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General poker strategy learning how to improve your game by improving your mind

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Friday December, 4th 2009 by fullhouse

There are multiple levels of thinking when it comes to playing poker. These different levels of thinking are all part of what is called meta game. Meta game is the intellectual battle that goes on between different players in an attempt to outwit the other. This is the sole reason why luck is far outweighed by skill in poker. There are very few players who possess inferior intellectual abilities that are able to succeed in this game. There are so many different variables in poker that it can be hard to wrap your head around just how complicated the game really is. What the best poker players in the world do is simplify an extremely complicated game to a science that only they can understand. There will be many times where you see a player make a genius play, but you will find it ridiculously hard to piece that hand together in your head. Some aspects of poker only mesh with certain mindsets, it is the unique collaboration of a mind and the obvious that makes a great poker player. Albert Einstein may have been awful at poker, even if he was a genius. Sigmund Freud might have been terrible as well, even if he knew almost everything there is to know about the human mind. If you took bits and pieces from these two genius’s and put them together, however, well then you would have probably had a masterful poker player.

Levels of thinking

There are infinite levels of thinking in poker, but only a handful can really be applied. In a theoretical sense two poker players can play on such a high level that absolutely no one would understand what either was doing, but this is rarely seen. The highest levels of thinking are put on display whenever the highest stakes heads up cash games are played. Only the best poker minds in the world come out to play when the blinds are $1,000/$2,000, and when a huge hand happens many people watching won’t have the slightest clue what happened. This is because they do not possess the ability to think of the same level.

The first level of thinking in poker is, “What do I have?” The second level of thinking in poker is “What does my opponent have?” The third level of thinking in poker is “What does my opponent think I have?” These levels simply progress on and on and on. Micro stakes players think at the first level. Even some small stakes winners don’t really get past the second level of thinking, but the best players are on level five or beyond. How do you achieve this level of thinking? Through practical thought processes that you lay out and thoroughly critique. The best way to improve your poker mindset is to review your past play, find your mistakes, and see how you can improve upon them. There is no real key to advanced thinking in poker, it comes natural to some players and is learned by others. If there is one aspect of poker to which there is no shortcut it is the development of a solid poker mind. Phil Ivey didn’t become a poker genius overnight, he worked very hard at improving his game and correcting his mistakes.