Ask why.

They say lots of things. They say… a bird in the hand is better than two in a bush. They say… be careful what you wish for. They say… the man who goes to bed with itchy butt awakes with stinky finger.

They also say that the first step to fixing a problem is admitting that you have one. I have a problem. I can’t focus as well as I would like!

There – I said it.

I’m a daydreamer. I spend a majority of my time not really where I am at.

I can study poker, post on forums, discuss the game with respected players, and read all the books I have five times. I study poker constantly. In fact, I am often daydreaming about poker when I am anywhere. The irony of the situation is when I sit down to play poker after work, like I have been waiting to do all day, I daydream about something else! When I sit down to play poker I am a daydreaming aficionado. This is not a good thing.

Now, I am exaggerating a bit. It is not 100% of the time that I don’t focus while I am playing poker. However, it still is pretty high. It is hard to guess a number when you are trying to guess how often you aren’t paying attention. If I had to guess, I would say something like 50% of time. It’s pretty embarrassing to admit actually, but that brings us back to what they say. So, there. It’s out!

Let’s think only in poker terms. Why do I have trouble focusing when playing poker?

I have came up with a few reasons so far:

- I often tend to lose interest when my cards are running dry.

- I underestimate how much information I am missing.

- I haven’t trained myself to focus on a deeper level.

Now that I have started with the process of understanding why I make the mistakes that I do I can go about fixing it. If you don’t ask why then you will be bumbling around like a drunkard, randomly trying different things to get it fixed. The problem will never go away if you don’t understand why.

Good poker players are in a constant search for leaks. A leak is a significant mistake that you are making that is significantly negatively affecting your win-rate. How big of a leak it is related to the cost of the mistake weighted against the frequency of the mistake. Say you are playing $1/2 No-Limit. A $1 mistake that is repeated every hand is HUGE leak. (They say… a small leak can sink the biggest ship.) A big $1000, mistake that is repeated once every thousand hands can be a HUGE leak.

In our quest to plug leaks one question is repeatedly asked – WHY? In order to fix it you must know why it is a leak and why you are doing it. This is painting with very broad strokes, but this is the gist of it. The fact is that if you can learn the reasoning, the why, behind every poker decision you can become a much better player. This is extremely important to understand the why because poker is such a multifaceted game. A correct play with hand X is not necessarily correct another unless the situation is set up similarly.

However, poker mistakes can come from many different avenues. It isn’t always just hand range, equity, and maximize. You may be making a strategical mistake and not know it because there is a psychological wall in the way. It really is quite amazing how much you can learn about yourself from playing poker. Poker has a way of making things more apparent to you. If you have a focus problem, poker has a way of showing it to you. If you have a temper problem, poker has a way of showing it to you. If you have insecurity issues, poker has a way of showing it to you.

I have always been a strong proponent in encouraging people to understand the reasoning behind plays. Why do you want to get more money in with AA preflop? Sure, this is a simple one but if you can’t give a solid answer then there is some understanding you are lacking. Also, if you can’t understand the “why” then you can’t understand the “why not”.

I believe a lot of beginning players make the mistake of memorizing plays instead of learning the reasoning. In fact, I think a lot of players that have been playing for awhile make this mistake also. If you want to become a good poker player then it is important that you always ask why. I continue to do so because no matter what I can always get better. I am a decent poker player. I am not the best and I am not the worst. However, I will always continue to get better because I will always look to learn what I can improve and then attempt to understand the reasoning behind the said improvement. I included an example of me finding one of my faults and asking why to illustrate this(I also find that writing things out helps me improve, but I believe that will be a common theme here). My example isn’t a strategic example, but the concept holds true.

Understanding your reasoning behind things will allow you to become a better player. It will give you a deeper understand of the game.