Blame yourself and improve your game
By Bernard Harris

Poker is perhaps the only sport in which many of its players feel their abilities are beyond reproach. I’m always amazed at where we place the blame for our losses. We yell at dealers, scream at donkeys, and curse the poker gods without understanding what this allocation of blame really does.

When these factors become the reasons for our wins and losses then our skill becomes irrelevant, does it not? It is only when we take responsibility for our losses that we can find and fix the faults in our game, improve our strategies, and maximize our profits. Regardless of whether you win or lose, learn to blame yourself for the results.

Knowing your opponent
and the table

Did you have a read on your opponent or are you just hoping? Have you been studying the table and your position? Are you downwind from a maniac, upwind from a donkey, or nestled between two rocks? Did you get yourself involved with a Kamikaze pilot who would rather crash and burn than fold? The answers will vary but the end questions are the same. Did you know what you were getting into and did you manipulate the situation accordingly?

Pot control

This is an area that gets most players in trouble. Did you inadvertently give your opponent pot odds? Did you fail to notice that a short-stack entered the pot, is pot committed or all-in by the flop/turn, thus limiting your ability to bluff and win the main pot? Did you mismanage your stack and don’t have enough chips to punish the five drawers hanging around on the flop/turn? Did you sabotage your ability to semi-bluff by showing too much weakness? Did the situation require an all-in shove but you couldn’t pull the trigger? Analyze the situation, the pot, and the chip stacks involved. Did you make the right decisions?

Understanding your table image

It’s amazing how many players have no understanding of their table image. The inability to step outside of our own egos and see the game from our opponents’ perspective is perhaps our biggest blind spot. If an opponent lost to a weak hand, wouldn’t you start to view him as a fish? What if someone consistently showed the nuts, how would that impact your decisions? How about a player who keeps folding to big bets, wouldn’t that entice you to shove against him? In all of these cases, that “player” is you! Through the course of a session, every play impacts your table image, affecting how players view you. So are you accounting for your image?

When we lose, the immediate reaction is to blame something else. Players that fall into this trap will never improve. To them, poker is a static game measured by cards and “the best hand.” But players who learn to blame themselves will develop a much more fluid and evolutionary poker mind­set. They will see poker as more than a game of cards, but a contest in which understanding of their opponents, the table, pot control, and their own table image is the key to maximizing profits. Similarly, they will be able to self-evaluate and constantly improve their play. Regardless of whether you win or lose, learn to blame yourself and your game will improve.