Go Without Your Ego At The Next Poker Game! Here’s why…

Read the book Ego is the Enemy by Ryan Holiday? I guess you will agree with me that you cannot carry your ego to the poker tables! Apart from hiding your ego you should also know the details about Texas Hold’em poker hands.

As for everyone else, it is noteworthy to know that our ego often leads us to a wrong path in life, while in our pursuit of success. While this is the main lesson the book had to offer, for a poker player this lesson is all the more essential to be carried into the poker table. Here’s a very common poker experience that showcases the dark side of taking your ego too seriously at the game in the life of a poker player!

Read below to know more:

Imagine that you were playing a tourney online, the day could be a few weeks ago; you did pretty good so far as to run quite deep into the game. But something went wrong and you got busted at the final table after losing a flip. Now the guy that busted you was not someone you are familiar with in the online crowd, however during the course of the game, you guys did not develop a very cordial relationship owing to some online banter at the poker table chat window. But still later, you decided it was all water under the bridge as you logged off after the tourney had ended.

Fast forward to today! You find the same guy on an online poker table yet again. The first hand you play against him goes south fast as he cracks your aces! Did that hurt? Of course it did. Now you are feeling a slew of emotions that are clouding up the logical part of your mind. You are being slowly gripped by an irrational urge to outplay him in whatever way possible. So, what happens? A few hands have passed and you’ve been busted once again by that same guy after making a shamefully sub-optimal play. You went on a savage tilt and played even worse for a couple of hours after your initial loss.

 
How bad is ego for the games?

This, my friend is a classic case of letting your ego run your day instead of your poker skills being at the wheel! It’s almost as bad as Twitter guiding your daily decisions in life! It is one of the most common mental game leaks. However, does it feel any different when you are at the other side of this full tilt game play? If you had your opponents having a hard time adapting to your playing style, then going on a tilt and giving their chips away. Why? Because their frenemy ego told them to get rid of you, to defeat you and not the poker player within you or your playing strategy. So, they made every bad decision in the book and went on to slide down the greasy pole of negative poker outcomes one after the other.

This is the classic case wherein you play a lot of hands against this one opponent who you think is playing bad but getting lucky every time! Is he 3-betting each time you raise? Things make you tense and you begin to berate him in the chat window. The more he wins the more you want to punish him for being the better player in this scenario! But how do you outplay him?

The most common approach for players is to get more aggressive, but this will be counter-productive. So, should I be too passive and wait for my best hands to trap him? No! the best thing you could do in such a situation is to stay put with your poker fundamentals. For e.g. if your opponent is 3-betting you light, then you can tighten the opening range so that you defend his 3-bets more often with a stronger range. The best way to punish his calls with bad odds is by increasing your bet size, perhaps by over-betting flops and turns!

Final Statement


In conclusion, the best approach for winning all kinds of poker games is to stick to your fundamentally purported counter-strategies, which will give you the best chances of winning by defeating your opponent. You need to separate the play from the player to identify the right course of actions. Your ego should remain detached from the results. Never expect players to play in a style you’re comfortable with. The best strategy is to keep your poker fundamentals close and your enemy ego at home!

Comments

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  2. All the poker players must read this blog. A poker table is not the right place to show your ego and revenge. When you play poker, your ego should remain detached from the results and never expect players to play in a style you’re comfortable with.

    Poker is a purely skill-based mind game where the outcomes are determined by the aptitude and analytical capability of the player rather than luck.

    What is the role of psychology in poker? Poker and psychology are connected. You can read more about the Psychology of Poker here.

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