Paying attention to the tables: learn to improve your focus after folding

A poker friend was recently telling me about a mutual acquaintance of ours who also plays. This colleague was talking to my friend about the importance of paying attention to the table even after you've folded your hand.

"People are always using their phones, getting distracted," said the boy. "They miss out on a lot."

The subject, generally speaking, was a good one. I think we can all agree that there are many important details that can be useful to you later if you put your phone away and watch the action after giving up your hand.

However, while this guy was talking about being focused and attentive at the tables, it became clear that he was talking about something a little different from what my friend and I were thinking about when we said we should be more observant at the tables.

He described a hand in which he had folded T4 to a raise and witnessed action involving two other players. The flop came K44, he explained, pointing out how he would have made a three-bet and perhaps won a big pot if he hadn't folded the hand.

"If I hadn't been paying attention," he explained, "I would never have known about it!"

We laughed at the story which, in a way, showed some important points about where we should be focusing our attention when we're at the tables (and where we shouldn't).

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Don't pay attention to what doesn't matter

One of these points, of course, has to do with the complete uselessness of the information our acquaintance was focusing on.

I don't know the precise details of the hand or the players involved, but I'm going to assume that folding T4 to a raise was probably the right move for him to have made. The fact that two 4-cards came out on the flop hardly changes that.

Among novice players, this is not an uncommon mistake to see - emphasizing factors that aren't relevant, future events when judging past decisions. Of course, if we knew we'd make a three-bet with our starting hand, we'd raise before the flop, happy as can be. But that's impossible and in no way relevant to the decision we made.

Even experienced players sometimes waste a lot of mental energy on the "woulda, shoulda, coulda" ways of thinking - when they fold in marginal situations and realize that if they hadn't folded, good things would have happened. In these situations, it sometimes becomes a little harder to resist when you think about the big pots you could have won if you hadn't folded the hand.

But again, the next community card that came after the fold was not part of the information available to us at the time the decision had to be made. Of course, it's hard to avoid thinking about it, but it's not relevant.

Focus on the actions of others

This denotes the second and most important factor about paying attention to the tables. We've put away our cell phones and are watching the action intently. But what exactly should we be focusing on?

There are many answers we could list to this question, but most of them can be derived from a single idea. After you've folded, instead of beating yourself up about your own decisions, focus as much as you can on the decisions everyone else is making after you. Also, as you watch players folding, calling, betting or raising, think about how such actions fit into the patterns they have demonstrated since you started playing with them.

This kind of observation about others can help you classify opponents as strong or weak, aggressive or passive, tight or loose... - all of which will come in handy when you later find yourself playing hands against them.

If you notice a player making a lot of meaningless plays, this obviously helps reveal a pattern that helps classify that player. Someone who folds a lot of hands is probably tight. Someone who pays a lot is probably passive. Someone who plays a lot of starting position hands is probably weaker than the average player. And so on.

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Make special notes about "unexpected" actions

I also like to pay attention to situations in hand where the circumstances suggest a probable action, but the player does something else. This kind of "unexpected" move can sometimes be more revealing than others. In other words, I ask all my opponents questions like...

• Who's giving up when they could have bet?
• Who is paying when they could have given up?
• Who's betting when they could have checked?
• Who's increasing it when they could have paid for it?

Who's giving up when they could have bet? Before the flop the action folds to the player on the button who decides to fold instead of taking the opportunity to raise and perhaps steal the blinds. Would that player be tight?

Who is paying when they could have given up? A player raises from middle position, the player in the next seat raises and the action folds to the player in the big blind who calls the 3-bet. Is he a passive/loose player as the cold call seems to suggest?

Who's betting when they could have checked? A player defends his big blind by calling, then gives a donkbet on the flop. Is he a weak player or a player making a well-planned donkbet?

Who's increasing it when they could have paid for it? A hand arrives on the river and the action is checked to the aggressor who decides to bet 1/4 of the pot, is called and shows a second pair - a hand with which the player could have checked. Was he a strong or aggressive player creatively looking for a value bet?

Conclusion

Notice how generic questions lead to even more specific ones, which can be answered by watching the same player play more hands. This is the internal dialog I found myself having when I started concentrating and paying attention to the tables - a sort of extroverted game of "Questions and Answers" about everyone.

I'm also reviewing my own actions, analyzing them as well as I can, regardless of whether I've made a good decision while also thinking about what my pattern might be suggesting to others about my style or ability. Even then, I'm saving more thorough self-analysis or judgments about my play for later - that is, when I'm not trying to concentrate on new hands being played in front of me.

In other words, I'm trying not to spend too much energy at the tables worrying about decisions I've made. And by no means focusing on the flops I could have hit if I had played with T4!

Article translated and adapted from the original: Paying Attention at the Tables: Learn to Sharpen Your Post-Fold Focus