I've noticed that when I try to range an opponent, I often fail to include the possibility that my opponent could have the same hand I do, and adjust my play accordingly.

Likewise - and this is STOOPID - I sometimes overlook that a low pair on board makes my over-pair a better two-pair than some of my opponent's likely holdings. Like, on a board of T95r 2 2, if I was thinking, "he could have T9" and played QQ cautiously on the turn, I'll miss a value bet on the river when the brick pairs.

More than once, I put in a standard-size raise, only to realize my opponent had barely anything left behind. There's nothing more embarrassing than folding J high when all our draws brick out and an opponent donk-jams $50 into a $450 pot.

Lastly, and this might be one that deserves its own thread, but occasionally I'll WAY over-play a marginal strength hand by raising pre, c-betting flop, and barreling turn when I am CLEARLY behind, then not know what to do when I catch a miracle card to make a deceptively strong hand.

For example, I raised pre, c-bet flop, and barreled turn with 66 on a board of A4Jr A 6. I figured V had to have an A and knew I was FOS when he calls pre, flop, and turn, so I check, thinking he'd value-bet, but then he checks back and I sheepishly turn over a rivered boat and scoop a pot that should have been much bigger.

In those hands, when I got what I think of as "unearned value" with a BS hand on earlier streets, I often seem to default to slowing down, thinking my opponent will take the lead when a card that looks like a brick actually improves my hand.

I think of these sorts of in-game mental mistakes as "blind spots". Has anyone else here noticed themselves making these sort of errors, and if so, how did you fix them?

You're asking why an opponent who chose to take a passive line on every street where you have shown aggression chooses again to take a passive line on the river just because you checked?

Not really.

I'm asking if anyone else has noticed that they repeatedly make subtle mental mistakes in game.

1. Seems like not a real thing. How often is it that you would play meaningfully differently against a given range than you would against that range excluding chops? And the issue is that you are missing spots like this?

2. Read the board.

3. Pay attention to stack sizes.

4. Every time you find yourself wanting to slow down but can't identify specific concrete reasons why, just ship it instead. Or you could try to manage focus and nerves a little better and slow down and think things through generally.

Mine when I started playing 14 years ago was "Board Pairing".

Made several mistakes thinking I was good with my nut flush (which got beat by a boat or 2p (getting counterfeited) or TPWK (not realizing my weak kicker wouldn't play)

I'm not sure I did anything other than make a mental note to see what changed when board pairs

Most players simply don’t know what kind of variables they should be looking at, even very experienced ones.

But these factors become “obvious” only after the fact, kind of like guessing a wheel of fortune puzzle and was like, ldo, after they reveal the letters.

It’s pretty standard for just about every poker player, and because it seems so obvious after the fact, they think they made a mistake and is something they can actually identify next time.

Truth is, there are always a ton of these clues in every situation. If you don’t understand how to prioritize and identify the important ones, almost like looking at a map without the keys, simply creating a long list or even memorizing the whole thing won’t really help you. It can actually be quite complicated, especially when dealing with a wide range of varying tendencies in low stake.

I've noticed I'm more aware of board pairs when I have a flush or a flush draw than I am when I just have a PP or when my kicker won't play.

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"More than once, I put in a standard-size raise, only to realize my opponent had barely anything left behind. There's nothing more embarrassing than folding J high when all our draws brick out and an opponent donk-jams $50 into a $450 pot."

why is this embarassing? you saved 50$

Docvall,

When you checked river as PFR on AJ4A6 board with a rivered boat hoping to get in a river CR for value after double barreling twice, I think that you are not understanding typical live player psychology well.

Maybe you should watch some training videos, or listen to training podcasts, or even get some in depth coaching specifically on live poker psychology.

For example, Bart Hanson's CrushLivePoker content is pretty good for discussing typical live Villain tendencies and how to exploit them for max value

It's embarrassing because it's obvious that I was raising as a bluff, without first checking my opponent's stack depth before I bet. If I'm going to raise as a bluff, I should just jam, if my raise is going to be 80%-90% of V's remaining stack.

If I jam on a draw heavy-board, and he calls, I can just say "I missed, you're good" and muck - but at least I jammed for max fold equity. If I bet slightly less than all-in with value and he sucks out, I can shrug and say "he doesn't have enough left for me to fold", and I can call - but at least I was raising for value with a real hand.

But when I bet 80% of what an opponent has, and then he sticks in the last 20%, and I fold, it's not only obvious I was bluffing, but also obvious I wasn't even cognizant enough to simply jam.

Had one recently - I 3B to $80 pre over a $20 EP open and a BTN flat call from the SB with KQs, c-bet 2/3 pot on a T43cdd flop, and bet pot on a 3h turn, only to realize he (the EP PFR) only had $150 left behind. All the draws bricked out on the river, but it was a paired board, he raised-called my 3B pre, called my 2/3 pot c-bet, and my turn OB.

I thought about jamming river, but couldn't see what he had in his range that gets to the river but would fold to a $150 bet into an almost $1200 pot, so I checked, he jammed, and I tank-folded. Later he told me he had 65dd, for a flopped OESFD, and he would have called off a turn jam, but obviously folded to any size river bet.

I would have won with K-high, had I just checked his stack and jammed turn, instead of not checking his stack and trying to size my bet according to the pot.

Yes I realize how stupid that was. That's kind of the point here.

I've literally watched every single one of Bart's videos, as well as a ton of content from Polk, Galfond, and others.

That one hand example was from almost a year ago, playing 1/3, and V was a special kind of rec-fish. He was VPIP'ing super-high and calling pretty wide on flops and turns, but also getting hit with the deck, and frequently rivering monster hands. Not making excuses for myself. I know I mis-played it.

In game, I was (God forgive me) thinking that if I bet, he might actually find a fold with Ax (in retrospect, the logic here is amazingly inconsistent), and would only call with better boats, but if I checked, he'd surely bet with any Ax, and might even feel invincible enough to bet with some Jx.

Believe it or not, I wasn't planning to x/r there. I was planning to flat call, because I really only thought he'd call a bet (or raise) with hands that beat mine. That's how hard this guy was getting hit with the deck.

When I rolled over my hand, a friend sitting next to me was not the least bit gentle about telling me I missed a value bet, and I'm basically a dunce.

It's not as big a problem for me as it once was. More recently, when I start out bluffing but then hit a gin card, I've been better about continuing to bet for value.

Yes. To fix: Post hands to 2+2. At the table pay attention to the people and their actions. People happilly tell you about their hands because you listen to them. Yoga. Meditation. Humility. Practice makes perfect. Play more poker.

You need to give yourself a mental checklist. Sometimes you can get tunnel vision and not see things. Something like:

1. Is a flush possible?

2. Is a straight possible? Are there one liners out there?

3. Is the board paired (boats are possible, two pair might be counterfeit, overpairs win).

4. What draws missed? What draws got there? Sometimes you get tunnel vision. You are thinking about a flush coming in, seeing it missed, and you miss a kissed, came in.

5. What does the SPR look like? Do I gave fold equity in future streets or will villain be pot committed?

As for when you bink a really strong and unlikely hand, like you tripple barrel and hit a backdoor gutshot or turn or river a set, should almost always bet the card huge. He can just have trip aces and will see the 6 as a total brick. You have to understand that un a lot of spots where we check, our opponent is happy to take their showdown value. If anything a total brick means nothing changed in our opponents eyes so we should try to get them to pay us on the river by betting when they already called the turn.

We don't need a ton of slow plays in general. The classic example of a slow play is with top set, but even then most of the time we don't slowplay.

I'm getting better at spotting counterfeits, but double gutters get me every time

I noticed I have a mental mistake, I play differently from the way I should play, when my opponent is particularly unattractive or particularly attractive.

Therefore I tried to avoid sitting down at the same table with them, if I have a choice.

I don't assume I'm the only person with this flaw?

YES! Both spot on.