Tuesday, June 14, 2005
Folding Hands in Poker & Last Night's Tournament
I played a multi-table tournament at Full Tilt Poker last night. ($20 buy-in). Finally managed to place in the money at one of these damn tournaments. I think I might have figured out what I'm doing wrong, with a little help from Larry Phillips's book, Zen and the Art of Poker. In the first chapter of that book, he explains that poker is, in a sense, a game of inaction, and the hands you fold are often as important or more important than the hands you play.
So I've tried to keep folding hands, and folding more hands. I've been folding before the flop, and I've been folding hands after the flop. I think I've gotten to a point where I could fold fifty hands in a row preflop, then fold fifty more hands after that if the cards weren't good enough to play. That kind of patience and detachment are what Larry preaches over and over again in both of his books, Zen and the Art of Poker and The Tao of Poker.
Calmness.
Patience.
Stillness.
These are the three main themes in Larry Phillips's book, and I should probably print them out on a poster and hang them over my computer.
So I've tried to keep folding hands, and folding more hands. I've been folding before the flop, and I've been folding hands after the flop. I think I've gotten to a point where I could fold fifty hands in a row preflop, then fold fifty more hands after that if the cards weren't good enough to play. That kind of patience and detachment are what Larry preaches over and over again in both of his books, Zen and the Art of Poker and The Tao of Poker.
Calmness.
Patience.
Stillness.
These are the three main themes in Larry Phillips's book, and I should probably print them out on a poster and hang them over my computer.
Folding Hands in Poker & Last Night's Tournament posted by Randy Ray @ Tuesday, June 14, 2005 
