Making the Best Decisions

So after reviewing my game for the past 2 weeks, I realized I had one huge leak in my game to go along with a few other smaller leaks that really killed my game in this bad run. But none the less I'm glad that it happened and gave me a chance to review my play as a whole and improve myself yet again.

My big leak. I think for me it's more of problem with how I think mentally and how I am more math/money thinking oriented that caused me to have a huge leak in my game. It's really frustrating too because this whole time it was right under my nose, and I've had people tell this before... but it just never set in like how it has now. Something about figuring it out for myself that really made me change my ways.

Anyway, Growing up and while I was in school, I always excelled in math related subjects. In fact it was the only thing I was ever good at in school, I'm sure you can tell by now that my writing and english is pretty terrible... I'm not gonna lie I know it sucks. Same goes for History and all other core subjects in school, I did just the bare minimum to pass and get by... mainly because I didnt care enough to excell or even try hard enough to get good grades. But with math, It always came easy to me, Usualy resulting in me passing with a high A or at worse a B when I wasn't motivated, cutting classes, or whatever.

Well with this same subconcious obsession with numbers... also caused me to be really tight, obsessed, and focused on the money while at the tables. It should be clicking in your heads now, just exactly where I went wrong in my approach to poker. I was focused too much on making/saving money in poker that it caused me to make really poor decisions at the poker table. Instead of making the best decisions that I really I knew I should have, I'd change my thinking to making/saving money and act on that. For example, If I saw a huge pot building and I had anykind of a hand, even though I knew there was be a good chance I was beat, I'd chase that huge pot. I'd stab it time and time again until it was given up or my chips got allin. And It didn't help either that I have this huge ego that makes me so stubborn to have to give up pots and what not.

I'd also go into any poker session with my mind totally focused on winning so much money for that one session. Or I'd play so my stats would like nice when I would have to present them to the forums or whoever for whatever reasons. These are just a few examples of the many problems I had with my approach to poker... up until now that is.

I realize now that all these things, are not what poker is about, but rather making the best decisions at every juncture possible at the poker tables. Wether it be with bankroll management, playing a weak hand oop preflop, or calling off your stack with a weak pair to a huge river bet. Anything that the poker gods may throw in your direction, it's all about making the best decision possible at that current moment, and nothing else matters. Not the money, not the pot odds, not your cards, but what you trully to believe to be is your best play in that current situation.