Playing live poker is like fishing. You wait for a bite, then you reel the fish in. Experienced fishermen don't constantly recast their lines, change their bait, move to new spots, etc. They sit there and wait. Sometimes you don't get a bite for 3 hours. That happens. Just be patient, and eventually someone will come and give you their stack. Don't give yours away in the meantime.
I can guarantee you that my lifetime winrate would be SIGNIFICANTLY higher if I treated poker more like fishing instead of an easter egg hunt, constantly searching for spots to outplay people and maybe make some money. But stop and think about it for a second. No matter what, you play value hands. If you want to be more active, that basically means you're adding in exclusively bluffs since you're already playing all your value hands. Now what's the #1 most important tip about live poker? People don't go to the casino to fold. Not even the winning players, the uber-patient old guys who play JJ+, the self-proclaimed professionals. None of them like folding. Obviously there are certain spots/players but overall, yea like I said, if I never bluffed ever in live poker I'd have more money than I have now. I'm not patient enough and it's one of my leaks.
The common 2+2 argument is that you're better than the fish on future streets so you can outplay them with marginal holdings. Please explain how that's possible without showdown value. You can't "outplay" a typical casino fish by barreling 96hh on Kd8d7s2s, planning to bet him off his KTcc if diamonds or spades hit. You can outplay him by getting his entire stack when you have KQhh here instead. YOU force HIM to exploit you when you bluff the river because he's not folding nearly enough. Now there are certain situations where a player is so bad or deep enough I will play ATC against them. These situations are rare and if you think your edge over the "average" fish is good enough to do so, you're wrong.
Take as much time to think about it as you want, but we all know you're calling.
These next couple paragraphs only pertains to winning players who play poker semi-pro or as a hobby. If poker is your only source of income, you need a bankroll. Period. But personally, I play severely underrolled. I am well aware of the fact that if I run bad, I might miss out on a bunch of +EV opportunities in the future; for example, if some billionaires start shoving all in blind preflop every hand at the 25/50 game but I can't even afford to min-buy in that game, I would regret it, right? Sit on the sidelines banging my head against the wall wishing I didn't play 5-5-10 PLO with 6 buyins?
Nope. I live my life with no regrets (well, I have one. But I won't go there now). Speculating about what you might miss in the future is pointless. Let's say instead, I play the 2-3 NL game with a good winrate, grind up my roll, eventually I witness these guys giving away money at 25/50 and my poker bankroll is comfortable taking a shot at it. My AIEV line goes up by $25,000 in 1 night (I don't even care to talk about whether I actually even make money). Does this sound better?
Before you say "yes", ask yourself "better than what?" What are you comparing this to? Think about that.......................................... No one knows the future, or even the present for that matter. You're always giving up everything else for anything. What if I busted my roll, went to a park instead of the casino and met my future wife there? I'm sure you married guys can confirm that's worth a lot more than $25k.
Hey you're cute. By the way I lost 98% of my net worth last week- want to buy this dog for $20?
I was once asked by my friends in Cleveland if you would flip your entire life bankroll with AA vs ATC. Hell I don't even need AA. Give me JJ and I'll insta take that flip for everything I own except my car, phone, and a single outfit. Because while I might miss out on the opportunity to play on some hugely +EV tables, if I lose, I might miss out on the opportunity to enjoy the free things in life if I pass up on it. Obv I can't regret it if I win too lol. (Also I feel like I need to point out it's not because I'm a degenerate gambler. I have played roulette once in my life, and that was because the casino gave me a $25 free signup bonus. Dropped it all on black, lost, insta-left.)
This movie has a happy ending, but have you ever thought about how made Mike had it in life if he quit poker for good after busting his roll
Something the younger, feistier, loves-being-right, perfectly logical me might have pointed out in that previous paragraph is "but wait Aesah, you can enjoy the free things in life anyway". Well that's both right and wrong. From a theory perspective, humans are capable of a lot of things in life. But in practice, you need DISCIPLINE and COURAGE among other things. Let me give you a simple example. Does waking up at 7:00 AM, arriving on time every day for work, cooking dinner when you get home at 5:00 PM, working out, then going to bed at a reasonable hour sound hard? LOL IT IS ****ING HARD and you can simply look at 99% of your friends who attempt to do so but fail. Does going up to a cute girl sitting by herself at Subway and saying "hi, mind if I join you" sound hard? Does folding QJs from UTG after not playing a hand for merely 1 hour sound hard?
Let's be real here, it's gonna be f'king hard for this guy to get ready for work in 5 minutes.
Many people will answer "no" to the above questions because that's just how people look at these things- they're all things that you can "just go do. I disagree". Some of you guys are probably STILL scratching your heads thinking "wait, how is that hard". Well let me ask you this. Is getting a perfect score on the SAT hard? Is playing Rachmaninoff on piano hard? Is benching 400 pounds hard? While people might say these are hard because they can't do them, which require intelligence, dexterity, or strength, respectively, can actually be much easier for some people than waking up when their alarm goes off. People have different strengths and weaknesses. People can't just randomly give themselves significantly more courage, more discipline, etc., just like they can't randomly become smarter. But they can work on it, practice, etc. But it'll be hard
I DONT GET IT GUYS, THIS IS SO EASY
My advice to anyone who's made it this far is to take a bit of time to think about what truly would make you happy every day. And REALLY think about it, because it'll be worth it. Don't overlook the unusual things, such as being a guide dog trainer, white-water rafting guide, working on a cruise ship, etc. Don't overlook the little things, such as what music you listen to in the car, tipping a couple dollars more than average, etc. And most importantly, don't overlook basic human needs, such as social interaction, security, etc. If something in your life could use a little change, then change it.
Cheers. I haven't stayed up this late in awhile and I'm tired as fk so hopefully this makes sense.