlier works." Exactly the same principle applies to poker.

Winners master the rules, not to apply them mechanically, but to ensure that they know them so well that they don't have to think about them. In fact, preparing in advance for any possible situation is the way to train doctors, astronauts, and other professionals.

On the Way to the Cardroom

While traveling, most players don't think seriously about the game. Their minds are on their jobs, family, traffic, dinner, and many other subjects. If they think of poker, it is usually in a vague, hopeful way: "I sure hope I win tonight."

Winners use this time to prepare mentally. They "psych themselves up" just the way professional athletes do. They purge their minds of distractions such as a fight at home or a decision at work to get ready to win.

Before Taking a Seat

If there is a seat open, most people just take it and start to play, but winners look for specific information. They see who is playing at each table, mentally review what they know about these players, look for other signs such as laughter or large pots, and then pick the table that offers the best prospects.

After choosing a table, winners keep preparing. For example, they size up the unknown players and see whether familiar players are acting differently from usual. They might note that a normally conservative player is playing wildly, or that someone is drinking heavily. They use all this information to plan their strategy.

They also choose their seat carefully. Because it helps to be to the left or right of various players, they take or plan to take the best seat. Losers don't think seriously about seat selection, or they pick a seat for superstitious or other silly reasons.

While Playing a Hand

Most people focus their attention on their own cards and ignore almost everything else. When it is their turn to act, they may not know how much is in the pot, how much it will cost to call or raise, who is in the pot, what each player did, and what the other players' bets mean. They must therefore make rapid, complicated decisions without enough information. They may just guess or rely on simplistic formulas. For example, if they have a pair of aces, they automatically raise, regardless of the situation.

Winners don't guess or rely on formulas. They try to maximize their understanding of the situation, because they know the right play nearly always depends on it. They automatically count the pot. They mentally record who is involved, how they play, and what each one has done on every betting round. They get enough information to make good decisions.

After Folding Their Cards

Most people, when they fold their cards, do what comes naturally: check the baseball scores, make small talk, or just relax. But winners look at every revealed card, review the other players' betting, and make inferences about their strategies, strengths, and weaknesses.

They also review their own play. What have they done well or poorly? Why are they playing this way?

From time to time, they put together all this information and make some important decisions:

• Should they change their strategy?

• Should they change tables? The game that appeared attractive may be tougher than anticipated, or it may have changed.

• Should they change seats to get a better position on certain players?

• Should they just go home? If they are not playing well, it is probably the best decision.

These decisions require more careful analysis than they can make while playing a hand.

After Finishing the Session

When they finish playing, most people forget what has happened and shift their attention to other matters. If they think of the game, it is of how much they won or lost, or what bad beats they took, not what lessons they can learn. Winners review the session, analyze their own play (especially their mistakes), and prepare for future sessions.

Note that most focus on their bad luck, while winners think about their own play because they have different motives. Most people blame bad luck to protect their egos, but winners want to improve their game.

The most thorough players go further: They talk to other serious players to develop their skills. These discussions usually emphasize mistakes and ways to correct them.

Final Remarks

It is not natural or enjoyable to do all this preparation, and most people just won't do it. But it is natural to lose, which is not fun at all. About 90 percent of all cardroom players are long-term losers. If you want to be one of the winning 10 percent, you have to take many unnatural actions. Your choice is quite simple: You can act naturally and lose, or prepare thoroughly and win.

Alan's book, The Psychology of Poker, can be purchased from Card Player.