True Confessions Of A Station

Like a lot of poker players, many of my leaks revolve around calling too much. I am famous in certain circles for calling too many 3bets. I call too much in the blinds. I peel too many flops. And I pay off too many rivers.

Some of these are fairly defendable, and would be okay with some fine-tuning. For instance, there is a certain type of opponent where it’s almost never wrong to call a river bet with top pair or better, and is often not wrong to call with any made hand. In fact, I’d say calling the inevitable river bluff against these guys is one of my most consistently profitable spots in poker. But if I’m not focused enough, I just keep on making that same call against super passive fish (justifying to myself that, hey, a fish is a fish – can’t fold here), or against agro regs (who may in fact bluff a lot of rivers, but know the difference between a believable bluff and an obvious one).

Same with peeling flops. Just gotta be the right opponent. But the calling too many 3bets, and calling too much in the blinds? No good. In fact, I have very little doubt that I would be farther ahead financially in poker than I am right now if I had a policy of never calling a raise or reraise out of position. Of course that would be a ridiculous policy to adopt. But I have bled so much from these two leaks that only reraising/folding (mainly folding, obv) when facing action out of position would have surely been far less damaging.

The good news is, it’s improved a lot. I used to have an absolutely insanely low F3B. Like, in the 20’s. It’s now around 50. I don’t believe it needs to be as low as some people do. I think in the high 60’s maybe. I’m definitely there when I’m playing well, and I bring it crashing back down when I’m not. It’s getting there, tho. Oh so slowly, but getting there.

I still don’t understand why poker growth takes me so damn long (although I do know many poker players, including some who end up in the upper echelon, have had a surprisingly slow rise). I remember for the longest time I wanted to increase the difference in VPIP from early to late positions. And while there was some improvement, it was staying with 5 points from UTG to the BTN. For months it was a goal to increase the gap, and I just couldn’t do it. Then I literally remember one day checking my stats and realizing that I was there. Have no recollection of what light went on, why it suddenly changed, but it’s never gone back.

Now with the calling of 3-bets, I’m not sure why it’s gotten better generally. And I’m not sure why regressing in this area is still the first sign I’m playing bad. But it’s that latter point that made me write a blog (which really should be a journal entry, but it’s too late now). Because I’ve realized that not only is calling too many 3bets a good indicator of being off my game, fixing it is also a good way to save a session. There’s some connection, presently, between being overall focused and this particular leak. It’s symbiotic, and for the time being it seems I can’t plug this leak without bringing my whole game up with it.

Good to know.