It’s been longer than usual between posts for me. I’m not sure I can put my finger on exactly why but I’m guessing it has to do with the fact that after reading 100 posts on 2+2 it’s a bit of a challenge to come up with something interesting to say. Posting about a hand seems so boring. Heck, it seems boring to write about most sessions so I can imagine how boring it must be to read about them.
I did catch something over at Iggy’s that caught my eye though. He says:
But I’ve been helping a brand spanking new player in hold em. It’s been an interesting experience, to say the least. It makes me realize how far I’ve come.
I think there is a distinct correlation between poker players who desire to improve, to study and become winning players and the poker blogging scene. It’s difficult sometimes to be brutally honest with our play, to dissect it and try to understand the “why and how” of what we are potentially doing wrong. I guess I’d like to rant about losing versus winning poker players, maybe bash the online poker conspiracy theorists again (head to the archives if you want a taste) but that’s a very dead horse.
I’ve had a few cherries I’ve taken under my wing in recent months and I’ve noticed a few tendencies as has Iggy. For instance, I had one friend who would ask me for advice and then tell me that I was wrong. He would ask for some help on a hole in his game and when I gave my advice, which usually was that he was playing too loose, too aggressive on weak hands, or being too scared of other aggressive players, he would dismiss it like my critique had offended him.
Poker is about looking inward and that’s hard for a lot of people. The beginning is easy because you’re just learning to play logical poker. As you progress it becomes more and more necessary for you to tear your play apart. That’s not always easy. Sometimes the way you play says a lot about your personality. Examing your game means examing how you deal with situations in your life away from the card table.
In the example that Iggy uses about people who bitch and moan about never getting good cards or the dealer being against them, how much do you want to bet that they blame the outside world for many of their other problems in life? How about the tilt-boy (or girl)? Wanna lay me odds on whether or not that person has impulse control issues in their real life?
What most newer poker players want is the magic answer. How do I make people respect my raise? How do I keep my aces from getting cracked? Really, they believe that there’s a magic move that you can make that somehow foils the gods of poker (silly fools, nobody foils the poker gods).
Ahh, that felt good. I may just keep posting more 🙂