Why Did I Lose? (Part 1)

Written by Nigel

Face it, not many people want to remember their moments of defeat.  Whether you are talking about life in general or poker, this statement has a ring of truth to it.  However, as I heard a good poker player say once, only in pondering your losses can you only really improve your game.  Interesting, to say the least.

So how can analyzing your losses help you in improving your game?  It is simple, really.  There is a reason for your losses.  When you analyze those losses, you just might stumble upon a flaw in your game.  Either that or you just had a bad streak that night, in which case there is no need to beat yourself up for it.

One reason for losing at the table is having the wrong opponents.  Yes you read that right.  However, we are not trying to put the blame on others here.  The idea is that no matter how good you are, there will always be someone better than you out there.  With 8 players or so at the table, you just might be outclassed by one or two or more of them!  If that is the case, then the only thing for you to do is to change tables or take the bull by the horns and get better at the game.  If you take the second option, you can only get better by learning from the way you lose to these better players.

Let’s look at more reasons next time.