Be Fluid or Be Wrong

Dear reader: This book excerpt is from the Game Selection element in Elements of Poker. (Now available in audiobook)

If, while you are playing, you are attached to the notion that you are a “better player” than any or all of your opponents, or that you are a “worse player” than any or all of your opponents, that’s bad news for your game selection and game rejection decisions, and for your betting decisions. What if there’s a guy in your game who played “way worse” than you yesterday when you first played with him, because he was tired and tilted and you weren’t, but today he is back to playing his usual strong game and you aren’t, and you still think you have a big edge over him? What if those kinds of changes were going on all around you, and in you, all the time? Guess what. They are.

You need to evaluate him now, always now. Players go on tilt. They come off tilt. They can tilt for long periods, or for one bet. They win pots and feel good. They lose pots and feel bad. They improve. They tire. They change. You change. If you have an inflexible image in your mind of an opponent, then whenever he changes, your evaluation of him will be wrong. If you have an inflexible image in your mind of yourself, then whenever you change, your evaluation of yourself will be wrong. For up-to-date evaluation, there is no time but the present. 

 

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2018 Coaching Update: I’m doing video coaching now on whatever ails you — from betting problems and tilt issues to bad quitting and no patience. For more details and to schedule a call, click here.

 

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