Dylan Wade
04-11-2004, 05:23 PM
Sitting through about 30minutes of a dead table@ Hawiian Gardens 4/8 last night, I was dreaming about poker.
I was thinking about how people are losing money without quitting poker. Perhaps it's partially because of addiction problems, but I think even more so it's about the illusion of correct play.
Of course, every so often at a table we'll see a complete fish, with lots of money, throwing a party for the table. But most of the time you'll be sitting with people who have been playing Holdem for awhile. I'm not saying they're good, but they certainly not stupid.
I think their failing is they look at cash games like it's a tournament... they don't want to "lose all their chips" or be "short stacked". While I believe winning players look at Poker as an investing game.
So I see most players using moves designed to reduce their swings.... that is, they're making moves that are correct in a tournament, but wrong in a cash game. They'll fold their draws, check their vulnerable hands, and "just call" when they should be pushing their edge to the fullest.
So what they're doing is limiting their swings. It feels like they're playing correct because they don't lose "A lot". They have a leak in their game, and try to fix it by playing even more incorrectly (weak/tight). I bet poker is incedibly frusterating for these guys... they're correcting their leaks by playing more weak/tight... It's a slow leak, but they'll hit the ATM and ignore it for awhile longer. Loose/passive players read a book and become weak/tight. I think they're just scared.
Oh, and they probably think Im a crazy maniac for pushing my draws raising pre-flop almost every time against their sucky hand selves. And when they see a crazy maniac lose a hand it just reinforces their notion that they are winning players.
I was thinking about how people are losing money without quitting poker. Perhaps it's partially because of addiction problems, but I think even more so it's about the illusion of correct play.
Of course, every so often at a table we'll see a complete fish, with lots of money, throwing a party for the table. But most of the time you'll be sitting with people who have been playing Holdem for awhile. I'm not saying they're good, but they certainly not stupid.
I think their failing is they look at cash games like it's a tournament... they don't want to "lose all their chips" or be "short stacked". While I believe winning players look at Poker as an investing game.
So I see most players using moves designed to reduce their swings.... that is, they're making moves that are correct in a tournament, but wrong in a cash game. They'll fold their draws, check their vulnerable hands, and "just call" when they should be pushing their edge to the fullest.
So what they're doing is limiting their swings. It feels like they're playing correct because they don't lose "A lot". They have a leak in their game, and try to fix it by playing even more incorrectly (weak/tight). I bet poker is incedibly frusterating for these guys... they're correcting their leaks by playing more weak/tight... It's a slow leak, but they'll hit the ATM and ignore it for awhile longer. Loose/passive players read a book and become weak/tight. I think they're just scared.
Oh, and they probably think Im a crazy maniac for pushing my draws raising pre-flop almost every time against their sucky hand selves. And when they see a crazy maniac lose a hand it just reinforces their notion that they are winning players.