Switch Off Your Autopilot

The autopilot mode is defined as a set of rules that apply to frequent, similar situations. When there is nothing special to take into consideration, it does the job with minimal attention, saving your time and efforts for more demanding tasks.

In poker, a lot of situations can be grouped into categories that arise more or less frequently, depending on their characteristics. Consequently, it is natural to make some generalizations and define a few default actions for each of these categories.

With time, you’ll generally refine your faithful autopilot, adding more rules, redefining some actions and incorporating new concepts as you learn them; you 3bet this range, you cbet these flops, you barrel these turns etc. At some point, you will eventually obtain a small system that can play entire hands by itself.

This system has generally been well thought and carefully crafted, so that it works reasonably well in most circumstances. Many times, it will be solid enough to extract value from weaker players effortlessly. As a result, you’ll begin to rely on it more and more, especially if you multitable.

This tendency is not confined to poker; casual chess players often enjoy “opening systems” (like the Colle or the King’s Indian Attack) that let them unroll the same moves against most opponent’s responses. Naturally, if they face extreme counter-measures — good or bad –, they’ll deviate from their favorite opening, but 90% of the time they’ll stick to it. They understand it, they know it, they are used to it, it is their kung-fu style.

Unfortunately, all systems suffer from the same irremediable weaknesses. By nature, they come up with the same plan in many different situations, and the “one size fits all” approach carries the extra burden of having to hold water under most circumstances. However, there is a long way from holding up to being optimal. Most of the time, there will be a better choice available, but the system is too normative to take advantage of it.

A system working as a “poker autopilot mode” must also meet other criteria. First, its use of cognitive resources must stay low; this means its rules must be fairly simple, and there must be not too many. It also has to target the typically exploitable opponents for the played stakes, and it should defend reasonably well against the average players who are more solid.

We all have an autopilot mode

There is a lot of things that we do
more or less automatically,
figuring “it is standard”

Perhaps you think the autopilot is essentially relevant to grinders multitabling in twelve games at once — but in reality we all have our autopilot that we activate from time to time. We often have favorite moves than we use a bit too often, sometimes without thinking about it. There are also trends in theoretical discussions, be it in forums, articles or training videos. As a matter of fact, there is quite a lot of things that we do more or less automatically, figuring “it is standard”.

For instance, perhaps you automatically 3bet preflop with your big pairs, for value of course; just calling fails to build the pot, and that’s what beginners like to do when they try to be cute. Yet, some opponents could lose a much bigger pot to you when you call and they never see you on such a hand. They figure your calling range is mainly comprised of pairs and suited connectors, and when you play back at them your perceived range is very polarized: either you flopped a set, or you’re making a move with a midpair and some gutshot or backdoor flush draw. Now, if your actual range contains overpairs, not only you can stack them off when they don’t believe you, but you also considerably strengthen your calling range. Needless to say, you must not start calling with all your big pairs preflop, but it is good sometimes to deviate from the standard option.

On the flop, throwing a continuation bet is the norm rather than exception. You know that a few flop textures, like the proverbial 789, are not good for cbets, but otherwise it is standard to follow through on the flop. However, there may be better options, depending on your opponents and table dynamics. Some players are inclined to automatically (their autopilot!) take a stab at the pot when you fail to cbet. Sure, you’re not going to stack them off if they don’t improve, but collecting these few extra bets does a power of good to your winrate at the end of the day. Sometimes, they get stubborn when they have a bit of a hand, and you can win yet another bet on the river.

The river is probably the street
the most played on autopilot.

Checking the turn for pot control is also a very frequent maneuver. This is one of these popular concepts that started to be widely discussed a few years ago. The idea is that you check behind on the turn with your top pairs (typically) to avoid bloating the pot with a hand that might well not be good if you went for three streets of value against a solid player. This also shuts off the “movemakers” on the turn, thwarting their check-raise attempts. Pot control is a defensive measure that sort of guarantees that you’ll see a showdown, which is always good when you have better showdown value than average.

Thus, a lot of players made it their default line when they have top pair. The problem is that many opponents would give you three streets of value with a worse hands, and are quite unlikely to make moves on the turn. Consequently, you miss a ton of value when you pot control against them!

The river is probably the street the most played on autopilot. We check behind or we call when we have some showdown value; we make a value bet when we have more showdown value; we raise with the nuts. And that’s pretty much about it! On the contrary, alert players know how to valuebet thin, how to turn a hand into a bluff when profitable, or launch a good bluff with a timely raise or check-raise.

Don’t play “quiz poker”

If you don’t pay enough attention to your opponents’ tendencies and to the gameflow, you can end up playing “quiz poker”: that is, each time you have to act, you answer a virtual quiz, as can be found in books or forums. Quizzes are generally all about default lines, and when they are not there are huge pointers in the metagame description, making it clear that a non-default line is expected.

In quiz poker, the cards and your opponents are “quiz generators”, and you passively solve them as they come. In real poker, you must proactively create the best situations for yourself, squeezing the most value out of each unique situation. That’s one of the big differences between ok and good players.