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Nice post.

I think this is something that all beginners have trouble with. I myself had trouble with this the first few months I played. I'd say, "OMG I woulda had a full house right there." You know what'd happen after that? I'd get a similar hand a few hands later, and limp in and not hit anything. Or I'd hit a SMALL piece of it and bet, and then get my chips and/or stack taken from me.

Now? I'm like others around here that laugh when my 49o turns into a full house on the flop. Once you're out of the hand you're out of the hand. I hope others get to that point too, and the fish I encounter in the future don't.

I used to be like that. Id fold a garbage hand then be like "DAMN!" when it hit the flop. But as aokrongly said its pointless to think like that. Poker is game information and choices. Make the best choices with the information you have and you will be a succesful poker player. If you folded 53os but it later becomes a full boat, oh well, you still made a good play.

other day, i had pocket 4's, three people pushed preflop, obviously i folded. flop came 44k. its easy to sit there and think, i am a deuschbag, but its easier to just not watch the hand, or just be confident in knowing you did the right thing. i know i would do the same thing every time.

When you throw a hand into the muck, muck it from your mind as well. I have gotten pretty good at this. A lot of times people will ask me what I was holding after I fold or if I lose a showdown. I don't tell them, not because it may give away my play, but because I honestly don't remember. Once it is folded under, it is over and there is no point to remembering what you threw in the muck. I really noticed this starting to develop when I began multi tabling. You can't remember all the hands you threw away, nor do you care because you've folded it and you're off watching cards at another table. Now, when I do find myself playing just one table, I dump a hand and can't remember what I was holding whether I want to or not.

F*** it! You mucked it!

Instead of focusing on how your hand would have played out, play the game of trying to put the people who are left in the hand on a hand or range of hands given the board and the action. If it goes to a showdown, see how close or far off you were.

This is more interesting, harder to do, and overall, much more constructive. It will make you a better poker player .... Whereas, only frustration, a tendency to loosen up etc. will come from watching the hand from your mucked hand's perspective.

Man this is some good advice.
I have just recently taken this step myself I also try to note How many times those hands you fold would have lost.


peace
wwonka

It's BETTER to reinforce how often they would have lost than won, as you say Wonka. Because it will tighten up your game and let you fold with confidence just like you raise with confidence.

Originally Posted by wwonka

Man this is some good advice.
I have just recently taken this step myself I also try to note How many times those hands you fold would have lost.

peace
wwonka

This is better than the opposite, but I got to agree with the monkey here. Forget what hand you had altogether and spend your energy watching and trying to put people on a hand. When you think you hve a read on the players notice what cards you see at the showdown and make a note of it in the player notes feature. It will be likely to help you down the road when you are deciding whether or not to showdown with that same opponent and will improve your hand reading abilty as well.

Lots of little things like this make playing losing poker so easy...

Also try to remember those hands were you are glad you folded after the woulda-coulda thing.

Ever have those hands where you lay down 22 only to flop a set and watch the hand play out only to see you would have had the worst of 3 sets by the river and would have lost you stack.

You lay down what would have been 2 pair and the board comes all the same suit and you didn't have the suit.

And you think to yourself "Whew, glad I didn't have to mke that decision."

Great post.

This was probably one of the biggest hurdles for me to overcome. I have been playing online for close to 1 year --not including breaks-- and I probably overcame this about 6 weeks ago. Now I treat flops with casual indifference.

Anyone who has any doubts in Aok's thinking, I ask that you take 2 pieces of paper, and write down what you missed everytime you woulda-coulda. On the other piece of paper, write down all the times you folded garbage and missed the flop completely or would have been dominated by another player still in the hand (top pair no kicker). You will probably run out of room on 2nd paper before you have 5 'woulda's' on the 1st piece.