Elements of poker pdf

I have always had very strict policies when it comes to quitting, even when I first started playing poker. Back then I had two main quitting rules that I never broke. I would always quit if I was out of money and nobody would lend me any, and I would always quit if everybody else did. Eventually I quit all that stuff. I quit running out of money, and I quit being the last guy to quit. Nowadays, I think of quitting as a skill set unto itself, with branching subsets of skills for each type of quitting situation.

There are many ways to outquit your opponents. From the instant each of us learned that three-of-a-kind beats two pair, we have been working on our A-game. When we think about how we play, we are working on our A-game. When we read a poker book, we are working on our A-game. When we write about hands or talk about hands, we are working on our A-game.

Whenever you lop off some C-game, you increase the percentage of time you spend playing your A-game. This means that the work you put into your A-game will pay a higher return by being put into play more often. There have been times when I wondered how I could ever lose. Days, weeks, even months sometimes, when all I did was win, win, win. There have been times when I wondered how I had ever won.

Days, weeks, even months sometimes, when all I did was lose, lose, lose. But realistically I knew that could not be so, or even if it was, I could not know it to be so. Noise, so much noise used to bounce around in my head, all the time. All of my good streaks and all of my bad streaks of every length and depth have had one thing in common.

They did not exist in your mind. They only existed in my mind. None of them actually exist. They are all mental fabrication, like past and future. Everything that ever happens happens in the present tense. And therefore, if you are in the present tense, which, in fact, at this time, you are, then at this moment there is no streak in your life.

There is no inherent existence to streaks. The streak is there when you think about it, and when you stop thinking about it, it goes away. It blossoms and withers, all in your mind. And when your mind invents a streak, you believe it exists, because you believe what your mind tells you. But the truth is there is only the hand you are playing. Tilt has many causes and kinds, but it has only one effect. It makes us play bad. Tilt is any deviation from your A-game and your A-mindset, however slight or fleeting.

There are two reasons to define tilt in this way. One is standardization. All A-games are identical. Anyone who is playing his A-game is making the best decisions he knows how, and his mind is as right as it ever is.

And we all have it. So by defining tilt from the top down, we can draw a line for any player that cleanly divides his tilt from his non-tilt. We are using them as shovels to dig for gold. And by using the word tilt to focus on our best, instead of our worst, we hit a lode: Tilt is non A-game. Tilt is anything less than your utmost. Tilt is suboptimalness. Defining tilt in this way, everyone tilts. And so we arrive at the three dimensions of tilt: frequency, duration, and depth.

How often do you deviate from your A-game? How long does it last? And how far below your A-game do you go? Revisit those questions. Tilt is all about you. If you think you should have quit sooner, or if you think you should have played at different stakes, or if you think you made a bad call, then you tilted.

Only you really know when you knew better. Tilt reciprocality recognizes that any reduction, however small, in the frequencies, durations, and depths of your own tiltings will always have the effect of favorably widening the gap between your tilt and theirs, thereby earning immediate reciprocal advantage.

But you do have to tilt less. Sixth street starts when the betting stops. Sixth street is when players relax, which is why it pays not to. Sixth street is when statues become fountains. While playing the turn and river, the players are stoic, doing their best to give up as little information as possible.

And then, as soon as the betting stops, their parts start moving, broadcasting information about their thoughts, their feelings, and their cards. Sixth street can start at the end of any street. For example, Joe raises before the flop and only Moe calls. On the flop, Joe bets, Moe raises, and Joe folds. The pot is awarded to Moe, and sixth street begins. Any reaction to the hand constitutes sixth street action.

For any given hand, sixth street is over when no one is talking about it. Sixth street is usually finished by the time the next hand starts, although for some hands it can last for years. During bad times, we get unhappy. We could train ourselves to do it, if we were to use our bad times as opportunities to practice getting better at getting over bad times. The ideal arrangement would be if we had lots of bad times to practice on, so that we could get better even faster.

So, to help us accelerate the process of learning how to handle bad times, we decide to invent a new game. We call it: Bad Times. The purpose of Bad Times is to cause bad times for everyone. The more the better, and the worse the better. We would call our game a success if it caused depression, oppression, beguilement, defilement.

Bad Times would follow us around and cause us grief, by souring our relationships, our disposition, and our grapes. We would design and refine our game to be seductive, and addictive, in multiple ways, so that its snares snag many, many times.

Our game would not be like chess. At chess, whoever plays the best wins. Our game must be viciously unjust: the better you play, the more exquisite will be your torture. To that end, we will employ a significant randomizing agent. Something like randomly selected pieces of paper with markings on them would work. We would attenuate the luck factor so that it causes the maximum amount of confusion, and delusion, and bad times, and very bad times.

Our game would not be like football or any other game that has teams. A team forms a supportive network that makes losing easier. Not only will nobody and I mean nobody share your pain, they will probably enjoy it. Mountain climbing is painful, but Bad Times would not be anything like mountain climbing.

Our game would have gaps in the action, plenty of time for steaming, and simmering, and stewing, and boiling, plenty of time to allow the thinking mind to wander off and injure itself, so that we can practice healing it.

What else. Oh, I know. That way the bad vibes of Bad Times can spread easily and quickly, spraying fertile spores of conflict. What would be at stake? What could we put on the line that would pour on the pain?

There was also a section that might be beyond me right now in which there is a dollar calculation made from chip stacks to Overall, I enjoyed reading this book very much! There was also a section that might be beyond me right now in which there is a dollar calculation made from chip stacks to represent the value of the stack at that point in the game.

If every poker author wants to come up with their own formula for some niche game aspect, that's cool with me, but I'm not sure I'm good enough yet to have a useful handle on this one. I'll revisit later. Apr 09, Luigi rated it it was amazing Shelves: poker.

This is an excellent book from a great writer who knows how to weave his coaching into stories. I particularly like the last section of the book where he focuses on relaxation techniques. I recommend them both to people who want to improve their Texas Holdem game. Jul 04, Frank rated it liked it. As a poker gameplay strategy, a lot of this book's content is either not relevant to NLHE a lot of Limit advice or just outdated strategy.

However, I still felt like it had excellent mindset advice, off the table advice, seat selection, etc. It's such a quick read, I see no reason any serious player shouldn't pick it up. Would recommend it. Dec 07, Helfren Filex rated it it was amazing. The book of poker that emphasis the hopeful element of mental game in poker or any sports at all. I got recommended this book in order to excel at sports betting and the emotional aspect of tilt, soft tilt and it is really interesting to be blended in the mix of your gaming skills.

Oct 30, Jahan Sagafi rated it really liked it Shelves: n-self-help. Sep 21, Emil Then rated it it was amazing. Great book to read in a few days. Quite easy to understand and can make anyone understand a bit more about the sport.

Dec 22, Nick Stellato rated it it was amazing. If you are past the beginning stages of poker this book is exactly what you need. The book is more of a mindset book and any moderate to advanced player should have this book on their shelf and revisit it from time to time. Dealing with tilt is something that occurs at all levels and Tommy Angelo does a fantastic job of explaining what is going on and how to combat it. I would recommend this to anyone who likes or plays poker.

People wanting to learn a little more about psychology this book is a If you are past the beginning stages of poker this book is exactly what you need. People wanting to learn a little more about psychology this book is also for you. Jan 03, Gabriel Petrisor rated it liked it. Don't really like Tommy's bumptious writing style, definitely not for everyone.

I was left with just a few important ideas that some other author might have written them down on just a few pages not an entire book. Lots of noise, cryptic asian culture inspired writing style at times and a humour that's not on my taste. Slightly disappointed given that this book is praised so much. Jan 25, Eugene Tung rated it really liked it.

A philosophical way of looking at the game. Some parts of the book are a bit abstract but it's still interesting to read and provides a good insight on the game of Poker. Dec 29, Nicolo rated it really liked it Shelves: non-fiction. The only poker book worth reading. Apr 13, Zach rated it really liked it Shelves: non-fiction. Feb 10, Timothy rated it liked it Shelves: non-fiction , poker. A valuable read for any serious poker player. There really isn't a ton of new information, but it makes you think about tilt and that's important.

I skipped the section on limit Holdem. Jan 09, Ken rated it it was amazing. Very good read. Helps with mental mindset while playing poker.

Feb 20, Tim rated it it was amazing Shelves: poker , reviewed. Reviewed for Card Player magazine. Jeremy Singer rated it liked it Dec 21, James J. Barrett rated it really liked it Oct 29, Matt Kelly rated it it was amazing Jan 12, George Turner rated it really liked it Mar 20, C Parker rated it really liked it Nov 09, Pyry rated it it was amazing Nov 02, Scott rated it it was amazing Dec 10, Hieu Hoang rated it liked it May 22, Dennis M Kim rated it really liked it Jul 13, Nate Meyvis rated it it was amazing Oct 20, Anthony rated it really liked it Mar 05, Readers also enjoyed.

About Tommy Angelo. Tommy Angelo. Once, during a poker discussion in Las Vegas, several top strategists were debating how to play pocket kings under the gun. Since he began offering coaching in , over one hundred students have paid for his candid advice, wanting more of what they found in his articles and 18 videos. In , Angelo completed Painless Poker. Books by Tommy Angelo.

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