Q&A #103: Is My Winrate High Enough?

Another excellent article Ed.

I would like to add, what makes the difference between being “awesome” and having a sour approach? I say it comes down to good pride and bad pride, or good ego and bad ego.

The good ego is when you compare yourself only to yourself. You love poker, and you want understand it better and play it better just for that reason. You will know when you are improving, and your satisfaction comes from within.

The bad ego comes from wanting to be praised. You want others to bow down and recognize how great you are. This always leads to trouble, in poker and in everything else.

The trouble is, it’s really, really difficult to recognize when you are afflicted with the bad ego. Everyone else can see it but you can’t. I’m not trying to be holier-than-thou, for I’m probably just as guilty of it as the next person. But if you know that this can happen, and keep a watch out for it, you can catch yourself doing this and gradually decrease it over time.

Beautiful

Fishing is more fun when you catch fish. And poker is more fun when you win.

One of the best poker articles I’ve read in a very long time! Excellent!

Great post.
I had 3.75BB/100hands over last 20k in 25NL. I was kinda worry about my winning rate because I was told that 6-8+BB/100 hand is the “standard” winning rate.
This post really helped me clear my thoughts =)

‘As far as I can tell, a TAGfish is someone who tries to play well, but doesn’t play as well as I do.’

That is, I’m pretty sure, the funniest thing written here so far.

Once the online poker buzz dies down it’ll just be us nerds left who find poker just as satisfying in Excel and C++

Great post Ed. It illuminates a great deal of the hey-look-at-me posts on 4.

Hey Ed,

now you have to start a series on “How not to burn out as a super-competitor”. Team up with Jared.

I thought “tagfish” meant someone who plays TAG preflop, but is inexperienced and makes large mistakes postflop?

So when I get up and do the hip thrust and double are pump, yelling “CAN YOU FEEL IT?!” is NOT the thing to do? Enjoyed how the article made me think about something other than pot odds, number of outs, how much should I bet, etc. (but I appreciate those articles, too!!!)

Thanks, Ed, for putting things in their proper perspective. Very good article.

you made my day, Ed much love

[...] the day and his call got me thinking about it all again. One post that really stuck out was a great post by Ed Miller over at Noted Poker Authority related to the philosophical side of poker. Near the end [...]

I know this is a stupid question, but how does one even calculate your win rate? I know it is based on bb/100 hands, but how do you even keep track of how many hands you are playing live?

“f your goal is to compete, be the best, and be recognized for it, you’ve picked one of the worst possible games.”

I like to think of it as the world isn’t quite ready to crown me the World’s Best Badugi Player ;)

Sam pa lhun gyi drup par jyin gyi lob! (a prayer for Peace&Happiness) and a

tiny video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYKPyjH2sVQ

(ahh! I don’t know how to type the links)

[...] the day and his call got me thinking about it all again. One post that really stuck out was a great post by Ed Miller over at Noted Poker Authority related to the philosophical side of poker. Near the end [...]

Great article, Ed. I think this touches on some other deeper concepts especially this part…

“Winrates measure only where you’ve been, and poker is always about where you will go from now on. “