Keeping Your Mind on the Game

No matter how much knowledge you acquire about poker, you still need to keep your mind focused on the game. The concentration of many longtime pros tends to wear down over the course of their careers. They become arrogant and complacent, which makes them sloppy. They just go through the motions, thinking their superior knowledge will carry them through the day. But, they often find themselves outplayed by opponents with inferior knowledge who just try much harder to play well. No matter how well you learn the game, the level of effort required to play your best doesn’t diminish.

On a Sunday afternoon, I was playing $30-$60 limit hold’em at Bellagio, and had just received a problematic real-estate business call. My mind switched from “poker mode” to “business mode.” I was intent on calling my client back when my big blind came, which shifted my attention. I was pondering solutions to my business problem again, and was not focused on the poker game when two players in early position limped in. Next to act, holding the 8 7, I tossed in $30, looking to play a volume pot with my mind still wandering into the real-estate world. Allan, a longtime Las Vegas pro, limped in directly behind me. Another player called, and we took off the flop seven-handed for $30 each.

The flop came K Q 6, giving me an 8-high flush draw. All four players in front of me checked, and I fired a wager. I thought that if nobody held a king or hit a draw, I might win this pot by betting it down. And if the bluff didn’t work, I still had two cards to make the flush. My hopes for a successful semibluff were significantly thwarted when Allan raised me, indicating that he had a solid hand. The big blind called the two bets cold, and the rest of the field folded. I called the raise, and we took the turn three-handed.

The turn was the K, a most interesting card, as it paired the board and made my flush. The big blind checked, and I had to determine my best play. When you make a flush in this type of situation, the correct play depends on your opponents. Since some players automatically check when the flush hits unless they made one, trying to check-raise with a made flush is a poor choice against them. Some will bet and then fold to a check-raise unless they are drawing live. Some always pay off when bet into, and some fold. So, you must speculate on how an opponent will play his hand, and adjust your play accordingly to maximize your expectation.

In this situation, I had a knowledgeable and aggressive player behind me who had shown aggression on the flop. Allan was almost certain to bet, whether he held a king or not. Plus, he would call a check-raise and pay off the river if he held a king. Sure, there was some chance that he held a full house, and a small chance that he possessed a higher flush. But my hand both beat and played well against most of his potential range.

I also could gain additional value by trying to check-raise. It would give me an indication of what my opponent would do, give me a read on him, possibly trap him for extra bets, or maybe even enable me to lay down my hand if I felt I was beat. Playing your hand in a manner that allows your decision to be based on the highest level of potentially available information can generate important advantages.

Check-raising was obviously the right play. For a player with my knowledge and experience, that play should be automatic. Despite that fact, I fired a $60 lead bet. The moment it left my fingers, I knew that I had made a mental error, but it was too late to pull it back. Allan called my wager, and the other opponent folded. Allan called once again when I bet the river. I turned my flush over, and he tossed his hand into the muck.

This hand clearly shows what can happen when your mind is wandering and is not on your game. Limit poker is mostly a function of continuously grinding out small edges over time. Miss those edges, and you’ll get ground down. And in no-limit, a small mental error can easily cost you your stack. What was actualized in this scenario is that Allan has 60 bucks in his pocket that is rightfully mine, although I’m sure that he doesn’t see it that way. And Allan’s not going to give it back to me just because I made a mental error. I’m going to have to earn it back.

Disgusted with my play, I gave myself a good lecture after the hand, and I wasn’t very polite about it! I know better, much better. It was a stupid mental error on my part, one that I made due strictly to a lack of mental focus.

All of us make mental errors — not just in poker, but also in life. Keeping yourself focused and thinking things through will improve your decision-making in both life and poker. You still won’t get perfect results, but your poker game and your life will be much better for it.

Roy Cooke played poker professionally for 16 years prior to becoming a successful Las Vegas real-estate broker/salesman in 1989. Should you wish to get any information about real-estate matters — including purchase, sale, or mortgage — his office number is (702) 396-6575, and his e-mail address is [email protected]. His website is www.roycooke.com. You also may find him on Facebook.