Give Your Poker Game a Good 'Spring Cleaning'
It is spring, at least in the Northern Hemisphere. Flowers, pollen, grass, and birds remind us that it is a time of renewal and rebirth. For us poker players, it's a great time to brush aside our accumulated bad habits of the past year and reinvigorate our play — to start afresh.
Consider these four "spring cleaning" tasks you can undertake right now to better your chances of success in the coming year.
1. Dive into your data and find your leaks
Just as the spring thaw is is a good time to look around your property and see if there's any cracked mortar in your foundation, any rusted or leaking pipes, and whether the windows have any loose or cracked panes or broken seals, spring is also a perfect time to review your data to find leaks in your game.
If you play online, you should have saved a history of the hands you've played throughout the year. Check out all of the basic stats, starting with the percentage of the time you've voluntarily put money in pot (VPIP). Similarly, take a look at your preflop raise percentage (PFR). Now check out the stats of the players you recognize from the many games you've played. What are their VPIP and PFR stats?
While you surely notice these stats on your HUD while you're playing, now is a good time to go through your line-up of opponents while away from the tables, noting how those you most commonly face tend to play, and what those tendencies likely mean when you face them in a game.
Those of you who play live have less hard data to review, but still lots of experience from which to draw. There is much you can do to check for leaks.
Go over your notes on your playing sessions for the year. Where have you had profitable sessions? When were you playing most profitably? Can you remember anything about the line-ups in any of the games you were in? Are there regular players you faced who gave you a hard time? Think about why. What kind of players do you look forward to seeing when you play? Think about why that is the case and how you can best take advantage of them in the future.
Similarly, think about how you play. To the extent you can, think through your habitual style of play and try to think critically about what you might do differently to gain an edge over your typical opponents. In general, try to break through your habits of play and replace them with more thoughtful and intentional behavior at the table.
2. Clean up your game selection
Most players follow a particular, not very mindful routine whenever they play. They show up at their regular room, they take the first seat in the first game they find, and they play.
But profitable play requires more selectivity. You want to play in the game with the biggest differential between your abilities and the average skill level of your opponents. You want the best game available, and you also want (if possible) the best seat in that game.
Now is a good time for you to spend at least a little energy scoping out all the available places to play. Make a point of taking a scouting trip to places where you don't usually play. See for yourself what the action is. Clock a few of the games in the room to see how often the hands are conceded before showdown, how many players typically see the flop, and how often players continue to be aggressive after the flop. Keep some notes on places with games that seem especially soft.
Make note as well of the rake and the promotional jackpot drop. Are any of the rooms offering especially enticing comps or house-funded promotions? If not — that is, if you're room still comes out on top — then continue to play there. But consider alternatives that might give you a better chance to have a profitable session.
3. Improve your note-keeping system
Take some time to review your system for keeping track of your sessions. Are you writing things down? Do you have good software to keep track of your online play and the play of your opponents? When playing live do you enter information on your phone? Is your app cumbersome or not as helpful as it might be?
Perhaps it's time for a change or upgrade to your note-keeping system, either from what you're doing manually or how you're recording information on your hand held device. What options are out there that you might use? Do you have all the data you'd like for purposes of review and discussion? If not, find out what others have and how you might get adopt their system for keeping track of their play.
If you're a thoughtful and learning player, you'll want the best data you can get. And that means the best system for keeping track of data when you play.
4. Review your "intentional learning"
Are you reading, watching videos, getting coached, or participating in regular poker discussion with other serious players? If so, think about how those types of "intentional learning" are working for you.
Maybe it's time to do more of one and less of another, or change the people or groups with whom you study. Just because you have read a few books or watched a few videos, that doesn't mean you can't continue to find new avenues of learning. Assess what has been working for you, and consider what else might be out there to help your game.
Spring is the season of hope and renewal. Take the opportunity to "clean up" your game now, and improve your chances of cleaning up at the tables.
Ashley Adams has been playing poker for 50 years and writing about it since 2000. He is the author of hundreds of articles and two books, Winning 7-Card Stud (Kensington 2003) and Winning No-Limit Hold'em (Lighthouse 2012). He is also the host of poker radio show House of Cards. See www.houseofcardsradio.com for broadcast times, stations, and podcasts.
