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In my article “the magic pill” I have warned to watch out for exactly what I am now going to do myself. Since people have such a big desire for the magic pill, I don´t want to be mean. So here we´ll go. Gonna lift the well hidden secret ;).  On a serious note, I have thought about some quick fixes that I think everybody can apply.  I wrote detailed explanations so those quick fixes don´t look like empty catch phrases that you´ve heard a thousand times before.

1) Reraising T3o preflop (1ooBB poker)

If you EVER and I mean EVER reraise T3o or any other hand that has completely 0,0 value, you are either a genius who doesn´t have to care or you DO NOT understand a fundamental concept about poker. And don´t start with some bullshit like “deception value” or whatever smart word you wanna call this. No matter what your image is. I´m going to explain why.

If you´re a loose player, you will have a huge variety of hands anyways and complete crap hands like T3o aren´t going to add any additional value to your range. You might as well play with napkins as they say.

If you are a nit preflop, you reraise T3o and the flop is 338 rainbow. Awesome deception. Nobody will EVER put you on 3x. Too bad, because guess what they´ll put you on… And now think about the difference. Yes, non existent! If they have QQ+ beat (that’s what they´ll put a nit on if he bets strong all the way), well it’s safe to assume trips aren´t good either. If the money goes in, be assured that it’s going to be a great cooler for both of you.

There are two theoretical exceptions

And let me state that this is the case 0,0001% of the time.

a) Some spot where you would really reraise ANY TWO

In a heads up match, that is almost never the case ( only some very rare times), I have been reraising 70% (no typo) in some matches, but only because Villain was completely off his game and didn’t find a good way to adjust. In addition to this, three out of the first four of his 4-bets, I was able to ship and show down 99+,AQ+ . So in a way he saw me reraising 70%, but I still seemed to have the nuts every time. Few people don´t get paranoid here. BUT, even in this match, I did NOT reraise T3o.

b) Metagame.

Will not make this paragraph too long, but have to mention it before some nitpickers will construct an extremely rare case how reraising T3o in a certain spot under very rare circumstances could have a great metagame impact. If you wanna fool me, it’s a great way to do it. If somebody reraises T3o vs me, they either get a preferred VIP seat on my buddy list or it’s time for me to run (cuz I would have to be terrible if that move is profitable vs me).

2) Misunderstanding how the game of poker works

Paragraph 1) is a great examples for this and goes hand in hand with this one. I´m sure every reader has heard the word “range”. And everybody is great at using smart sounding vocabulary like “polarized, merging, valuetowning, nitrolling, levelflipping, perceived value-turn-3-bet range vs his GTO balanced turn bluffing frequencies” …. etc…  Most people are good at using fancy words. Few understand poker and apply them.
Let me give you one example:

You have a HU-Match. Both opponents are somewhat decent. If you look at their 3 betting stats, they are probably between 10% and 30% for most people. In any particular spot I will ask one player (after Button openraised) how many % of hands he should reraise. What’s your answer? Most of the time I will hear an answer between 0% and 50%. (And yes Button is not some newbie, who folds more than 67% to 3bets). Take a look here at what about 50% of the top hands look like. Yeah, I know we don´t reraise the best computer hands. Still, take a close look, because the hands you would “alternatively” reraise are also among those…

Now let’s take a look at what 83% of top hands graph would look like:

Ok, my whole point is to show T3o is among NEITHER of them. As stated before, most people would answer between 0%-50% reraise. Which is fine. But if they reraise T3o or any other hand with similar “value”, they basically say “I can reraise 90% in this spot”, which is a clear contradiction to the previous answer. Why reraise T3o, if you can reraise T3s ?  I´m not suggesting you should do the latter or not. But since you´re probably not cold calling with T3s, why not reraise it (if your urge to reraise is so incredibly big for whatever reason)? Whether or not this is profitable is another story. But it is for sure more profitable than T3o. And that’s all I´m trying to say.
My important message for this paragraph is to point out that many professionals haven´t fully understood how the game works.

Soon I plan on creating a video series about poker iq fundamentals and what thinking in ranges and applying it REALLY means (imo).

By the way, if there are any questions/discussions/ you want me to clarify something, feel free to use the comment function.

3) Stop tilting

Hey, I´m not going down the easy advice road. Of course you know that tilting is a problem. As far as I am concerned, tilt is one of those issues that will follow you a lifetime. There is no quick fix to it. I see tilt similar to growing up and getting to know yourself better. The more you know about yourself, the more you have control over yourself, the better you will be able to handle tilt.
But brutal honesty is needed. Will be writing more detailed about my views on tilt and how to handle it in the future.
Some quick fixes that everybody can do though are:

- never play drunk
- never play tired
- avoid opponents that tilt you
- never play hungry

I don´t think that’s too hard. Just make a habit out of it. This should drastically increase your winrate.

4) Poker table selection

Also one of these things that you´ve heard a hundred and twenty-seven times. Still, I haven´t met many who table select well at all.

True, at higher stakes you don´t have the luxury of choice. Also, challenging yourself is also not a bad idea. But if you complain about not winning enough, this is the place to start. Leatherass gets a lot of hate, but look closely at who makes most the money in the games he plays, then think twice what you say about him. More about game selection also in my article about the bumhunter mentality.

Further reading can include How big is your edge?
and How do you make money at Poker . Those are the articles that pop into my mind right now, I´m sure there are others that you can find in the different sections.

5) Equipment & Surrounding

Are you a true professional? Do you have a chair that looks like it’s built to be used often? Do you have all the technical equipment to survive the high tech war on the tables (holdem manager, pokertableratings.com, sharkscope.com, training sites like Deucescracked or Bluefire)?

Do you have a moneybookers account or do you still pay exorbitant fees instead of receiving the VIP service that you deserve?

5 instant poker leak fixes, 8.2 out of 10 based on 6 ratings

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