Any creative art requires a philosophy. The game of poker, with all its complexities, is an art form. If you are a droid, all you need is an on-off switch to get you going. If you are not, you will need certain human qualities to motivate you to achieve your purpose and that which you love. Obviously, few of us would consider ourselves philosophers. But that isn’t required – what is required is a creative imagination and powers of perception.
Imagination and perception are the springboards to allow you to force yourself to do that which you don’t like to do. These two concepts will enable you to view the unwelcome chore from a more favorable perspective. Think of comparing the somewhat abhorrent task of developing communication skills with taking a cold shower. The cold shower will shock your system and turn you off of them completely. But with repetition, over a few weeks of taking them one or two times a week, you actually may look forward to the occasion and you won’t give them up. It becomes a challenge to step into the shower, but it will wake you up, and the warm water feels so good after the cold.
This is true of almost any new skill that is humanly possible to acquire and that is why some people like to learn “new things” even though the initiatory stages are always necessarily stressful to a certain degree.
So, again using the cold shower situation as a guide, it is time to tackle what you dislike about the game of poker.
Okay, no more lessons on philosophy, it is now time to consider more pragmatic advice. A good way to acquire meaningful expertise is by hiring a professional trainer to give you private, hands-on lessons without the embarrassment to you caused by onlookers. The coach will point out your weaknesses, most of which you are probably unaware of, so you can learn from them and move on. A good trainer will have you make notes of your play so you can continue to learn from both your strengths and weaknesses.
If the idea of a professional coach is too pricey for you, try making the acquaintance of poker playing buddies. The honest debates between even run-of-the-mill players can greatly improve strategy and perception. Poker forums are another good place to learn. Some exceptional poker players post to these and you can gain some valuable insights from them sharing their experiences.
Don’t forget to take notes. Whether on or offline, while playing the game, record your play to enable you to review the hands later and learn from this as to where you went wrong. Notes can reveal all the choices you could have made but didn’t, putting you on to greater possibilities of alternate moves in the future. They will also help your self-introspection and will lead you to ask yourself why you made the moves you did. This skill at introspection also applies greatly to your opponents moves. You want to reach the point where you can ask these crucial questions of yourself before you make that bet or play that card.
Ask yourself the following questions during the game: What do you expect your opponent’s reaction to be? Did he react in a manner consistent with your perceptions of him in that situation? Did he bet or raise as expected? What cards do you want him to think you are holding in your hand? Under what circumstance do you want him to call or raise?
If you continuously ask yourself questions like these, while cumbersome and difficult at first, they will become second nature. After a while, this questioning process will become a welcome challenge and this is when you become a genuine player of the game of poker.
To read more poker articles like this one go to Big Poker Blog or The Poker Source
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