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Playing Poker correctly all the time

By Gary Steele

I have always been an advocate of playing your game to the best of your ability 100% of the time. I have written many articles on the subject and have given advice on controlling your emotions, walking away from games, and dealing with bad beats. I was recently reading “Hold’Em Excellence – A Winner for Life” by Lou Krieger and found some additional tips every poker player can use. I think this is the most important aspect of every player’s poker game.

The most thought-provoking hint Krieger suggested was to pretend someone whose poker skills you respect is watching you play your game. The decisions we make when we are playing alone often are hindered by emotions or fatigue. Nothing I can think of would improve my game and make my decisions more logically sound than having someone standing over my shoulder critiquing my every move. Now, I certainly would not recommend choosing a player like Gus Hanson. His moves are based on instinct and perception. I think a player who is solid to the point of being intimidating, such as Dan Harrington, would be a better choice. Would you ever make a move based on emotions if Dan was standing over your shoulder? You would certainly play your best poker all the time. Why don’t we play like this all the time?

A second hint Krieger suggests is to put blame where it belongs. If you are having an incredibly long run of bad luck, maybe it is not all bad luck. Players are notorious for placing blame in all the wrong places. Maybe your game has slipped a notch and you need to concentrate on getting back to your old form. I know this happens to me all the time. Krieger makes the point that after a long run of bad starting hands, cards like Ace/8 and 8/9 suited start to look more playable than they really are. These bad stretches are a part of the game and our goal as good players is to limit the damage they do and be in top form when the cards turn in our favor.

I think these two hints are vitally important to making you a better player. They are by far the most important lessons I found in the book and I felt compelled to share them with everyone. I don’t know if anyone else has noticed, but the players online are becoming better every day. In order to keep winning we can’t be content to play at a mediocre level and just beat the bad players. We have to become better and start beating the other mediocre players. Pick up a copy of Lou Krieger’s books to gain more helpful information to improve your game.







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