Stop Playing on Autopilot: The Thinking Skill That Separates Winning Poker Players

 

Be a Thinker

To become a successful poker player, you need several things. Like any game or sport, you need a solid foundation of the basics. (For the record, poker is a game, not a sport.) Without a strong understanding of the fundamentals and the rules, you are destined for failure, or at best, very limited success, in almost anything.

You also need certain skills to excel. In baseball, you need some level of athleticism and coordination. In poker, you need a general understanding of math and the ability to read people. While you can absolutely improve these skills through hard work, it certainly helps to have some natural ability as a starting point if you want to reach a higher level of success.

Every Decision Has a Purpose

To improve, you need to commit time. Passion is what drives you to put in that time. You improve by getting in volume, analyzing hands and situations, and watching poker. I enjoy all of those, but I especially enjoy watching poker when it is narrated and analyzed by a top professional player who talks through each hand and explains the thought process the players are most likely going through.

Being able to walk yourself through your own hands using solid logic is one of the most important ways to improve your game.

Although having a strong foundation is essential, don't get trapped into always doing the same thing. That brings me to the title of this blog: Be a Thinker.

Don't just play every hand on autopilot. I'm not telling you to waste time overanalyzing every simple decision. I'm simply saying that when you have a meaningful decision, take an extra moment to think it through. Don't just react based solely on your previous experience.

Planning the Entire Hand

I recently played in a live charity poker tournament, and the speed at which many players at my table played their hands made me feel like I was playing online. Again, I'm not advocating "hollywooding" or dragging out simple decisions in a small tournament. All I'm saying is that when you have a real decision, think, don't just react.

Part of that thinking process should involve creating a plan for the rest of the hand. A perfect example is when you're facing a large turn bet and considering how big of a bet you might have to face on the river.

Here's a hand from that tournament that perfectly illustrates this point.

The player immediately to my left had been very active throughout the tournament, and on a few occasions had shown down legitimate hands. Twice already she had raised my small blind after it had been limped to me, and both times I folded. I had already decided that if this situation came up again, I would either raise or fold, and sure enough, it did.

It folded around to me in the small blind, and I looked down at Q-9 offsuit. I decided to raise to 2.5x. She called before my chips even hit the felt.

The flop came Q-9-9.

Knowing how aggressive she had been, I checked. She instantly fired 3,000 into the pot, and I, of course, just called.

Another 9 hit on the turn.

Again, I checked, now hoping she had a queen. She bet another 3,000, which led me to believe she either had a medium-strength hand or absolutely nothing. That being said, I know that most recreational players usually check behind on the river instead of firing three barrels.

So I decided to check-raise to 9,000 and hoped she had enough of a hand to call. Once again, she immediately called before my chips even hit the pot.

At that point, I only had about 12,500 left behind, so she had to know she would likely be facing an all-in bet on the river.

The river was a complete blank, and I moved all in.

She thought for a few seconds before folding, almost as if she realized she didn't have enough.

The point is this: she didn't stop to think on the turn.

If she had, she would have realized that my check-call on the flop followed by a check-raise on the turn represented tremendous strength. If she believed I was bluffing and had enough of a hand to call the turn raise, then she should have already been prepared to call my river shove as well.

Thinking ahead is one of the biggest differences between average players and winning players. Don't just react to what's happening now, think about what is likely to happen next.

- Frank DiRe (FLD15 on X)