Mind Over Poker

Many players take a fatalistic point of view when playing poker. I not only see it at the tables, but I hear it in their stories and read it in their blogs. Invariably, the story is told in a way that suggests there was absolutely nothing the player could have done to avoid going broke on a particular hand. Phrases such as “fairly standard” or “unavoidable” or “nothing else I could have done” are used.

Now, there is no question that you will get hit with coolers every so often, and there truly is nothing you can do about it. In fact, if you don’t go broke on these hands, you are probably playing way too tight. A perfect example is flopping a set of sixes on a 10-6-2 rainbow board and losing to a set of tens. Of course, there are also those times when you get your money in as a favorite and get outdrawn. With one exception, this column isn’t about these examples.

What I would like to address are those supposedly unavoidable situations that are avoidable. Let’s begin with hand selection. If you call a preflop raise with K-10 and end up losing your chips on a king-high flop when you are outkicked, don’t call that situation unavoidable. You easily could have avoided the situation by folding preflop. Even if you wanted to play the hand, you had to have the discipline to fold when you sensed that you were in trouble.

Let’s look at a “not as obvious” situation. Many players believe that they must be willing to play for all of their chips preflop with A-K. When they do, they are willing to accept their fate, win or lose. Certainly, there are times when you should welcome the chance to get your chips in preflop with A-K. Furthermore, if you’re never willing to gamble or race, you’re playing too conservatively. However, is A-K really a go-to-the-mat-for-all-of-your-chips, do-or-die hand, no matter what situation you’re in? Suppose that you are at the final table, there are nine of you left, and you are one of the two massive chip leaders. While it makes sense to take on any of the smaller stacks with your A-K, do you want to go heads up with the other chip leader with that hand for your entire stack?

Personally, I wouldn’t want to go heads up with the other chip leader even as a small favorite. There is just no reason to subject myself to that kind of variance when I’m in a great position. The scope of this column is much greater than the few examples I can touch on in a limited amount of space. The real point is that each of us should take the time to truly think about those unavoidable situations and ask ourselves if they were, in hindsight, avoidable.

I was prompted to write this column after discussing situations with a friend who was going through a real rough stretch at the tables. He was convinced that he was doing everything right but was just getting unlucky. There was no question that he was suffering through a horrific stretch of bad luck, which is going to happen. However, he also was relying way too much on the cards, and was not taking matters into his own hands by picking choice spots and exploiting favorable situations. This was coupled by a need to play cards in unfavorable situations. In one hand, he called a preflop raise from the small blind with A-10 against the overwhelming chip leader. He ended up losing his chips on an ace-high flop, and immediately cursed his bad luck at this unavoidable set of circumstances. Yet, the entire situation could have been avoided if he had folded preflop rather than take on the chip leader in a precarious situation. My friend had the second-most chips at the table, and easily could have saved them for use in far more favorable situations. However, those more favorable situations won’t come if you can’t avoid the unavoidable.

David Apostolico is the author of several poker-strategy books, including Tournament Poker and The Art of War. He hosts a radio show every Tuesday at 8 p.m. EDT on www.holdemradio.com. He is available for lessons, and you can contact him at [email protected].