Self-Taught Players

If an author thought about the concept, cared enough to write it, and then published it, a typical person might fall prey to the same faulty thinking. Again, these people will often play in the same erroneous manner time after time. If you can identify the fault in their thought process, you can adjust your play to take advantage.

Players that overcome bad habits, or never form them in the first place, but have incorrect conceptual understanding of the game What is the difference between someone who plays according to a misconception and someone who plays by habit?

When I refer to habit, I am talking about the tendency not to think about `other possibilities' of strategic or tactical play. For instance, a person may bet, face a raise, and have the habit of always calling, but never considering putting in a third raise or folding. Another habit is always to call with a certain hand pre-flop, whether or not there is a raise or the correct number of opponents.

This is a hair-splitting subject. Someone who does not play by habit thinks about alternative ways to play, but may have a flaw in his thinking. The difference is easy to identify using starting hands and more difficult to single out on later streets.

In one case, where it is concept and not habit that causes bad play, a person may stop playing hands like J-8 off-suit (Hold'em) because he learned that it is a poor hand.

The same player might cold call three bets from two tight players with A-Q suited because he thinks it is a good hand. He is only making a mistake because he does not know it is a mistake! Do not be the `yahoo' at the table that alerts him to the error though.

video poker players

the correct strategy

identify using starting hands