An easy fix

Today's random thought, which mostly occurs because I am thinking about poker again; I know of easy fixes to holes in several people's games.

On the bright side, this means I am once more thinking about poker a lot which means I am enjoying it again. That is good and is promising for my playing future.

For example; two easy fixes for me:

1) Play better hands.
This means I will play fewer hands, they will be better, and I will give away fewer chips on marginal hands. On those occasions I insist on playing around with the 6/7 suited, J/10 off trash, release them on the flop unless I flop the miracle straight.

2) When I have the best hand, don't price people in.
I cannot count the number of times I have flopped top pair, top kicker or 2 pair, made small raises to keep people in, and had them suck out with backdoor straights or some such nonsense when if I just raise appropriately I take down the pot right there. When you take down a lot of small pots you can afford to properly play your own drawing hands.

Okay, I lied; 3 easy fixes:

3) Mood.
When I am hesitant about playing I seldom play well. I need to get my head on straight. Either go to have fun or don't go at all. See, I pretty much always play well when I am having fun, whether I am getting hit in the face with the deck or not I accumulate chips. Conversely, when I am not having fun I lose the chips quickly regardless of how good my cards are.

See, still lying: 4 easy fixes

4) Eliminate the Captain Limp-a-holic portion of my game.
I play my best when I raise or fold. It gets most of the trash hands out, I pretty much know where I am at, I win a lot of uncontested pots which, again, then pay for my mistakes, and it gets other people off their game. So many times I will raise with something like A/J, raise the flop whether it hits or misses, they will call, I raise the turn and people will fold. This tells me so much; A) they will stay in on draws, B) I price their draws in, C) if they can see "1 more card" cheaply, they will. So I gain hand knowledge and probably have the best hand. Conversely, I limp in, 6 people take the flop, then unless the flop comes A/J I pretty much have to check it and if I win a pot, it is smaller.

Actually, if I were to pick just 1 fix for my game, #4 would be the one. Just make that adjustment and I will improve, even if I am raising garbage like the 9/J I love to play so much. But if I combine it with playing better hands...I will cause fear at any table I sit down at.

Emily: Quick and to the point. Believe people more often.
How many times have I watched her call off hundreds, even thousands of chips, saying, "I think he's bluffing" and show down something like King high and sometimes even worse. And once she was even right...but not often enough to make it worthwhile.

She does a better job than I do of playing solid hands. She usually builds a nice chip stack. But too often she gives it back on 1 or 2 calls. Remove that flaw and she would be even better than she already is (and I think when she wants to be, she is already better than me) and could knock off our games as often as anybody. It was not a fluke that she was our points leader until August. Fix that one flaw and I would have never caught her.

Kenneth: Don't give away his intentions too early
Simply watching him tells you everything you need to know about his hand. If he is folding he has the cards ready to flick. If he has chips in his hand...he is raising. I know the standard wisdom is "someone reaching for chips out of turn is trying to get you to check"...but it does not apply in his case. If Ken is reaching for chips out of turn he has the nuts or real close to it. Stay away.

Phillip: Remember each hand is its own. I have twice gotten him off better hands by raising him all in, and both times his fold was influenced by stuff on prior hands that led him to believe I had better cards. He has been improving by leaps and bounds, so I expect to see him beating me regularly pretty soon.

Tracy: Not letting people know when she has given up on a hand.
When she knows her cards are not good enough, she just stares at the board the entire time it is being dealt. Easy read.

So there you have it, just off hand observations that would tighten up a few people's games and make them even better than they already are. And worth every cent people paid for them...