Session Notes Wrap-Up

The last four articles I’ve written have been a look at some specific hands from one session I played earlier this year. I was inspired to write this series because I gave advice in my online column “Asked and Answered” to someone who wrote in asking how to get out of a patch where they were running badly. I suggested to the reader that one of the ways I would do this, especially online, was to look at each session at the end of it and decide whether I had been playing well or not and see if there were any leaks I could try to plug. Obviously, everyone can always get better, so this exercise would emphasize to the reader that while he may be running poorly, there is always something that can be done to improve and therefore better his results. Since it’s a bit tougher to do this in a live setting, it’s something that you would have to plan for ahead of time and record all of the hands (at least the ones you play) from a session and then analyze those hands afterwards. I then realized that it had been too long since I had done so, and since I like to try to practice what I preach, I decided it would make for a pretty good series of articles.

After looking at each hand individually, and taking some specific hands that I thought were interesting enough to merit inclusion in articles, it’s time to take a look at some overall trends that I think need improving.

My first, and biggest, leak in no-limit hold’em is something I’ve always struggled with when playing no-limit cash or tournaments. I get to showdown way too much. Having been a limit hold’em pro for most of my life, I’m a bit of a showdown monkey, which is understandable. In limit hold’em, you’re almost always getting a good price to call the river and you’re certainly always getting a better price than you would be in no-limit. As a result, I tend to find myself calling the river in pretty bad spots because, honestly, it feels dirty to fold. I think too quickly about my opponent’s range and the price I’m getting, and as a result, I just call too often on the river, and sometimes on the flop or turn as well, when the bet is all-in. People in the game I usually play tend to not have anywhere near enough of a bluffing range for me to be calling particularly light, and they also aren’t offering the odds I generally need to call light. There are some situations where I weight their ranges a little differently because of a physical read I get, but those are few and far between, so it doesn’t really change the fact that I should definitely be calling the river less.

Another leak I have is flatting mediocre ace-high hands preflop, especially against early position raisers. I’ll call with A-J, A-10 suited, or A-9 suited against someone in early(ish) position when I clearly won’t be able to make money against them if I hit and, due to my first problem, will probably find myself in a showdown when I do. I’m not sure why I started this. I guess because I want to play pots in position, but I think it’s a mistake to flat these hands. Instead, due to the tendency of my opponents to play A-K and A-Q very weakly, and the fact that not very many of them have a balanced four-betting range, I should be three-betting more. These hands will help to balance my three-betting range a little more. Then, I’ll be able to play with more information postflop, and have easy hands to get away from preflop against what is almost always a very strong four-betting range, sometimes as strong as A-A and K-K only.

One more leak is that I have a bit of fancy play syndrome at times. I do, occasionally, because of a physical read or when someone does something wholly out of character, change my line a bit, raising where I normally would have folded or folding where I would normally call. I know the line I’m taking is not a good one and I continue with it anyway. Sometimes I’m making a bet and at the same time thinking to myself: “wow this is horrible.” I can even feel it creeping into my facial expression sometimes when I call preflop when I know I shouldn’t.

The last leak, and one that I don’t really expect will go away, is that I play a little bit distracted at times. The truth is, I find live no-limit hold’em incredibly boring, and I sometimes have to do things to increase my enjoyment factor. I will listen to podcasts or read and when I’m doing those things, I’m not focused as I should be. This causes me to miss out on some small things occasionally. I wish I could engage more and there are times that I’m pretty good at it, but it’s something I struggle with on a regular basis.

Leak plugging and game analysis are huge parts of improving as a poker player. I hope that by showing you how I go about doing these things, you’ll be able to find improvements in your own game. ♠

Gavin Griffin was the first poker player to capture a World Series of Poker, European Poker Tour and World Poker Tour title and has amassed nearly $5 million in lifetime tournament winnings. Griffin is sponsored by HeroPoker.com. You can follow him on Twitter @NHGG