subject: Overthinking: How To Cost Yourself A Pot [print this page] Self confusion- Even the best poker players find themselves in difficult predicaments from time to time. The problems come when these players are given too much time or too many options about the decision at hand; they tend to simply have a mild panic attack and over think the hand. Sometimes, yes, the situation deserves the thought you give it. But often times, spending too long on a decision in poker will lead you to the wrong decision; you tend to outsmart yourself when it comes to the important decisions. While there's no easy fix for over thinking, there are quite a few things you can do to prevent yourself from getting in these nasty spots.
KISS- Keep it simple, stupid. It seems like such a simple acronym to take to heart, but far too often, people ignore what it says and allow themselves to believe something that just isn't there. Take this example. You're average stack at the final ten players of a live tournament, where only nine get paid, and you're in the big blind with KK. The button, a fairly tight player who barely has you covered, open shoves all-in for about 20 big blinds. People can and will talk themselves into making the laydown here with KK! You're over thinking the big picture (cashing, the button's supposed tightness on the money bubble) while not just taking a look at your hand (2nd best starting hand in hold'em) and your position in the tournament (20 BB's isn't very much to work with, with antes and blinds eating away at you every hand) and realizing this is actually more of a dream scenario than a tough decision. Don't think, just see your hand, your position, and move your chips in the middle!
Avoiding Difficult Decisions- The other way that players get themselves into situations where they can over think is by getting themselves into tricky spots that, most of the time, could've been avoided. For example, you have a 30 BB stack in a $109 on PokerStars, and you're dealt JJ on the cutoff. You open for 2.5x, and the small blind, a tricky, aggressive regular, pops you to about 7x. This is supposed to be an auto shove every time with a hand like yours; if you flat call, he's going to be shoving your stack in on most flops, including ones where he may be bluffing you off. the best hand (Q107hhh, you don't have a heart, he ships with 9c9h and you're forced to fold) If you elect to be trappy in this spot and flat, you're going to have a lot of spots where you'll be forced to over think on the flop. If you have an opportunity to simplify the action, until you're comfortable making difficult post flop decisions, your best course of action is to simplify; the four bet shove of 30 BB's is more than appropriate of a response against your aggressive opponent, especially because of how the position in the hand works itself out; if he were the button, you may be more inclined to flat the three bet, and check/raise or check/evaluate against your opponent.
