“Know thyself.” – Socrates

One of the greatest quotes and/or philosophical statements to be made, in my opinion, is that of Socrates to know thyself. To know thyself is to start at where one is now and end in a better, more wise, place. We can go on and on with how this relates to life and the struggles within, but we don’t log onto to 2p2 everyday to talk about life problems (except for BBV4L!). So how does the quote relate to poker? One word, leaks.

What is a leak exactly? A leak is anything that causes one to play, or perform, less than excellent (or optimal). Does it only relate to putting yourself in certain positions with certain cards? No. A leak can be as simple as playing too many hands in early position and as difficult as breaking a gambling addiction. One may have great results playing poker crushing the game, but as soon as the session ends they “leak” their money away on craps or blackjack. One may tilt too much when taking a bad beat. And of course there is just plain old playing bad.

Online players are able to plug these leaks with just a little effort and some self control. They study their graphs and numbers to come up with conclusions such as 3bet% from the SB, steal % from the button, opening hand ranges, etc. Sometimes they pay someone that is an expert in looking at these numbers to tell them what they are doing wrong. A few sessions later and they are that much of a better player. Its not all wam bam than you mam, but it’s pretty effective sooner rather than later. Live players on the other hand do not have HEMs and PTs. They don’t get to look at 3bet% and AIEV red lines. The only thing we have is our memory. We have to use our memories to remember hands, player’s tendencies, and tells. The problem is, some of us lie more to ourselves than others.

Leak 1, truthfulness. Are we being honest with ourselves? If one answers no, or cannot answer this then I suggest they work on this first as this is the most important leak to fix before any other leak. If one answers yes then they should go back and ask themselves the question again and then come up with a good reason why their answer is yes. I think the people who answer no rather than yes are being more truthful. DUCY? Not that one cannot answer yes to this question its just that the no’s are always going to be the truth and the yes’s will only sometimes be the truth. So why is truthfulness important in discovering leaks? Because if one cannot be honest with themselves they will never find the weaknesses that they have and thus those weaknesses (leaks) will never be plugged.

Leak 2, winner or loser? So we answered leak 1 and feel good about it. We can see a new light and are ready to discover ourselves again. I think the first question that we need to ask ourselves now is- are we a winning poker player or a losing poker player… and why? I almost guarantee many of us will answer yes. Remember though we are being honest with ourselves now; is your answer still yes? What proof do you have? I suggest one starts logging sessions. Nothing fancy just how much bought in for and how much cashed out. It’s going to take a while to come up with an answer because as with anything the more volume there is the more accurate it’s going to be. So now that we have our proof, why are we losing/winning? Are we losing because we are playing too many hands, don’t know which hands we should be playing, don’t know what we should bet, etc. Are we winning because we are getting lucky, table selection, or is it we are just that good? Don’t confuse luck with skill. The losers have it easy. With a little bit of time and study they can fix some common mistakes with ease. If they pause during a session to write down a hand they had trouble with and then post it, with some help from the community they can start to spot what they are doing wrong and begin to fix their leaks. The winners on the other hand have it hard. They tell themselves they are winning, yet have no proof. They think they are all skill, but really its probably short term luck. They don’t notice the times they suck out on someone else, but can point out every time they get sucked out on. And when they do lose… they rarely admit they were playing bad, but rather they ran bad. See one of my posts from a while back about running bad. I did run pretty bad in some spots, but I probably could of saved a lot of money (and I mean a crap ton) had I stayed away from certain spots and played good poker. I don’t think I ever admitted in that post I was playing bad and that playing bad was probably > ran bad, a major leak of mine at the time.

Leak 3, self control and self responsibility. So we got some help from the 2p2 community on some spots we are having trouble with. We feel confident that we know what to do the next time. The next time arrives and what do we do… the thing we weren’t supposed to do. Ugh! This is the hard part, self control. It’s different for everybody to try and master. Some people can quit smoking cigarettes with ease while others struggle. It’s the same with poker. Sometimes we know what the best play to make is (I mean we post about it all the time on 2p2 right?), yet we spew chips away. I cannot tell you how to master your control issues, to each his own, but I can tell you that this is important to do if you want to turn things around. Without self control one will continue to error in his ways and will not improve. A lot of self control issues have to do with gambling addiction. We are great on the felt but get trapped in the pit because sitting at a table for hours is like sooooo boring, but man the blackjack table has a continuous shuffler and its non-stop action. The problem is blackjack is eating away at our profits. But I’ll only bet the minimum and I will definitely stop at $100. Will you though? If one has self control issues I suggest they do whatever they can to avoid those situations. Walk a different way through the casino or whatever. If ones self control issues are on the felt then they must constantly remind themselves over and over to avoid the issues. They must beat it into themselves that they will not limp SC’s UTG anymore, or they won’t play roulette. Self responsibility is the other “self” leak. We must be responsible in every action we take; our bet sizing, our reads, maybe our addictions, and definitely in managing our bankrolls. I am not going to say this is an easy thing to do. I won’t say I don’t struggle with it. What I will say is that being completely honest with myself has made it easier to control my leak issues and to take responsibility for my actions.

All of this may sound so simple and LDO, but the thing I am seeing time and time again on the forums are players that are giving bad descriptions of villains, justifying the reasons they are doing something even though it’s more than likely bad, and probably looking at their own play wrong (i.e. Villain see’s me as TAG). Not only will “soul searching” help you to plug leaks, but it will also help you to see your play, and others play, for what it is.


Some tips that I find useful:

Notes. I may say something in my mind that sounds pretty good and relevant. Will rather than letting it fade away I find the closest thing to write on (phone) and jot it down. An example of one of my notes is, “Nothing to prove.” Sounds so simple, but one of my leaks was I felt like I had to prove something to people that looked down on my poker playing and also I felt that I had to prove to the other people at the table that I was good. I read it from time to time to remind myself.

Criticize myself often. If you can carefully and analytically criticize yourself you will become that much of a better player. Your skin becomes thicker and your quest to learn more deepens. I see OP’s all the time get butt hurt on the forums. The first thought that comes to my mind is, “They don’t think they have flaws in their game.”

Find a friend/poker player to criticize you. This is the most annoying one. Imagine having someone tell you non-stop how bad you play and how you could have done better in certain spots… I have one of those and at times I want to choke slam the dude, but honestly this is probably the most valuable tool you can have. This will intensify skin thickening process x1mirrion BTW. For the times you do not want to be honest to yourself he will be honest for you.

Phenomenal article, you did a great job.

Would it be appropriate to provide a link to a site I found to be very helpful concerning leaks?

http://www.learn2holdem.com/poker-le...oker-leaks.htm

Yeah thats fine. Purpose of COTM is to discuss ideas and provide more info that you may find useful. Thanks for the link.

The toughest one for me was #10, changing direction. I would bet big to protect my sets from flush draws, and continue to bet/call a shove with it even if it hit, which cost me many large pots.

I am over it at this point, but just throwing this out there.

Excellent poast.

The point about it being harder to find leaks live is on target. The canyons are easier to find and correct. The smaller ones are tougher and not even apparent.

A good thread on common leaks is found here.

One leak that isn't necessarily apparent is: What have you learned in the last month about poker that you didn't know or understand before? How many changes to your game have you made to implement that new knowledge?

If the answer is nothing, you're falling behind.

Good Job!!!

I found that keeping a journal has really helped my game. I always kept track of the numbers (which is a must) but I started taking 15 minutes after every session to write down the situations I ran into and things I've learned about the players. I keep my phone's notepad open during all my sessions to keep track of the little details but then I actually write it out after so I can review my sessions later. Once a week I go over those notes and organize my player profiles (I have pages written about some regs!) People do the same dumb shyt all the time and they also handle certain situations that come up exactly like they have in the past (draws, cbets, etc.) When they do repeat what u've seen and u predict it before it happens, it's so empowering!

Hope that helps.

Oh yeah, pay more attention to the action when ur not involved in the hand (I know everyone says they do but seriously, work on it.) U pick up so much about the others around u (it's scary!)

"We are great on the felt but get trapped in the pit because sitting at a table for hours is like sooooo boring, but man the blackjack table has a continuous shuffler and its non-stop action. The problem is blackjack is eating away at our profits. If one has self control issues I suggest they do whatever they can to avoid those situations."

Great article--this part hit home for me. For a while I was running good at the blackjack table and didn't see this as a problem. Only recently have I been able to recognize this for what it is and start taking steps towards avoiding these situations. I love poker but I'm also addicted to the action...I find myself most susceptable to "gambling" after a losing session on the felt, and will make an effort to quickly recoup my losses...often compounding them. After a winning session I do not struggle with these same temptations.
Here is another issue in regards to live "tilt" that I struggle with: I'm 23 and have been playing online since I was 18. During the last couple years I have been able to find my nitch and grind out a profit for myself. I do not really struggle with tilt online because I often run 20+ tables and if I take a bad beat on one, there is often a chance to make it back quickly. However during the last year I have played much more live poker and I find myself much more susceptable to tilt when I am down on a session. When I lose a big pot or find myself down, I have it somewhere in my subconscious that I might have to wait a long time to get my money in good on a big pot, whereas online I know that opportunity will probably come much sooner. I guess it just comes down to patience...I have a tough time grinding it out for 4 hours to find a spot where I can get it in good. I guess these are fairly simple issues but this article did a good job of bringing out some of the things I have been trying to correct in my game.

@raveman- you're already ahead of the game in that you know you have issues and want to correct them which is the hardest part. For some people breaking the bad habits is alot easier than for others. You have to dig deep and find the drive to curb habits.

I think the number one 'leak' so to speak that people aren't cognizant is of how when we're playing poker, unless we're completely dialed in and 'in the zone', there's just something about being at a poker table, sitting and with chips in front of you, that warps your decision-making the tiniest bit.

I don't even mean tilt or impatience, but how many times have you made the wrong choice in a seemingly tough decision, and where looking at the hand history the next day you thought to yourself "Wow, how the hell did I screw that up so badly?", or if you make a bad call/fold a buddy of yours at the table will say "How could you call/fold that? You're better than that" and you realize immediately that he's absolutely right despite you having justified said call or fold just seconds ago. It's not because our skill is lacking (well hopefully it isn't), but because when you're actually in a certain hand and at a table is far different from the detached observation that allows a bystander to see the 'truth' in a hand far easier than the persons involved in it.

I think if people just try to remember this fact when in a tough decision next time and make sure to take a deep breath, let time slow down, and work through hands from the very beginning, they'll realize how mentally they were just being their own enemy. I can almost guarantee you'll start making fewer mistakes/random spews this way.

great article, can't wait to get back into live poker now.

That's a great point - you should always be looking back to try and improve your game at all times, especially live... if you haven't learned anything from the big pot you lost, then you aren't being honest with yourself - there's always a way you could have played to make it better, one way or another. Usually if you are honest with yourself you should have been able to tell you were gonna lose. And I'm not talking about the suck-outs that you "should have won"... I'm talking about the big bad hands that you just flat out played wrong and should have a read and didnt. Sometimes you just run into a trickier better player... but usually not.

Another big leak is... confidence. If you dont play live very often, or have just been on a bad run in life, its going to be harder to play live. One of the problems I am needing to work on is controlling how long I play live, and going in with the right mindset. I am a rec player that typically can play online anytime, but playing live is a special treat for me. What was happening was any chance I got, I was going to play live poker... whether I was tired, cranky, had a bad day, or whatever. Simply because I had the chance to play. And when I'd play, lots of times I'd start out running good, but then once I'm up a few BI's... I'd leak it away once I get tired, or a decent buzz, or whatever... simply because I felt the need to keep playing because I don't get the opportunity very often. Even if the table was starting to beat me bc of player turnover and adjustments that I wasn't making. Another time I was having a great day, but then hit massive traffic on the way to the casino, got lost, and ended up pissed off before I was even there. Ultimate recipe for disaster, my mood was bad, I lost a relatively minor piece of my stack on a weak suck-out, but after that I was lost and basically handed my stack to the table without a prayer.

So some advice for the rec player: Don't feel the need to play all night or even at all if you aren't in the right mood. It may seem like a rare opportunity, but be honest... how rare is it really? There will always be another chance to play live around the corner, maximize yourself by only playing in the right mood, when you are confident, not tired, and when you know you are bringing your A game. And dont be afraid to maximize your sessions - if you hit a good run and are up a few BI's, dont feel the need to sit there all night if you are getting tired, the game isnt coming to you anymore, or the fish have been eaten and there are nothing left but sharks. Taking your winnings and buying yourself a new toy is better than spewing it all back and then some, just to get some of the vitamin P!

Kay Knows Poker, 2nd section.

I will be writing this down myself... thanks for the link to the Kays knows stuff.

[QUOTE=solfege;20632217]I think the number one 'leak' so to speak that people aren't cognizant is of how when we're playing poker, unless we're completely dialed in and 'in the zone', there's just something about being at a poker table, sitting and with chips in front of you, that warps your decision-making the tiniest bit.


I looked til i found this.

One of the MAJOR flaws that we as humans have is having our emotions affect decisions in a deleterious way.

The easiest way that i learned this was when watching friends (who were very good) play in big pots, and watching them make a call on river when i absolutely knew they were toast, however i realized that they were "emotionally attached" to the pot and the real money that went into the pot.

If i could play poker somehow as the bystander, with no link to the money, then i would play much better without a doubt. Striving to do this is what i work at every day.

Its for this very reason that the overwhelming tendency for humans in poker in to CALL.

+1. I plugged this leak...finally. I think.
When I play in Tunica, there is a lot of action, and I am usually there for a couple of days. If a game is bad, I take a break, and maybe even change casinos. If I am running well but not feeling optimal, I rack 'em up and go for a stroll/dinner. Now that I am forcing myself to do that, I feel like I am playing more optimally.
I have to learn to do the same when visiting Wheeling Island. During my last trip there, I was up $600 in 3 hours. The table dynamics changed, and unlike Tunica, I insisted on playing through it. Gave $400 of it back ($200 on stupidity), and finished with $200 after 6 hours. I knew I wasn't playing well, but played anyway. Never again.

Bingo! This is a big one.

There was a regular I used to play the old 5/150 spread limit games with here in PHX. He was a solid winner, one of the better players in the pool. Then like a clap of thunder he started to donk off BI after BI, making just some horrible plays, again and again.

I finally found out what happened... He caught his wife in bed with his life long "best friend" and business partner. His personal life went to hell, wife divorcing him, business partner trying to take the business...

He went from one of the players to be avoided to one that epic games where built around. He never did recover, haven't seen him at a table since.

While it may seem trivial to some, its all relative. What really bothers one person may have little or no effect on another. I can say for sure this is my major leak. When things are not going well in the rest of my life I suck huge at the table, but when things I are going well I kill the games.

Without confidence your play becomes weak/tight/p*ssy play and you end up getting eaten alive.

i feel like i take my time more and think about every decision when playing live. Online im more likely to take the wrong line since im playing more tables and everything is moving A LOT quicker. thats one of the reasons why i love live poker more than online

also i find that i just "know" when im beat in a live game, whereas online your looking at a screen and not really getting a flow for how the game is playing.

i still play online though alot cuz like OP mentioned you can plug leaks quicker and have Hud's etc, so there is def an edge at playing online. but overall i still play my best when im in a live setting, i guess the main reason is the weaker competition.

Some people confuse ego with confidence. Bad combo. Confidence is good to have, but know that laying down hands doesn't make you weak, but rather that it is a part of playing good.

There's a lot to this. Poker is such a negative reinforcement game. After a few bad beats, I find the urge to start hedging my play, expecting the worst. Even worse, instead of letting people hang themselves by chasing draws with horrible odds, I bet so hard they have to fold.

@cashgame500. I understand what you are saying, but there is a comfort in multi-tabling on-line. I'll get in 600 to 700 hands an hour. I can run bad with getting hands, but I'll get some on-line. Live, if I go through a 150 hand drought, that's 5 hours. And 150 hands is nothing. One thing I've done is decide that if I have to make a decision, I'll take the time. There's no penalty in timing out on every other table and if I can't make a decision in 45 seconds, shoving is +EV.

agreed. every decision counts alot more in live. theres more marginal spots online where you have to grab that slight +ev and make a quick decision and not even really think about it cuz its so standard.

I'm stuck in this mode at the moment. Any tips on breaking out? I'm remembering all the bad beats that have clobered me, but don't remember the opposite. Which, of course, means that I'm not betting big enough at the right times. Right now I suck!

Make sure you keep playing good poker. I know that sounds simple but you need to admit to yourself that there is variance to this game and sometimes it seems as if it hits all at the same time. When you can come to terms with variance the suckouts become easier (notice I didn't say easy). Make sure you stay focused and alert. Lay down hands when you are supposed to and get value when you can. Trust your reads, but dont lie to yourself about them (i.e. well his range is XYZ, when really his range is Z). It all starts mentally. When you can break through there you will be back on track.

And sometimes we all suck!

Focus on playing each and every hand to your best.

Remember you are not entitled to win any given hand of poker. The order of the cards are fixed when they are dealt, they do not know who is the best player at the table, they do not know that AA should win the vast majority of the time.

If you get mad because you lost a hand, the root cause is almost always you felt you were entitled to win that hand. The only IMO acceptable reason to be "mad" if you lose a hand is because you know you screwed up and not because of anything else or anyone else.

IME most of times people dwell on defeats or allow negative reenforcement to effect them it all boils down to that sense of entitlement. We work hard to be the best poker players we can be. We spend more time on poker than all the donkeys in last nights game combined, but yet we dropped a BI or two or more. So what... All that study, that perfectly executed hand, being dealt the best hand possible PF, OTF, OTT does not entitle us to win that hand. We are at the mercy of the odds, the fall of the card.

In the long run we will be winners if we maintain discipline and play correctly. The problem is that variance can be a bitch and we start losing faith in the math. I remember a period a few years ago that I simply could not win with AA, I felt like I should just muck it PF. It went on for months, other players would make jokes about it, dealers would joke about it. It really will test your resolve. The funny thing was that during that same period I hit a set every single time I was dealt 99, I started calling it a pocket set.

Breath, seriously breath. Check out Tommy Angleo's works.

Don't carry baggage from hand to hand. Realize that everytime the cards come out of the machine it sets everything anew. Be aware of what's happened in the recent past as it pertains to future hands but stay analytical and within the moment. All this, 'he's running so hot' or 'I'm so unlucky' BS has no place in ur game. This is the type of shyt that allows tilt to set in (both happy and sad.) Yes, it's true, being overly happy about ur performance (or recent 'run good') is also a dangerous form of tilt. Do ur best to keep at an even keel and good things will happen for u.

Guess that was more of a 'tip' than a 'plug' but w/e.