By Karac Karlin
Online poker may not be in the same place it was in the mid 2000’s but it’s still pretty mainstream. The major poker sites still have traffic in the thousands and there are weekly tournaments generating millions of dollars too. In any form of gambling, where big money is, professionals are there to exploit the weaker, less experienced out of their money. In this post, I’m going to let you in on a few things professional poker players don’t share with others, for risk of harming their potential earnings or improving their rival’s game.
Dedicated Note-Taking
OK, so we all have the note feature available on players on most online poker platforms, but how much are we really using it? Taking notes on opponents is absolutely critical to making good decisions in the future. Most of us that play poker, make a mental note that someone is playing a lot of hands or bluffs on the river with a pot bet. That’s fine but it’s in depth is it?
A professional is detailing all key tendencies and behaviours of their opponents. This ranges from bet size meanings to pre-flop hand selection from early position. This level of note-taking is common among professionals and something they don’t let on easy. They are well aware that poker is a game of information and they will have more of it than others due to their important notes.
Making Full Use of Spreadsheets
Most poker players don’t mix spreadsheets and poker together. After all, it’s just an office tool for data record keeping isn’t it? Wrong! Spreadsheets are a flexible resource that can be manipulated to represent many things. A poker spreadsheet can show you how much you’re winning, what games you’re best at, what your win rate is and much more.
Using a spreadsheet to track your performance is one step closer to treating it like a business. Once you treat poker this seriously, you’re going to be a threat to professionals. They are maximising their edges and know the best times and days to play. Few professionals share their personal spreadsheets, best poker tips and statistics. They don’t want to you to replicate their way of treating poker, otherwise the game will be tougher for them.
Hand History Reviews
Did you know that you can re-watch hands that you’ve played? Most poker sites grant players the ability to export “hand histories”. These are all the hands you’ve played on that site up to a certain point. These hand histories are a fascinating tool for improving one’s game. After all, if you can download them and input them into a hand replayer, you can see what you’re doing right, and more importantly, what you’re doing wrong.
By finding out mistakes you’re making, you can seek to resolve them and therefore prevent them happening in the future. Most professionals dedicate a block of time every week or month to hand history reviews. They’re an invaluable tool for spotting leaks in their game and guess what? They don’t want you to know this. If you have a glaring leak where you play paint cards badly, they won’t want you knowing about it!
Summary
There you have it, a few things professional poker players don’t share with others that help them crush games. If you are interested in learning poker in 2021 and beyond, you can use some of these tools to help your own game. By copying some of the habits of a professional you will have a better chance of winning yourself. The question for you will be, will you then share the information?
Image Source: Freepik.com
