One bit of advice that I have heard for years is to always play your best. In fact, we are often told that if you can’t play your best you shouldn’t play at all. As an example, I recently read that if you are driving to your favorite poker room, and for some reason you don’t feel 100 percent, you should just turn your car around and go home. This way you avoid the loss that is sure to come. Of course this is just plain silly.
All expert players possess what is sometimes called an “automatic pilot” strategy. This is a strategy that dictates their play without taking into account any other information that may be available. For instance, at the hold ’em table, if I’m dealt ten-nine suited under the gun, my automatic pilot play is to limp in. If the game is tough and there are aggressive players behind me, this should be taken into account and my automatic pilot play with the ten-nine suited will now be adjusted from a limp to a fold. If the game is weak and the blinds are tight, my limp now adjusts to a raise.
As most of you probably realize, to make these types of decisions well, you really need to be at 100 percent, and of course it never hurts to be at 100 percent. But the fact of the matter is that if you play poker well, the vast majority of your win comes from your automatic pilot plays and not your super judgment plays.
So what this means is that unless you are in a very tough game (like those the sometimes occur at the high limits), as long as you know how to play poker well, you don’t need to feel close to 100 percent. On these days, recognize that your abilities are not at your peak and just stick to your automatic pilot. You should do fine. By the way, if you don’t think you can beat a game without your superior judgment, then your basic understanding of poker (and your automatic pilot) needs to improve.
