When I was a Donk: Kyle Cartwright

Kyle Cartwright had a breakout 2011 by finishing in the top 30 in Card Player’s Player of the Year Race.

He made an impressive ten final tables, in which he had all the remaining chips at the end in four of them. Within the top 50, only Marvin Rettenmaier (3rd) had more final tables with 13.

Cartwright dominated the World Series of Poker Circuit, a run that was highlighted by a first-place finish in the Harrah’s St. Louis main event for $142,290.

So far in 2012, Cartwright has cashed three more times on the WSOP Circuit. Altogether, his lifetime earnings are about $350,000 in just 14 months of major live tournament scores.

Here, Cartwright talks about one of his early mistakes, one that he corrected en route to a phenomenal 2011. It’s a simple but often overlooked aspect of poker.

When I started playing live poker, one of the biggest leaks in my game was not being able to understand my image. A lot of live middle-stakes tournament players see a player show down a bluff or two, and go ahead and decide that they aren’t going to fold to them for the rest of the day.

These assumptions are often determined early on in a session or tournament. Too often, I would wonder why they kept calling my river bets with second or third pair, not realizing that they saw the bluffs I put in the orbit before.

Realizing when other players view me as reckless and knowing when they aren’t likely to fold has been a huge improvement in my game over the past year.  ♠