Tips for playing without ego

When the hand begins, the cards you are dealt are meaningless.

Every hand you are dealt presents you with decisions. Nothing is absolute, until the pot has been claimed.

Do I have a big enough hand to call/raise the flat-track bully's standard pot-sized bet after a flop?

How good are my AAs, after a lot of action pre-flop, and a flop of K, Q, 10?

Villian just pushed after a river card that can't conceiveably help him. Has he been slow-playing, or is he bluffing a busted draw?

Decisions like these, and the simple, mundane ones we all take for granted, are what this game is about.

We are all dealt X% of winning hands, and X% of 2nd best hands. The key is recognize which is which.

In the K, Q, 10 example, for instance, a skilled player with AA would recognize that if there were a ton of action preflop, and 3 people made the flop, then he's almost drawing dead now. The man that throws away the AA doesn't make any money, but he's lost a lot less than a breakeven player would have. He's nullified a 2nd best hand that could potentially cost him the money he'd earned with several wins previously.

Folding a 2nd best hand before it hits your stack is more important than the hands you win. Because even a fish gets the nuts from time to time, but a fish can't conceive the notion of laying down a straight when there's a flush possibility on the table. That's right, it's folding that makes you money.

Being unable to throw a hand away happens when you say to yourself, "Finally, it's my turn to win one!" And we start counting our chickens before they've hatched. I know every time I've lost my stack in one hand, it's because I've fallen into that trap. It only takes a second to lose focus, and your buyin along with it.

So in short; Nothing is absolute, the cards are meaningless. 72 can win. AA can lose. Just read the story the cards are telling you, and make the +EV decision.

Done.



I'm no guru, or even very good, I'm simply a reasonable player. I'm still learning every session. I may, in fact, be full of it, or maybe not. You decide.

[diebitter]

I imagine what the result would be if I played the hand at that point a million times, and whether I think I'd win overall or not.

Some people here have mentioned The Zen of Poker. I also recommend The Tao of Poker, by the same author.

The best suggestion I have for eliminating ego while playing poker is to change the focus from the other players to yourself. Don't think of the game as one in which you must beat others, but rather a challenge of self to see if you can play the most perfect game your abilities allow.

Look at each hand as a series of decisions. Your opponents are nothing more than tips and guideposts in this decision making process. Don't read your opponent, read his actions and history. It isn't about him. It's about you.

Most importantly you need to get in tune with what your inner voice tells you to do. How many times have you called a bet or unwisely bluffed into a strong hand when you just KNEW that this was the incorrect play? A lot, I bet. Me, too. We all do it. This is because your focus has shifted to something other than making the correct decision at every step of the process. Identify where you have strayed (anger, impatience, hubris) and make the necessary mental adjustment.

Hope this helps.

[ellipse_87]

The place I'm trying to get to is just to remember that it's all about cash flow, and nothing else. If you feel like you're being challenged, you have no time to try and be dominant, because you are engaged in a different project--the project of generating cash flow to fund your life. There's no sense in pursuing that project unless you can be entirely focused on it. So you might respond psychologically just by saying to yourself, "If I had time to really unload on these losers, I would completely embarrass them--lucky for them I'm too busy working."

I dunno, that might sound like crap actually. Still working on it.

[vexvelour]

I agree with revots- Zen is a great book.

You just have to be realistic with yourself. Thats really what it comes down to. I have altered my poker readings so that I take a second to make my decision- it's really hard for spur-of-the-moment people to get used to. Trust me though...it'll save you so much.

Really, esp tourney here, you have to assess the situation (as Dane Cook would say) and do some sacrificing. I really don't give a [censored] if someone if bluffing me out of a pot- I give it to them and get them some other time. Maybe my game is flawed, but I'm a winning SNG player.

[SpeakEasy]

Check your emotions at the door. Play aggressively to win, and focus exclusively on making the correct decision every time its you turn to act in every hand. But detach your emotions from the outcome of each hand and the overall game.

If you are naturally competitive, this takes practice, because a competitive personality naturally becomes emotionally involved in a game and the outcome. You have to walk into the poker room with the mindset of emotionally detaching from the game, and focus exclusively on your decisions.

[smurfitup]

[ QUOTE ]
Some people here have mentioned The Zen of Poker. I also recommend The Tao of Poker, by the same author.

The best suggestion I have for eliminating ego while playing poker is to change the focus from the other players to yourself. Don't think of the game as one in which you must beat others, but rather a challenge of self to see if you can play the most perfect game your abilities allow.

Look at each hand as a series of decisions. Your opponents are nothing more than tips and guideposts in this decision making process. Don't read your opponent, read his actions and history. It isn't about him. It's about you.

Most importantly you need to get in tune with what your inner voice tells you to do. How many times have you called a bet or unwisely bluffed into a strong hand when you just KNEW that this was the incorrect play? A lot, I bet. Me, too. We all do it. This is because your focus has shifted to something other than making the correct decision at every step of the process. Identify where you have strayed (anger, impatience, hubris) and make the necessary mental adjustment.

Hope this helps.

[/ QUOTE ]

excellent advice, imo

Ask a friend to sit there while you play and kick you in the balls every time you start acting like a cowboy. If they are good friends, they will have no problem with this.

[WhoIam]

This is tough, but learn not to enjoy winning. This is the only way to avoid feeling like sh*t when you hit a down swing or get busted out of a tournament. Don't let yourself be a slave to variance.