Poker-In life

Poker - In life by sandy
Like everyone else who is still a work-in-progress and isn't quite perfect yet, and who harbors no illusions about living in a state of grace in the foreseeable future, I'm always keen on improving myself. New Year's always has been the traditional time for shouting these good intentions to the heavens, forgiving ourselves for past failings and transgressions, and vowing with all the resolve that we can muster, to do a better job of things next year.In poker, as in life itself, talk comes cheaply -- while achieving these lofty goals takes unrelenting effort. Still, here are my poker resolutions for 1996, and you're cordially invited to consider them your own if you believe that their adoption will help improve your game. I'm not offering many resolutions -- only four, to be exact. But that's OK. They're what I want to accomplish this year. Learn Another Game: There are times when the hold'em game is crowded and the waiting list is long. On other occasions, the game is tough. During these times, I've either waited for another hold'em game to open up, or for the original game to soften up. I've also noticed that other games looked very beatable and had seats available. To maximize my time, I plan to play enough Omaha eight-or-better or high-low split stud ths year to feel like a favorite in those games, too. Don't get me wrong, I love hold'em. It's my best game as well as my favorite, but I do want to diversify. Never Go On Tilt; Never Play Less than My Best: This is a recurring resolution, while I have, on occasion, played less than my best, I do believe that I've achieved my personal goal of not going on tilt. Still, controlling emotions in the heat of battle is a never-ending endeavor. When my senses are rubbed raw by a bad beat administered by a particularly obnoxious player, I always can bring myself to get up and walk away from the table until I've finished devouring my own innards. But I have played less than my best, and I intend to stop. I've played when I was tired, or otherwise didn't have the concentration to play up to my own standards. When that happened, I usually played poorly -- not by a lot, mind you, but even playing poorly by a little is enough to upset the delicate balance needed to be a winner. poker, after all, is a very subtle game. Playing at the $15-$30 level, just a small loss of balance is enough to turn what should have been a $300 win into a loss of equivalent proportions. Small decisions have had major ramifications on my bankroll. Making a bad decision about playing a hand has trapped me more than once for a significant loss. Folding when I should have called, just because my senses were not fully attuned to all the game's nuances, cost me a pot large enough to turn an otherwise winning session into a losing one. This year, when not at my best, I'm not going to run the risk of turning what should have been a nice win into a loss. I'll go to the movies instead. After all, popcorn is still $2.50 whether you're on top of your game or not. * Narrow the Target: You can't present your opponents with a big target at which to shoot and expect to win very much another way of saying that if you take the worst of it too often, you are putting too much money at risk in unfavorable situations -- and you won't win if you persist in doing that. You can't play hunches. You can't flop bottom pair and either cold call a raise or overcall, believing that the size of the pot will offset the odds against your meager holdings improving enough to win. You can't play marginal starting cards in early position, and you can't go on proving what a tough, tricky player you are by attempting to bluff perennial calling stations. Face it, you always will earn more money in a poker game by virtue of your opponents' mistakes than by your own skillful play. It takes great skill along with a good bit of luck to maneuver a decent player into making a serious error in judgment. It takes no skill whatsoever to gather in all those extra bets that come from players who called when they really should have folded. Don't i make it tough on yourself. There's no need to give your opponents a handicap and then have to rise to extraordinary heights to beat them, when ordinary good play, well-executed, will garner the laurels.
Successful Behavior and Play: I honestly can say that I've never thrown cards, insulted a dealer, or otherwise made an ass of myself in a casino or public cardroom. This is not, after all, life and death. Neither is it God, country, apple pie, motherhood, or the flag. It is a game. Yes, that's right. Poker is only a game, not life itself. I have a life outside of poker in addition to my life inside of it. My ego needs are not so strong, nor my self-esteem so fragile, that I am destroyed by a losing session.
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