Why are we different 2

[Ryan_21]

In my post "Why are we diffenent" I discussed people who put no effort what so ever into poker. They have no care to better themselves and think poker is ALL luck.

Now I want to ask a question about a different spectrum of players. These players seem to be in the middle of good and bad. Lets call them average.

They think they know a lot about poker but what they know is not very relavent. To put it lightly they concentrate on the wrong things.

When I was a freshman in college I learned about a concept that was suppose to help college students make better use of their time. It was called "doing your ABC's" What this means is when you have multiple tasks, the most important tasks are A's, then B's, with C's being the least important. And the idea was to get the A's done first.

How does this tie in with pokerplayers? On this board and in cardrooms you see players who ask the wrong questions, study the wrong material, and concentrate on the wrong stuff. They ask/learn/concentrate about bankroll, money management, run simulations on hands, etc. In a sense they are only concentrating on the C's. What makes a player concentrate on the C's, instead of the really important stuff like theory and strategy?

All comments welcome,

Ryan_21

[Jedi Poker]

A simple reason could be that they simply lack experience. As a result, they still do not know what they do not know. They also do not know that they do not know. Once they have gained enough experience and have immersed themselves in the literature, then they will begin to know what they do not know. More importantly, they will begin to know that they do not know....hopefully....for their own bankroll's sake.
If they're experienced yet they continue to focus on the "C's", what they need to do is to learn to focus on the forest instead of on the individual trees. Deductive thinking - start with the big chunks, then go down to the small chunks. Barbara Yoon is an example of a very highly intelligent person who's stuck in small chunk orientation. This is the reason why I always recommend Theory of Poker before any other poker book. It does a good job of focusing on the forest, and then does an equally good job of planting the appropriate trees in the appropriate locations within the forest.

[roGER]

Interesting point.

It came up with me recently as I've just started a new job and my colleagues are getting to know me better. Its interesting to hear what these complete beginners (in the sense that many have never played the game in their lives) ask about poker - the sorts of questions and comments are:

Do you bluff a lot?
What's the biggest pot you've ever won with a bluff?
Show us your poker face!
You must be an excellent judge of people.

Etc etc etc. I'd say these are all "C" topics and beginner assumptions about the game. So I'd go along with Jedi and say it may well have something to do with inexperience.

To that I'd also add that a lot of C topics are MUCH more interesting than the nitty gritty A and B subjects. For example a lot of people find the subject of "tells" and "bluffs" fascinating, much more so than the "dull" stuff like hand selection and position.

- roGER

[Mike Gallo]

Some players know the right play and still do not make it. Poker mirrors life, or life mirrors poker, I m not sure which one applies here. However, you find the same thing in life.

They think they know a lot about poker but what they know is not very relavent. To put it lightly they concentrate on the wrong things. The same thing applies in life, some people are concerned with the small things instead of an overall picture.

Thats just life, its not just poker. /forums/images/icons/crazy.gif

[amp]

Now I want to ask a question about a different spectrum of players. These players seem to be in the middle of good and bad. Lets call them average.

They think they know a lot about poker but what they know is not very relavent. To put it lightly they concentrate on the wrong things.

Agreed, although perhaps it's more accurate to say they put too much emphasis on what are not necessarily the wrong things, but certainly not the most important things. Hand selection is the most obvious example. The poker battlefield is littered with the corpses of myopic players who acted as though the strongest hand preflop gives them a thru-ticket to the pot.

O)))

"What makes a player concentrate on the C's, instead of the really important stuff like theory and strategy? "

Perhaps for most people, the game of poker is one of the C's? For most people poker theory and stragtegy isn't really important stuff.