Improving the Average Player

Poker is an easy game to beat; just play with folks who are worse than you. Unfortunately, that blessing hides a curse. Winning can make you think you’re good, and your desire to increase your profits can cause you to challenge more talented opponents for higher stakes.

Surely, there’s nothing wrong with that. That’s the way the world works. The problem comes when players who used to be winners now become break-even or losing players. It doesn’t happen overnight. People do not suddenly move from winning to losing as if someone threw a switch.

Instead, the winning sessions become fewer, and the wins smaller. The losing sessions become more frequent, and the losses larger. The slow process takes place over a period of weeks, months, or even years. “Good” players, former winners, who do not make obvious or glaring mistakes do not see the subtle errors they are making, and therefore cannot address them.

Let’s look at a physical game like bowling. If you throw gutter balls and score in the 70s, you realize that you need improvement. In poker, this need is harder to notice.
Your opponents look a lot like you do: They bet, raise, call, and fold. Sometimes they win a pot, and sometimes they lose one. The fact that over time one opponent is a winner and another is not may not be clear just by watching what cards they show.

The things the winner does that someone else may not do are often hidden. That is, the winner may fold a hand that an average player would play. The winner may raise with a hand with which the average guy holding it would just call.

I recently had the opportunity to drive these observations home when I coached an average player over a lengthy period of time. I quietly watched him play dozens of hands. He made very few terrible errors. He was tight before the flop, never playing a weak hand or a marginal hand out of position. After the flop, almost none of his bets or calls were totally unreasonable. In spite of this, I observed numerous times that an alternative play had a better chance for success.

The fact is, it is hard to see your own errors. First, because some of the errors work for you, especially when your opponents play worse than you do, you can make them and still win. Second, just because you make an error, it does not mean that it costs you. You can draw out, catch an unlikely bluff, or profit in other ways.

So, can you discover your own mistakes? Yes, in a variety of ways. Thousands of players have studied their own games statistically and analytically and made corrections. Others have worked with buddies or coaches. Sharing ideas, whether it’s with one other person or a few, can provide you with insights into your own game. And a good poker coach can observe and rapidly identify flaws in your game while providing methods for you to improve.

Let’s look at two of the most common errors that most average players make:
• Playing passively
• Staying too long

Playing passively: This topic covers a multitude of playing errors. Many players simply fail to bet when they have a good hand. They lose bets that can come from opponents with weaker hands, and also lose the opportunity to get one or more opponents to fold. No one ever folds to a check or call.

The same passive play applies to raises. Average players do not raise enough. Poker situations are often difficult to read, and most players can never be sure if they are ahead or behind. Players in this amorphous situation understandably do not want to commit extra chips when they may be behind, but by not doing so, they lose several opportunities to profit or gain information.

We all know that raising can get you more money when you’re ahead, but fewer players realize that raising can also save you money when you’re behind. Let’s say that you have a good hand in position in a limit hold’em game, but your opponent may have a better one. He bets the flop, turn, and river, while you call along. He shows you the best hand, and you lose five small bets. Now let’s say that you raise on the flop. If he three-bets, or check-raises the turn, and you decide to believe him, you can release your hand and lose only two or four small bets, respectively. If he just calls the flop and turn, you can check the river and lose four small bets. I understand that you may be subjected to the occasional bluff, but you should know which players are capable of that and which are simply trying to play well. Most opponents, in most situations (especially when you raise them), can be trusted, thus enabling you to save money. Pros realize this and raise aggressively; average players do not.

Most players think they’re aggressive, but very few are aggressive enough. Most do not want to stomach the extra swings that come when they raise and lose, or get outdrawn. Consider adding more selective aggression to your game and see what happens over time.

Staying too long: Many players like to wait for good hands, but then fail to observe the warning signs that their hands are not going to win. They disbelieve opponents who represent better hands, call if they can think of any hand they can beat, regardless of how unlikely it is, and do not take into account what can happen on the turn or river to affect their hand. They do not see the danger in inferior kickers, and need to be shown a better one, often time after time.

Limit hold’em does not reward heroic folds, but it also does not reward repeated stubborn calls. Pay attention when you call people on the flop and turn. Do you really think you’re ahead? Are you calling just because you deserve to win with this hand in spite of the evidence? Are you computing the odds, or just playing by rote?

Track your calls on the river. How many are successful? Are there enough to justify the size of the pots that you are trying to win? Remember, just because you win once in a while, it does not make all, or even most, of your calls correct.

Conclusion: It is often hard for us to understand when our games need work. Luck plays such a significant role in the outcome of some hands that we can kid ourselves for a long time about the quality of our play. Recognizing the quality of your play and improving your game should be things you work on constantly.

_Barry Tanenbaum is the author of Advanced Limit Hold’em Strategy, and collaborator on Limit Hold’em: Winning Short-Handed Strategies. Barry offers private lessons tailored to the individual student. Please see his website, www.barrytanenbaum.com, or write to him at [email protected]. _