All of the prior sections have been cut and dry advice. Do this, and you make more money. They are all very easy to follow and are clean cut advice that will immediately drastically improve your winrate. The future segments will all probably be along these lines as well.

But this thread will not.

I have been doing a lot of thinking lately and I think I have something important to say about being honest with yourself. Perspective is important with everything in live but it is especially important in a results orientated game such as poker. So please stick with me for a moment and perhaps you can learn something along the way.

Whenever we pick up a new hobby, we become better at it as we go along. At first we are terrible, and thus our standards as to what we should consider good are subjective to that. Like for example, my current golf game. I am absolutely terrible, and to be honest i just enjoy hitting a clean drive. My standards are to try to have fun and maybe hit a few good balls. And so it remains that way for most recreational golfers.

In golf, taking a couple swings off your actual score wont do anything. At the end of the day you still just had a good time, but now you just have a lower score to brag about. If your an athlete your bench becomes slighlty heavier, or your mile becomes a little shorter.

But in poker your net from a session will ALWAYS be a fixed number that has an actual change on your life. If you play responsibly it has a negligible one but it has one nonetheless. How often do people lie about their poker winnings? Basically all the time. I mean the game fundamentally promotes lying as a wanted virtue. I would imagine 90%+ of players are lifetime losers.

Funny, because apparently I have never met any of them.

And this is exactly what the casinos/card rooms want. Gambling built an oasis in the desert or so the saying goes. By pretending your winning, or by bragging about how much you made; it makes you come back for more. And in that session your gonna win too. You can lie to random people, you can lie to your friends, you can lie online, you can lie to your loved ones.

But you CANNOT lie to yourself.

Just take a step back for a moment, think about how much poker in your life. Are you a winner or a loser? Probably some of you are winners, probably some are losers. But almost NONE of you have the sample size in order to accurately decide.

When i started poker, I had 0 ego. I lost my first couple of deposits and i said this has to stop. So i sat myself down and started researching. Because I realized something, in May 2007.

I was a loser.

I had lost money, but i could fix it. I didnt know how but god willing i would do everything in my power to become a winner. So i started keeping honest records of my winnings and losses and started analyzing pokertracker post sessions. Whenever i lost a buyin, i didnt say "Well he just sucked out on the turn it happens.", I would say "How could i have gotten in more money ahead or folded when i was behind." Because at the end of the day I was going to become a winner no matter what it took. One day at a time, 1c/2c at a time.

And so i worked my way up. Its a cruel world, the poker world. It is also a rewarding one however. But you have to realize, everyone wants you broke. The casinos are slowly taking your money. The other players want your stack. You have to live every month. You need resources and as a poker player your only way to assure that you maintain that stream is to play every day. If you work hard you can make it, but it is not anyone else's responsibility to see you succeed.

There are billions of people in this world who have harsher problems then some gambling addict going busto.

Remember that, and this forum is one of the few places you can come for help. But just remember to be honest, have some greater picture perspective, and play like a ****ing champion today, to assure yourself, a better tomorrow.

~Doug

Congratulations. You've just jumped the shark.

I couldn't agree more. This is why a program like PokerTracker is so important. It forces you to take a good, hard, and blatently honest look at your real results--not how much you're up in one session. It doesn't let you ignore those bad sessions that you don't add to your totals when you're bragging to your friends.

One of the best ways to become a better poker player is to be honest about how you are really doing.

Really good post. I think EVERYONE have lied to someone about their winnings at poker.
Hah, even I have, sometimes you just can't help yourself and add an extra sum to your winnings if asked, innit :P

Couldn't agree more with you, be honest with yourself and don't lie too much, soon you believe your own lies, and that's the point you are ****ed. :P

Damn straight sooonnnn.

And then we study, practice, perhaps take lessons and improve.

But keep in mind one thing. When we learn major changes designed to improve your game, expect results to recede temporarily until the new skills are mastered.

One step back, two steps forward...

I learned that when I bowled. I went from a four to a five-step delivery. It wasn't just adding another step. It meant starting on the other foot, changing timing, and obtaining new muscle memory. So results went down for awhile.

So yes, be honest with yourself, but also go easy on yourself if you are working on your game. It's not a straight-line upward improvement, but a jagged one.

QFT.

And while we're being honest, Shick, I really hate your avatar. Really, really, really. Hate, hate, hate.

phydaux i really like your avatar. Really, really, really. Love, love, love.

Phy.. do you have the large picture?


Hm and good topic Rider,
and you are right

I play at the lowest stakes at the moment, building from 30 to 1000$ .. Like the challenge..
But sometimes i really have to hit myself in the face
NO IM NOT GOOD, I PLAY OKAY, BUT I CAN BE VERY GOOD IF I HAVE THE PATIENCE !

Its so stupid to think you mastered the game and you don't make mistakes anymore

even Doyle brunson says that he still learn everyday in poker..

So.. Where i'm at?
Freakin no where

Crap, I realy do suck...

Another great post sir!

to the original OP.. how are you gonna give advice, and try and tell other's how to play?

you haven't even finished 3rd in "1" online tournament.

pfft, nonsense you are.

Pretty sure hes a cash game player numbskull

Sawed-off, I hope you realize Doug is a very respected person on the boards and I don't know who you are Mr. World Series.

He took time to write a guide up to help people, and you bash him, class act.

On the note of being a class act,

Shut the **** up.

I'll stick to reading what the "pro's" have to say.

Not an amateur trying to tell me what i'm doing wrong, or how to play.
Thank you.

You clearly win at life sir, continue on !

What does that statement have to do with mine?

Nothing you can say can prove I suck at life, lol, so why even be sarcastic?

I didn't come here pretending to be a pro.

I SAID GOOD DAY!

Oh, I thought you told me to "carry on."

Make up your mind.

no. he's just done tard stuff like win 40 buyins in a single day playing 25nL. silly stuff like that.

pay him no mind. you're obv. a better player.

post graphs plz.

Never said I WAS. I come here for advice to, I can't help it if I critisize first before I give someone a chance, that i've never met, it's a habit.
Sorry if I offended anyone, but truthfully I don't care, lol.

Why didn't you listen to my sound advice?

Shut the **** up.

You're not making anything better for yourself by continuing to talk.

The thing is he's a pro so what are you complaining about. His advice is actually better than a lot of the "big" or something pros', just because you've been on national television wearing ridiculous glasses, does not make you magically some sort of ultimate teacher, first of all a lot of them would suck at explaining what they do whatever it is, secondly they usually aren't capable of beginner level thinking, thirdly what they do is largely useless at even professional small stakes internet multitabling, fourthly a lot of the books are simply dated, average table conditions have changed and some aspects of the strategy haven't simply been developed until recently, fifthly when they write a book a lot of the time it is money whoring with nothing but a big name and they consciously put random crap in it.

Stop ****ting in perfectly good threads, bag.

lol what a moronic claim. you CAN help that you criticize first you just choose not to.

in all honesty guys, stop responding to a troll and derailing a great thread.

this is a good write up doug, thx