Poker and Philosophy: Maslow
by Bodog Poker | Jan 20 2011
It is tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer, treat everything as if it were a nail. - Abraham Maslow
As poker players, we all have tools that we keep at our disposal, even if many of us would never go so far as to call them that because, frankly, it's pretty obnoxious. The problem is, of course, that many players, particularly those who are past the novice stage and actually playing in mid-stakes events and the occasional tournaments, have a limited number of ways that they approach a moment in a game and end up relying on things that they believe have worked in the past. Poker players need to embrace the learning curve that they had early on and use it to reinvent themselves while they
play online poker or home games.
Let's be simplistic here and refer to your brain as a toolbox. As Maslow notes, if all you have in it is a hammer, then you're going to use that hammer every chance you get. A good handyman has a variety of tools in his box and knows how and when to use each and every one and can even figure out how to use one in an non-standard way to get the results he wants. That should be your poker game: not just a hammer aggressively striking down the opposition, but also a wrench, two pairs of pliers (regular and needle-nosed), two types of screwdrivers (regular and Philips-head) and maybe even a multimeter or stud finder.
Nuance is frequently underrated in poker, partly due to the aggressive tenor that online poker games have created, but your most successful players know how to limp into a hand without looking like they're luring others into a trap and the best of the best know how to wrap their hammer in a terrycloth towel to allow them to neatly smash in their opponents' skulls. (Sorry — I've been watching Dexter lately and it's starting to show, isn't it?)
The best poker players not only hit a certain level in their game, but they actively seek to refine it. While there are plenty of poker strategy guides out there that can be considered useful (frequently for telling us what not to do as well as much as giving us real advice on how to play) the best way to learn about the game is to play the game and, as I've hammered home many a time in this column: take notes. Figure out why limping in from the end of the rotation or micro-raising to get someone else to go in big helps you in certain situations and against certain types of players.
Open your toolbox and see what needs to be added. Find out if you're using the tools you have incorrectly. That's how you start to improve your game.
Take your
online poker game to the next level at Bodog.
