Poker mistakes that keep you from winning: Intolerance

Intolerance does not mean you discriminate against other players, or cannot stand their behavior. Intolerance in poker has to do with the way people think, and being open-minded to the possibility that no matter how bizarre a certain play may seem to you, it could make total sense to someone else.

Far too many players feel that because they win -or play properly-that their way of thinking is the only way. Anyone who may have a different opinion on how to play a hand, or a different reason for playing poker is considered a fool by the intolerant poker player.

And this thinking is a fatal mistake. If you are not willing to concede that a person may have a perfectly logical reason for doing something, you will never figure out why they do those things!

My goal when I sit in a poker game is to not only determine what hands an opponent might be playing from early position, or if how they play a draw or two pair; these things are very important, but equally as important is to determine the reasoning behind these decisions. This is the information that will give me a leg up on my opponents, especially the players that most people can’t seem to get a bead on; and simply chalk their erratic play up to being stupid.

The fact is 99% of these nut-jobs actually have a valid reason for doing what they are doing! Their thought process is coming up with these decisions for whatever reason, and a savvy player will try to determine exactly what that reason is.

Intolerant players just consider their actions foolish, and leave it at that. But this incomplete information; these players are failing to look at the big picture: Not every fool is alike!

If you can determine the reasons a player makes foolish choices their erratic play will suddenly make perfect sense to you, and they will become yet another player you can read like an open book.

Remember, not everyone is using the same thought process you are; and if you think that everyone who does things differently from you is irrational you are going to be the one spewing chips around the table. Just because a decision is foolish/wrong/silly does make it irrational; a great player will be able to get inside the irrational play and determine what caused it, so they will be better equipped to deal with this player in the future.