“Nice call, donkey.” Ever hear the winning player say that? No. It’s the blame game. He lost the pot, and now he’s looking for someone to blame. Even though many of us do it, obviously it’s silly to blame all the “donkeys” at the table for your bad session. Though bad Q&A #88: Blame Others, [...]

Last week I wrote about using either/or thinking to mislead your opponents. Human brains like to make decisions between two options (either I’ll do this or I’ll do that), and therefore people sometimes make logical errors when analyzing decisions with three or more realistic options. There’s another either/or error that Checking With a Chip|269|3.95|USD|| arises [...]

Years ago I read something from Mike Caro that I thought was really a brilliant insight into the poker mind. It’s called “either/or” thinking, and you can read about it in his words. (Skip to the section titled “Today’s word”.) The basic idea is that people tend to think in …Login/Register for more.

The Mission: Get you winning in your local $1-$2 no-limit game with 7 easy steps. Welcome to the final step, Step 7: Keep Your Head in the Game. If you haven’t done so already, 7 Easy Steps to No-Limit Hold’em Success — Step 7: Keep Your Head in the Game|249|3.95|USD|| make sure to check out [...]

Poker psychology is an area important to all players. Poker can be frustrating and hard on the ego, and if you aren’t careful, you’ll tilt away all your progress in short order. Today I present four articles from the archives about dealing with the unique psychology of poker. Donkeys Always …Login/Register for more.

It happens to us all more times than we’d like to count. We build a nice pot with pocket kings and then the flop comes and… BAM! There’s the ace. The way you handle it depends a lot on your opponents, the stack sizes, and more. Let’s look at a Q&A #67: Pocket Kings Flop [...]

JJS asks, I don’t have a specific hand to analyze, I have a more general question. I have been lurking in the forums at pokerlistings.com for a while and I just don’t understand a lot of the things people Q&A #37: Some Fish Have All the Luck|120|3.95|USD|| post there. For example, this thread. One poster [...]

Tom asks, I was playing 2/4 at the Taj Mahal in Atlantic City yesterday, and I made 2 mistakes on the river: On one hand I didn’t notice that the river card made a flush, and I raised and lost. On another, I mucked a hand that would have split the Q&A #24: Tilt and [...]

I’ve gotten a few different questions about straddling, and none of them covers all the issues, so instead of quoting one, I’ll just sum them up with my own question. What’s the deal with straddling? Is it a good thing to do, or is it dumb? How does it change the Q&A #17: What’s the [...]

Please forgive me in advance for a brief pontification this month. I have a very practical view of my poker writing: people read my stuff because it helps them make more money. They don’t read it to appreciate my eloquence or erudition, and they don’t care to hear my opinion Micro and Macro Poker|64|3.95|USD|| on [...]