EnglishPER'S “Illvillja” CORNER
Tell me the truth you...
A swedish rockband called Clawfinger made a song called "the truth" back in the 90's. I do not remember more from the song than the part I wrote in the topic and I doubt it correlates in any way to poker more than in my twisted mind. The topic makes me think of an important thing aside from the poker table that will help you become a better player.
All poker players have a ton of bad beat stories, and we all love to whine about how brutally we got busted in the tour last day or this "one" time where we lost to an impossible runner, runner flush. If you would only listen to those stories one could believe that poker was all rigged and that no poker player ever lost with the worst hand. This is as you hopefully knows not true. In the long term AA is a steady winner if you play it right and a favorite all-in preflop against any other hand.
A little more than a week ago I played some big Sunday Tournaments including the $250 000 guarantee here at pokerworld. I got beaten badly and I discussed several hands with my friends. When discussing those hands I realised a bad habit that I thought I had got rid of a long time ago. I was not completely honest with how the hands went. I actually made the beats look worse and my made my opponents seem more lucky than they were. I guess the reason was to look better myself, but when giving it a though I realised that if I really want to improve my game and become a better player I need to tell the truth.
I told everyone that I busted with AT against QT close to the money in a major tournament. The truth is that I pushed A8 into QT. The call from my opponent is still a really bad one, but it makes me a 1.5:1 favorite instead of a 2.5:1 which is of huge importance when telling someone that a Q came at flop. I also told everyone that bared to listen that I busted with JJ against AA all-in on a low flop. Actually I made a bad play, I reraised a MP raisor and got re-reraised by the button that covered me. Here against this particular player I think JJ is a fold (and I knew that here as well, but I was already tilted), but instead I pushed. That the flop was all low cards and that the hand had probably ended the same if it was played in a different way is not of importance. How I played it is of imoprtance to improve and make it better next time.
However, a short note about this. If an opponent asks you what hand you held in a particular situation telling the truth is very seldom the best option. Telling them nothing or giving them some misleading hands that might give them a different image of you is probably a better option to not reveal too much information. Take the hand discussion with a friend that are less likely to take advantage of this after the game is finished.
Right now I am on my way to Riga in Latvia to play a live $1k NLHE tournament. I hope to be able to get back with some information about this tournament soon.
If you think that my advices will help you and will be applicable to your games, and your stakes, you are welcome back here in a week to read my next article. If you have any questions or suggestions, do not hesitate to drop me a mail.
Until then, good luck at the tables!
Per “Illvillja” Wolf
PokerWorld Pro
Tournament Report: Latvia and Portugal (Part 1) >>