Poker Rx – A Guide to Fixing Your Poker Game

I’m entitled to this series of articles, Poker Rx. For those unfamiliar with the symbol Rx, it is currently used to mean medicine, derived from the Latin word for “recipe” and telling “to take.” It is now used colloquially to indicate “a fix.” In this series of articles, I mean a prescription for what ails your poker game.

The first step necessary in addressing the problems with your poker game is to have an accurate diagnosis. This requires egoless analysis. It’s tough for many of us to admit that we are making mistakes in poker. But unless we can first recognize that there may be a problem with our poker game, we will be unable to diagnose it accurately. And unless we can accurately diagnose it, we surely won’t be able to treat it.

Step 1: Recognition That There’s a Problem

This requires that you keep accurate and detailed records. Are you a winning player? Are you a losing player? That’s pretty basic stuff. But how do you know unless you record your wins and losses for each poker session while keeping a running count for each game you play? Accordingly, you must keep accurate records. Please keep them in one place, preferably a small notebook and a computer program. I suggest you include the following information to track your success in different situations. List the date, the place that you played, the time of day, the session length, the game, the stakes, and the win or the loss. I also find it helpful to have some space to make brief comments that may help you recall the session, which may have had some bearing on how you did. Here are sample entries.

12/11/09 9:15 P-3:20 A. $1/2 nlhe Mohegan Sun +145 6 hrs 3 fish 2 strong plyrs

12/12/09 noon -9P $2/5 nlhe MS +78 9 hrs crushed game, unlucky

If all your entries were like this, you might not think there was a problem. But if you have a bunch of entries going in the other direction, and if you believe that you seem to be suffering some reversals in your game, you might conclude that there’s a problem with your game. If so, you’re ready for step two, diagnosing it.

Step 2: Diagnosis of the Problem

You must notice that there may be a problem with your poker game. But that’s not sufficient for you to correct the problem. You must figure out what the problem is. This process is easier if you have a poker partner or coach to discuss what you have noticed. I’ve learned that nearly all highly successful professionals have to be successful by having such a sounding board or mentor. Players readily recognize and learn from their mistakes through dissection, discussion, and analysis.

Here’s an example of that. A player notices that he has been losing a lot of money at showdown – especially late at night after playing for many hours. Looking at the situation more closely, he recognizes himself in many more multi-way hands. He might surmise that the problem is that he is not being aggressive enough pre-flop – allowing his opponents to enter many more hands and improve to hands better than his. He might conclude that his problem is that he is not aggressive enough pre-flop.

It’s useful to have a second person engaged in this process. They might think of possibilities that you haven’t considered. They might notice that you are raising more, not less, as the night goes on – encouraged by your early success with an aggressive strategy. You might recall that you maintained your aggression, but you were aggressive more frequently. You might conclude that your opponents, seeing attacks from you much more regularly than normal, might grow to disrespect your raises – calling you down more frequently. You might conclude that the problem is not insufficient aggression but  too frequent aggression. The key is to be willing to consider possibilities other than your first impression of what the problem is. This can be done alone if you’re open-minded. But it works best when at least one person can engage you in the discussion.

Step 3: Address the Problem

It’s not enough to see that you have a problem. Changing your behavior requires figuring out a way to undo it. If, for example, you conclude that your problem is excessive passivity pre-flop, then you need to figure out how to change that behavior at the table. Too passive in general, then raise more. Too frequently raising pre-flop, then become more selective. Whatever the problem is that you address, there is a cure. You need to figure out what that cure is.

Sometimes, the problems, and therefore the solutions to those problems, are complex. Maybe the problem is not lack of aggression in general but lack of aggression pre-flop – or not following up on your charge with an attack on the turn. If so, you must experiment with different approaches – perhaps being more selective pre-flop but continuing to be aggressive more frequently, regardless of what cards hit the flop. On the other hand, maybe you’ve noticed that players disrespect your pre-flop raise and become aggressive if you don’t bet the turn. The prescription for that problem may always be to make a continuation bet – even if you don’t hit anything on the flop.

You must address the problem as you see it, attempting to become more specific and refined with your response as you hone in on the progressively more defined problem. This means you can’t give up on your first general definition of the problem or your first available method for addressing the problem. You must be constantly redefining the problem and readdressing it with different approaches.

Step 4: Stay at It

Notwithstanding, don’t give up on your solution to the problem too soon. It’s easy to fall back into your bad habits too quickly, and it’s easy to quit too soon. Commit to applying your Rx for at least 20 hours or so. If you fall back to your earlier patterns too quickly, you won’t have any way of determining if your fix has worked or failed.

Step 5: Reassess

No experiment can be said to work or fail until and unless you have analyzed the results. Go back to your poker logbook. See if your hourly rate has improved. Consider the extenuating circumstances that you noted. Think through the way that you played critical hands. Did you apply a different strategy? Did you change your habits? Can you draw any conclusions about the results? Are your changes working?

If the changes work, keep at them and analyze your play after another 20 hours. If the changes aren’t working, consider and decide what isn’t working. You may have an inconclusive result. If so, continue for another 20 hours and reassess again then. On the other hand, after reflection, you may see that the changes you made were insufficient, incorrect, or unnecessary. The key is to think things through until you can conclude.

The key to all this is to ensure you don’t just keep playing poker the same way, hoping the cards will start coming your way. Trust your observation that there’s a problem and then go from there. It is easy to convince yourself there isn’t a problem before you have given a full-fledged effort to test new poker strategy ideas.