Switching From Online To Brick and Mortar Poker

Part I said that relying on software had made online players neglect four important live game skills:

1. Acquiring information.
2. Retaining it.
3. Retrieving it quickly.
4. Seeing relationships to other information such as drinking.

Part II listed fourteen steps that will help you to develop these skills and then further discussed the first four:

1. Understand and work within your limitations.
2. Beware of your biases.
3. Play shorter sessions.
4. Use many information-acquisition techniques.
5. Hesitate and look left.
6. Take good notes.
7. Use checklists.
8. Exploit mutual reinforcement.
9. Constantly look for patterns.
10. Take enough time.
11. Narrow your focus.
12. Practice when you’re not in the pot.
13. Separate information from conclusions.
14. Propose, and then test hypotheses.

This article will discuss the next three.
Hesitate and Look Left.

Most players look right to see what’s happened. They’ve got it backwards. You should look left to see what people intend to do. If you don’t know what someone to your right has done, just look or ask.

If you miss a signal from a player behind you, you will often make costly mistakes. For example, if you limp with marginal cards because you missed a cue that someone will raise, you must either call that raise or lose a small bet. If you’ve flopped a monster and don’t see that a player to your left will bet, you may bet instead of check-raising.
Bad players’ signals are often obvious: They may grab their chips or push away their cards. A few even fold or bet out of turn.

Better players are less obvious, but many of them send subtle signals. They may hold their cards a bit differently when they’re going to bet or fold. If they plan to play, they may look at their chips or watch the action more intently. If you’re alert and observant, you’ll often know what the players behind you intend to do.

Some are particularly likely to telegraph that they will fold pre-flop. They have nothing invested, don’t intend to get involved, and may not care who knows it. You will sometimes see that everyone behind you will probably fold. You can be in middle position, but essentially have the button.

If someone frequently telegraphs folding, the absence of a signal suggests they will play. Of course, you have to check that assumption. When you can reasonably expect them to play, factor that information into your decisions.

If you hesitate and look left, you’ll be amazed by how many people indicate their intentions. You will then wonder, “how did I miss all this information for so long?”
Take Good Notes.

If you don’t retain it, the information you’ve acquired is useless. So do what your teachers recommended: take good notes. I wrote a series on note-taking in 2005 that you can read at www.cardplayer.com. Now I’ll just discuss a few points.

Despite their value, virtually all players don’t take notes. When people won’t do something that will obviously benefit them, there must be strong inhibiting forces. Players don’t take notes for at least four reasons:

• They think note-taking violates the rules.
• They think, “real players don’t need notes.”
• They’re embarrassed.
• They’re just lazy.

I’ll discuss only the first three. If you’re too lazy to take notes, nothing I can say will affect you.

Misconceptions About Rules: You may believe you’re not allowed to take notes, but most cardrooms don’t prohibit them. A few opponents have complained about my note-taking, but I’ve never been told to stop.

Believing “real players don’t need notes.” This belief is just another form of arrogant denial. If doctors, lawyers, and other professionals need notes, how can you believe that you don’t need them? Are you smarter or better trained?

It’s absolutely impossible to remember how every opponent plays. In addition, their play changes when they get tired, are winning or losing, have had too much to drink, and so on. Pretending you can remember all that information is absurd. Do you think that hall of famer Dan Harrington isn’t a real player? He knows what the best players do.

“In top-class poker you will encounter many players who, after each session, go home and write down everything they’ve seen at the table… There are players with enormous written notebooks on the habits of hundreds of other players” (Harrington on Hold’em, Vol. I, p. 179).

Unless you think you have a better memory than Dan and other top pros, stop pretending that you don’t need notes.

Being embarrassed: I go a step further than those pros and write notes on 3×5 cards right at the table. Gus Hansen went still further: While playing in the Aussie Millions tournament, he dictated notes into a recorder after every hand and used them to write an excellent book, Every Hand Revealed.

Gus and I make notes immediately because we aren’t embarrassed by our limitations. We’re adjusting to an obvious reality: Our memories are fallible. So is yours.
Some players claim to be consistent winners without writing notes. They remind me of immature high school students who bragged, “I get good grades without studying.” They ignored the obvious fact that – if they studied – they would learn more and get better grades.

Ask yourself a simple question: Would I rather look smart by not taking notes, or be smart by taking them and making more money?

So ignore your embarrassment and take the most effective information-retention step, take good notes.

Use checklists

If you don’t retrieve it quickly, the information you’ve acquired and retained is useless. You and I have made stupid mistakes because we didn’t remember something until after we had acted. Later, when we suddenly remembered the critical information, we bitterly berated ourselves, “how could I be so stupid?”

Everybody makes stupid mistakes. For example, Phil Hellmuth and Phil Ivey are among the world’s greatest players, but both made extremely expensive and embarrassing mistakes because they forgot their hole cards. If they had memorized checklists that said, “check your cards and the board,” they wouldn’t have made those blunders.

Despite the fact that everyone makes stupid mistakes, hardly any poker players use checklists for the same reasons they don’t take notes. So I’ll repeat that – if you don’t use checklists – you’re letting your need to look smart prevent you from being smart and making more money.

Final Remarks

My next article will cover some more techniques. But your most likely problem is not learning techniques. It’s refusing to admit your own limitations. You want to believe that you’re too smart to need these “crutches.” But – unless you think you’re smarter than Phil Hellmuth, Phil Ivey, and Dan Harrington – you should accept and work within your limitations.

Do you often wonder, “Why are my results so disappointing?” Ask Dr. Al, alan[email protected]. He’s David Sklansky’s co-author for DUCY? and the sole author of five poker psychology books._