Prelude : My personal poker epiphany is not groundbreaking or super advanced. But I feel all live players, both old and new, will benefit from what I have to say.

So I just finished a losing session (my third in a row) this week and I've got to thinking really hard about what the difference between a winning a losing session looks like for me. First of all, I've come to the bitter realization that there is a tremendous amount of luck in this game over the short run. No, this is not my great epiphany, patient readers. It's just insane how I can breakeven for 2 weeks of longs sessions and be up 2k the next week after 10 hands. This realization alone has made me so much more patient, especially in marginal spots.

First, I'll give a brief poker history of myself. I've been playing poker for 9 years and seriously for about 5. I played tons of live poker throughout high school and college with friends, copious amounts of online poker, underground games before I was 21, and all the live casino poker I possibly could since I turned 21. I'm only 23 but I believe I have the experience, intelligence, patience, and maturity of that of a seasoned pro. That's not to say that I have it all figured out, because I do realize how much there still is to learn, but for the most part I am proud of how I've developed as a player while still graduating from college and pursuing many other interests. I paid my room and board my senior year in college through live poker earnings. It's not baller by any stretch of the imagination, but not too many players can say something like that.

After a ton of thought about the difference between my winning and losing sessions, it comes down to this : paying attention at the table...ALL OF THE TIME IN EVERY HAND. While this may seem obvious to all of you, it's much more difficult to actually do after 5 hours of nothing but chucking cards back at the dealer. I find this especially tough to do while I play many sessions in consecutive days. It seems to me that after about my third day of playing I go on "autopilot". I revert to my old online ways of playing "standard" lines like I was 12 tabling or something. Making standard pre-flop raises with standard pre flop cards. C-betting dry boards, folding to any resistance without a hand, and bluffing when I am bored. Paying little attention to who is in the hand, my position at the table, my perceived image, and anything else that is absolutely critical in live poker.

When the above happens, I have losing sessions. When I pay attention to all the little details and can guarantee you what every opponent is holing in every situation, I have winning sessions. It's also easy to convince yourself that you are engaged at the table when you are really not. Most of the time I am losing I still am paying attention, but not at the same level as when my A game is on.

You should be putting everyone at the table on ranges whether you are in the hand or not. I don't care how long it's been since you've gotten anything better than J8 suited. If you are no longer doing these things you should absolutely not be at the poker table. The games will still be there when you are actually using your brain again. Hopefully this makes sense to you all and I'd be happy to answer your questions you have. Here's an example to illustrate. It's embarrassing, but feels to finally be honest with myself about the difference between seemingly running bad versus playing bad, and becoming a bigger fish than my aquatic friends.

1/2 NL. Spewy, clueless Asian to my right makes it $10 pf, I call with 6's, 2 other callers. K79 flop. Spewy asian bets $25, my bored and mushy brain thinks, "hey I haven't played a hand in about 3 hours, time to represent a set!!!!!! How can he not believe me?!??!" I essentially min raise to $60, he calls. Turn 3, he checks, I bet $75, he calls. River 5, still repping a set, i bet $90. he snaps me off with Jacks. "How bad are these players, how unlucky am I for him to call me there, why can I never make a hand!!", I think to myself. After a few more variants of these types of hands, I steamily exit the casino wondering why I can't put together a solid session anymore. 3 hours later after the steam wears off, I realize I am the fish, not realizing that my opponent is never folding basically any pair here, because well, folding really isn't in his arsenal. If I had been paying any attention to this player earlier in the session this would never have happened.

I hope this helps you all out at the tables. But I sick and tired of letting myself get this way at the tables. Please give me feedback as well because I also have ideas for future articles.

Until next time, may all of your cards be live and your pots be monsters.

bet-sizing and position would be a better concept for you to focus on:

Pre flop: V in EP raise 10, Hero calls w/66, LP, LP+1 call

Flop: ($40) K79r

V leads 25, H raise to 60, LP/LP+1 fold, V calls
Anything but fold, with two played behind, is burning $$$

Turn: ($160)

V check, H bet $75
less than 1/2 pot OTT = weak bet sizing, inviting a call

River: ($310)

V check, H bet $90
Even weaker bet sizing at nearly 1/4 pot, again how can you not expect an instacall here?

The sample hand aside, I think your epiphany is an excellent one. Truth is, because these games use low level thinking, our winning strategies end up being very similar to what the fish are doing so if we stop doing the few things that differentiate our game (like having a different plan for each player), we end up playing just like the fish. BTW double and triple barreling does not work often enough at this level, and since almost no one is floating you with air or trying to exploit your lack of turn or river bluffing, you don't have to worry about doing it to balance your play. Bet fold against most opponents ftw.

I agree op I think we think a like in our approach take that for what it's worth.

Observe which villians can lay down hands and which can't. Never bluff a calling station.

Most of the money you'll win at poker comes not from the brilliance of your own play, but from the ineptitude of your opponents - Lou Krieger

Nice post.

Everyone has played idiotic hands like the sample given. We bet 75 into 180 on the turn

Thank you for the writeup! Excellent article and look forward to more of your posts.

With regards to identifying villain types, I usually have a "standard" line I take against an unknown, which is bet 2/3pot on my value hands when I have the initiative. One of the first things I try to do at the table is identify the calling stations. Against them, I never "represent" anything. I don't cbet a whiffed flop after raising pf. I just go into check mode.

However, with my value range, I bet POT on every street to get the maximum money from these player types

Well I'm glad some of you benefited from my post! Rereading that hand again makes me throw up a little in my mouth. It is so easy in live poker to start playing bad without even realizing it. While also outplaying yourself when you are on level 8 and they are on level 0.5. Sometimes it really is as simple as waiting for a big hand and value-towing the piss out of it.

My next article will be about playing for the "home run" versus taking a small ball approach to the game. And how forcing to win a big pot always gets me in trouble.