Sloe Times

Being a winning poker player means having the advantage of the odds on your side more often than not when at a given table. Since I'm not psychic, don't have x-ray vision, or ESP, I have to employ other tools of the mind and in this case of the computer to get the edge necessary to achieve my expected/desired win rate. So in this post I'll examine my tool bag for getting the edge. At a high level, there are two types of tools to use, tools that are helpful offline in home games and B&M games as well as online and then there are tools that only help with the online game.

Offline Tools

• Books - While I tend to be a more visceral learner, preferring to experience things over reading about them, can be a costly way to learn things in poker. To that end I have invested in what I consider to be a decent library (seen on the left there) of books that approach the game from many different perspectives. I make the effort to commit at least an hour every week to reading (or re-reading) some part of my books. What I read generally depends on what I feel I'm having trouble with that week, or areas that I might want to explore in my game in the future.


• Trainers - Lots of computer software out there that plays holdem. Some of it good, and some of it not so good. Right now my software collection consists of the fun but not so good variety. Apparently the Turbo programs by Wilson Software are about as good as they get in terms of electronic trainers. I haven't purchased any of them and will probably use some portion of my winnings in the coming year to acquire their library. Meanwhile I'd just like to say that I pwnz Treasure Island, The Mirage, and Bellagio in the Bicycle Casino game! Woot! ;) While this isn't the best training (and honestly after the initial fun wore off I don't play this much any more) it does at least make me analyze my hand, pot odds, etc in a pseudo online fashion.


• Community - If you can not experience something directly yourself, the next best thing is to experience it vicariously through someone else. This is generally more reading, but also can come in the form of water cooler talk with friends. Simply, this involves hearing and exploring other peoples play to uncover the keys to good play, traps to avoid, and generally play Monday morning QB and analyze how you would want to behave if put in the same situation. The best places for partaking in this experience are many of the hundreds of poker blogs or the more popular forums like 2+2

All of these 'tools' basically just get your mind in the game. The best way to be able to make the right choice when you have to make decisions at the table is to feed your brain with all of the data you can when you're not in it. Practice prepares you for the real thing. That being said, even the best practice can be wasted on a brain that functions more like a sieve than a steel trap so when it comes to playing online, there are some other tools that I'll want to bring to bear to increase my edge.

Online Tools

• Record Keeping - Not only to track wins and losses, but also play performance and opponent history. Having the cold hard facts of my play helps prevent my mind from editing history when I'm doing particularly bad or good. This will help fill the holes in my game. Keeping records of my play will also help in tracking the people I play against so I can identify the tough players from the typical players. No shame in getting an edge by surrounding yourself with fish at the table. To do this I'll be using Poker Tracker which creates a nice foundation for the other online tools I'll be using.


• Odds & Outs - When I first started playing online this year I'll have to admit that I sucked. I, like many before me, figured that my success in the few random home games or casino outings was due to my obviously superior skills and large brain. $500 later I learned that I was mistaken and probably had creatively modified my playing history to make myself feel confident in playing online. If I was going to keep playing I needed a crash course in good starting hands and odds of hitting my hand (at the time I was playing a lot of NL SNGs). I made a small investment in a piece of software that would help me in real time called Online Holdem Inspector. Turn an "Any 2 cards will do maniac" into a solid player in moments. After a few months of using this little aid I had odds and starting hands basically beat into me. In fact I owe the quick recovery of my initial losses to this tool as well as the education it gave me for my future winnings. It's still a useful tool to keep handy since its stoplights can save a weary or tilted mind from making a chip stack crippling mistake.


• Know thy enemy - I know myself pretty well but it's the other players I'm worried about. Thanks to recent changes in how hand histories are archived locally by the Party client it is easier than ever to have real time Poker Tracker information about how you're performing and how you're opponents are performing. Add now into the mix GameTime+ and there's no excuse in not knowing when the previously fishy waters have turned into a rock garden or knowing that the bigger shark that you've tangled with in the past is now sitting to your left.

posted by Andres Silva  # 12/21/2004 01:15:00 PM