scotty34
09-20-2005, 12:46 AM
Here is an exercise I want you all to try for the next little while. I think similar exercises have been posted in the past. I am going to give my own take on it, and go into depth for explanation. I have been doing this myself, and found it has really helped. This can be beneficial for both experienced, and inexperienced players. You really do need to understand the basic strategy concepts of these games though.
I'm assuming that many of you multi-table, and are getting to the point where its just ABC point and click. I do this myself, and notice that I make quite a few bad mistakes, or just unobservant plays. This exercise should be especially helpful for improving your multi-tabling winrates.
Anyways, here it is. I want you to take a half hour or an hour, either during your session, before it, or after. Sit down at only one table. Now when you sit down to play, really concentrate on every single decision. Before you make any action, say aloud what you are doing and why or what the concept is that you are applying. If you really feel like a dork or something saying this aloud, I guess you can do it in your head. Out loud is much better though, as you think about it more, and you don't allow your mind to get lazy and skip over it.
Examples:
"I am folding KTs here because a tight player raised in early position. The chance of being dominated is quite high."
"The preflop raiser is to my left, so I am going to check this flop with the intention of raising to trap players while I have an equity edge with my flush draw."
"I am going to raise this donkbet with my AK to clean up my overcard outs."
"I am going to fold my middle pair because I'm confident I'm behind and I don't have odds to continue"
If you ever run into a situation where you can't make a statement as to what you are doing, then that is a problem. You will be able to find problems with your game and concepts you don't understand. Go read the relevant section of SSHE, or ask on the boards if it's really troubling you.
Also, take this time to really concentrate on your opponents, and make full use of your PT/GT+ stats if you use these programs. Try your best to incorporate your reads into all your actions. Every time there is a showdown, go look in the hand history to see what everyone had. Make notes.
By doing this as practise, you will automatically improve your concentration and decision making skills. I have very quickly noticed real differences in my abilities while multi-tabling. Overall, these sessions will probably go very well also, as you are making your best decisions and playing to the best of your current abilities. I think it will even improve your abilities.
Another nice added bonus is it really helps dealing with tilt. When you are constantly focusing on every decision, you easily can look at the results of the hand, and say I played this well and my opponent did not. The frustration resulting from bad beats is not near as severe. This is another aspect that I have found transfers back into my regular game.
Every couple days, take the most interesting hand out of your past practise sessions and post it. The hand content will be much more intersting than a lot of the ones posted here, as you can provide full details of your opponents, as well as your complete thought process throughout the hand.
Try it for a week or two, it will make a difference.
I'm assuming that many of you multi-table, and are getting to the point where its just ABC point and click. I do this myself, and notice that I make quite a few bad mistakes, or just unobservant plays. This exercise should be especially helpful for improving your multi-tabling winrates.
Anyways, here it is. I want you to take a half hour or an hour, either during your session, before it, or after. Sit down at only one table. Now when you sit down to play, really concentrate on every single decision. Before you make any action, say aloud what you are doing and why or what the concept is that you are applying. If you really feel like a dork or something saying this aloud, I guess you can do it in your head. Out loud is much better though, as you think about it more, and you don't allow your mind to get lazy and skip over it.
Examples:
"I am folding KTs here because a tight player raised in early position. The chance of being dominated is quite high."
"The preflop raiser is to my left, so I am going to check this flop with the intention of raising to trap players while I have an equity edge with my flush draw."
"I am going to raise this donkbet with my AK to clean up my overcard outs."
"I am going to fold my middle pair because I'm confident I'm behind and I don't have odds to continue"
If you ever run into a situation where you can't make a statement as to what you are doing, then that is a problem. You will be able to find problems with your game and concepts you don't understand. Go read the relevant section of SSHE, or ask on the boards if it's really troubling you.
Also, take this time to really concentrate on your opponents, and make full use of your PT/GT+ stats if you use these programs. Try your best to incorporate your reads into all your actions. Every time there is a showdown, go look in the hand history to see what everyone had. Make notes.
By doing this as practise, you will automatically improve your concentration and decision making skills. I have very quickly noticed real differences in my abilities while multi-tabling. Overall, these sessions will probably go very well also, as you are making your best decisions and playing to the best of your current abilities. I think it will even improve your abilities.
Another nice added bonus is it really helps dealing with tilt. When you are constantly focusing on every decision, you easily can look at the results of the hand, and say I played this well and my opponent did not. The frustration resulting from bad beats is not near as severe. This is another aspect that I have found transfers back into my regular game.
Every couple days, take the most interesting hand out of your past practise sessions and post it. The hand content will be much more intersting than a lot of the ones posted here, as you can provide full details of your opponents, as well as your complete thought process throughout the hand.
Try it for a week or two, it will make a difference.