There's not a whole lot of consistency in life is there?
For the most part, things can change at any moment. Beyond this, there are few consistently loyal people in the world as well. You might have heard the old adage: If you can count the number of truly close and loyal friends on one hand you should consider yourself very lucky.
As a gambler I often yearn for any sort of consistency...and frankly, anyone that won't lie to my face for sport. For this, I need look no further than my mother: my biggest fan, my emotional support system, my devoted friend forever. Like any good son, I often declare mine as the best. Yep, I know that she'll love me the same after a major win or a major loss. She'll kick me back in line when I need it, build my confidence when it wavers and remind me that she's got the best son a Mom could ask for.
To my Mom and all the other mothers out there: Happy Mother's Day!
When all else fails and the skies darken with clouds of doom, you can always count on Mom. She's the best bet you'll ever make.
Del
Showing posts with label Wisdom. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wisdom. Show all posts
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
P's and Q's
Generally speaking, I think taking things too seriously in life can be a hazard.
For one, it's not good for your health to add such unnecessary stresses about mundane issues that would otherwise just pass as most things do. Also, you tend to come off as a real loser in the meantime - spending your days and nights nit-picking and vexing over every little thing.
So what about strictness towards proper etiquette?
Well, I couldn't care less about using the proper fork at a dinner party, I like to avoid wearing suits - especially when their 'required', and chances are that I'll call you by your first name or even a nickname rather than Mr./Mrs. So-and-so if the mood should strike me. There is one place however, that I refuse to circumvent proper etiquette at all cost: On the felt.
I think this stems from a deep respect for the game of poker. Some might confuse the phrase 'game of poker' to be defined simply as an amusing pastime, but don't be fooled. Although poker is extremely entertaining, I think it is more accurate to define it as something like...
A competitive activity that challenges the skill, chance, and endurance of two or more persons who play according to a set of known rules; A game which requires a cerebral application of math, experience, psychological detection.
(Take that Webster!)
Now, when you look at it that way, you might agree that poker is something that deserves to be treated with class and respect. If not a respect for the game, then at least for your fellow players who are there to play poker and not listen to you give fuddled advice, berate dealers for bad hands or hum and haw during the hand when you folded on the flop and the river made you a flush.
I leave you with my Top 7 Poker Etiquette Rules I hold sacred:
1. Don't splash the pot.
2. Don't discuss a hand until it has been completed.
3. Don't cash out immediately after winning a large pot.
4. Don't blame the dealers.
5. Don't offer or ask for help from other players/spectators.
6. Don't talk on your cell phone during a hand.
7. Win/Lose gracefully.
Wishing you Big Pots and Bigger Flops,
Del
Read more about this subject:
Texas Hold'em Poker Etiquett
Basic Poker Rule and Table Manners
Proper Poker Behavior
For one, it's not good for your health to add such unnecessary stresses about mundane issues that would otherwise just pass as most things do. Also, you tend to come off as a real loser in the meantime - spending your days and nights nit-picking and vexing over every little thing.
So what about strictness towards proper etiquette?
Well, I couldn't care less about using the proper fork at a dinner party, I like to avoid wearing suits - especially when their 'required', and chances are that I'll call you by your first name or even a nickname rather than Mr./Mrs. So-and-so if the mood should strike me. There is one place however, that I refuse to circumvent proper etiquette at all cost: On the felt.
I think this stems from a deep respect for the game of poker. Some might confuse the phrase 'game of poker' to be defined simply as an amusing pastime, but don't be fooled. Although poker is extremely entertaining, I think it is more accurate to define it as something like...
A competitive activity that challenges the skill, chance, and endurance of two or more persons who play according to a set of known rules; A game which requires a cerebral application of math, experience, psychological detection.
(Take that Webster!)
Now, when you look at it that way, you might agree that poker is something that deserves to be treated with class and respect. If not a respect for the game, then at least for your fellow players who are there to play poker and not listen to you give fuddled advice, berate dealers for bad hands or hum and haw during the hand when you folded on the flop and the river made you a flush.
I leave you with my Top 7 Poker Etiquette Rules I hold sacred:
1. Don't splash the pot.
2. Don't discuss a hand until it has been completed.
3. Don't cash out immediately after winning a large pot.
4. Don't blame the dealers.
5. Don't offer or ask for help from other players/spectators.
6. Don't talk on your cell phone during a hand.
7. Win/Lose gracefully.
Wishing you Big Pots and Bigger Flops,
Del
Read more about this subject:
Texas Hold'em Poker Etiquett
Basic Poker Rule and Table Manners
Proper Poker Behavior
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Pop Goes the Cherry
So I’ll bet when you woke up this morning, or perhaps even late afternoon/evening - depending on the level of your gambling and drug addictions - you least expected to think about the music group the Proclaimers in any form. Well neither did I, but the voices of Charlie and Craig Reid were the first lucid sounds that made it through my ear canal and into my brain thusly.
You remember these guys right? From the early ninety’s - they did that ‘500 Miles’ song:
“I would walk five hundred miles and I would walk 500 more...just to be the man who’d walk a thousand miles to fall down at your door…” (I’ll get back to that obvious italic shortly).
The song is intoxicating, frankly. Go ahead, rolls some eyes, but if you should find yourself alone in the car someday in the not-so-distant future, god help you if it should pop-up into a thirty minute, commercial free, fabulous flashback block on your radio. Or in my case, in bed past noon with the TV station stuck on VH1 Classic after a late night of vintage Queen concerts. Either way, you will sing along…oh yes, you will sing along.
When I was about eleven this song was a surprise hit because of the movie "Benny and Joon" starring today’s Jack Sparrow (for the kids).
I can’t help but smile when I hear them say thousand. Not only is the pronunciation comical, but this is the very word that spawned my first bet.
My best friend at the time was convinced that the line ended:
“..Just to be the man who’d walk five hundred miles to fall down at your door..”
He clearly forgot to add. (500+500=1,000)
Realizing at this point that, A - my best friend was incapable of simple arithmetic. And, B - The timing was perfect to use his simple oversight against him.
Oh, who could blame me? He wouldn’t let it go, he was so sure he was right! So very sure. So what do these weather conditions create? An eleven year old boy making - and winning his first bet. We went as far as calling the local Top 40 radio station to confirm. (No Google yet!)
Devious for such a young kid or not, I carry this idea with me each time I’m at the felt. It just takes one little oversight. I'm always looking for it and paying attention to that inevitable lapse in my opponents' judgment and trying to remain aware of my own. And if I can get someone to put their money where there mouth is - at just the wrong time - it sure pays off.
Then again, as it approaches 1PM, I can’t really start paying attention to much of anything until I get outta this bed.
Big Flops, Bigger Pots,
Del
You remember these guys right? From the early ninety’s - they did that ‘500 Miles’ song:
“I would walk five hundred miles and I would walk 500 more...just to be the man who’d walk a thousand miles to fall down at your door…” (I’ll get back to that obvious italic shortly).
The song is intoxicating, frankly. Go ahead, rolls some eyes, but if you should find yourself alone in the car someday in the not-so-distant future, god help you if it should pop-up into a thirty minute, commercial free, fabulous flashback block on your radio. Or in my case, in bed past noon with the TV station stuck on VH1 Classic after a late night of vintage Queen concerts. Either way, you will sing along…oh yes, you will sing along.
When I was about eleven this song was a surprise hit because of the movie "Benny and Joon" starring today’s Jack Sparrow (for the kids).
I can’t help but smile when I hear them say thousand. Not only is the pronunciation comical, but this is the very word that spawned my first bet.
My best friend at the time was convinced that the line ended:
“..Just to be the man who’d walk five hundred miles to fall down at your door..”
He clearly forgot to add. (500+500=1,000)
Realizing at this point that, A - my best friend was incapable of simple arithmetic. And, B - The timing was perfect to use his simple oversight against him.
Oh, who could blame me? He wouldn’t let it go, he was so sure he was right! So very sure. So what do these weather conditions create? An eleven year old boy making - and winning his first bet. We went as far as calling the local Top 40 radio station to confirm. (No Google yet!)
Devious for such a young kid or not, I carry this idea with me each time I’m at the felt. It just takes one little oversight. I'm always looking for it and paying attention to that inevitable lapse in my opponents' judgment and trying to remain aware of my own. And if I can get someone to put their money where there mouth is - at just the wrong time - it sure pays off.
Then again, as it approaches 1PM, I can’t really start paying attention to much of anything until I get outta this bed.
Big Flops, Bigger Pots,
Del
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Dealer Distress
Why is it, I wonder, that players come to the felt with a fight to pick?
Try convincing yourself that it's your 'image' or that you're somehow psyching someone out or putting someone on tilt...truth is - you're a giant asshole.
Pick a fight with me around at felt and you'll get nothing but frustrated. Scream, yell, call names or splash the pot and the only reaction I'll give you is a light chuckle and maybe a bad beat story. Being a bully, especially an obnoxious one, takes a great deal of effort and energy; energy I'd rather spend focusing on the hand - which is exactly what I'll do.
Much like anything though, there is an exception - don't mess with my dealer!
I have a few friends that deal for a living, one such friend I've known since high school and keep still keep contact with regularly. Sometimes the stories I hear are pretty disturbing. I'm glad I chose to be a player, although I thought about becoming a dealer briefly in my past, (before I found out how much they make), and have always had the ultimate respect for the people that make the game I love go so much smoother as well as lending an air of class to it. This is exactly why I will not tolerate anyone berating a dealer at my table.
Let's remember that these people are at work, so they can't even fight back. It's like picking a fist-fight with a guy that has no arms - pathetic. Start laying into my dealer and you've just made an enemy; one that will fight back. Perhaps its not the dealer that is at fault because you chased a flush to the river or another player hit trips that you didn't think to consider on the turn. Blaming others for your own inadequacies - real nice; grow up. I just hope I can bust you before their cycle is up so they can see you squirm.
Now let's face it - some dealers are terrible. Calling the wrong winners, counting chips incorrectly and so on, but for the most part - they're just doing there job and don't need YOU to tell them how to do it better or differently. If something they are doing bothers you, move tables.
I'm not too religious, but I have a good feeling towards Karma. That's why I always tip my waitresses well in restaurants, leave my towels in one pile for the housekeepers in hotels and treat my dealers with respect.
The Poker Gods are always watching after all.
Del
Try convincing yourself that it's your 'image' or that you're somehow psyching someone out or putting someone on tilt...truth is - you're a giant asshole.
Pick a fight with me around at felt and you'll get nothing but frustrated. Scream, yell, call names or splash the pot and the only reaction I'll give you is a light chuckle and maybe a bad beat story. Being a bully, especially an obnoxious one, takes a great deal of effort and energy; energy I'd rather spend focusing on the hand - which is exactly what I'll do.
Much like anything though, there is an exception - don't mess with my dealer!
I have a few friends that deal for a living, one such friend I've known since high school and keep still keep contact with regularly. Sometimes the stories I hear are pretty disturbing. I'm glad I chose to be a player, although I thought about becoming a dealer briefly in my past, (before I found out how much they make), and have always had the ultimate respect for the people that make the game I love go so much smoother as well as lending an air of class to it. This is exactly why I will not tolerate anyone berating a dealer at my table.
Let's remember that these people are at work, so they can't even fight back. It's like picking a fist-fight with a guy that has no arms - pathetic. Start laying into my dealer and you've just made an enemy; one that will fight back. Perhaps its not the dealer that is at fault because you chased a flush to the river or another player hit trips that you didn't think to consider on the turn. Blaming others for your own inadequacies - real nice; grow up. I just hope I can bust you before their cycle is up so they can see you squirm.
Now let's face it - some dealers are terrible. Calling the wrong winners, counting chips incorrectly and so on, but for the most part - they're just doing there job and don't need YOU to tell them how to do it better or differently. If something they are doing bothers you, move tables.
I'm not too religious, but I have a good feeling towards Karma. That's why I always tip my waitresses well in restaurants, leave my towels in one pile for the housekeepers in hotels and treat my dealers with respect.
The Poker Gods are always watching after all.
Del
Friday, March 7, 2008
Healthy Competition
A couple of days ago I made my weekly visit to the bookstore.
I've always been a sucker for bookstores and libraries. Maybe it’s the smell, the sounds (often the lack there of), or even the memories of my childhood self, checking out nudie pictures in the art or photography sections without fear of being caught. "What, it's educational!" I would say if it ever came up...
Well, as I was reminiscing to myself about this and making my way to the magazine rack, I saw an image that startled me. A kid, not much older than I was during my ‘nudie art picture phase,’ was looking at the March issue of Bluff Magazine.
I've always hear ‘seasoned’ poker players, not 'old' - let's just say seasoned... talk about young players, wishing that they had the amount of poker material at their fingertips when they were at their age, that 20 year olds have today. "Imagine how good I would be by now," they quip.
The poker saying “...a lifetime to master" is true - the longer you play - the better you get. Seeing thousands of hands played out is much different than seeing millions of them. You can learn something about the game and yourself to apply to future hands every single time. We all know that the 20-something poker player population is getting so much larger - this can pose a major threat to the 40 to 60 year olds that have been playing since long before you could just go online or buy a poker mag in any bookstore!
So, when I saw this kid - flipping through this poker magazine, I had a terrible thought...I didn't get the poker bug until I was 19...when he is my age, he'll have a full seven years more exposure! We could say for sake of argument, that sometime in the future - this kid will be all grown up - sitting across a table from me...taking my money! That bastard! Then I thought about how much harder I would have to work...how much I would have to do just to keep up with him. Ha, I had to laugh - this thought made me want to go play poker right then. The mere hypothetical challenge injected me with excitement - damn I love this game!
Besides, I figured as I grabbed a copy for myself… I won this battle little dude- he’s just flipping through it, but I’m old enough to buy one!
Del
I've always been a sucker for bookstores and libraries. Maybe it’s the smell, the sounds (often the lack there of), or even the memories of my childhood self, checking out nudie pictures in the art or photography sections without fear of being caught. "What, it's educational!" I would say if it ever came up...
Well, as I was reminiscing to myself about this and making my way to the magazine rack, I saw an image that startled me. A kid, not much older than I was during my ‘nudie art picture phase,’ was looking at the March issue of Bluff Magazine.
I've always hear ‘seasoned’ poker players, not 'old' - let's just say seasoned... talk about young players, wishing that they had the amount of poker material at their fingertips when they were at their age, that 20 year olds have today. "Imagine how good I would be by now," they quip.
The poker saying “...a lifetime to master" is true - the longer you play - the better you get. Seeing thousands of hands played out is much different than seeing millions of them. You can learn something about the game and yourself to apply to future hands every single time. We all know that the 20-something poker player population is getting so much larger - this can pose a major threat to the 40 to 60 year olds that have been playing since long before you could just go online or buy a poker mag in any bookstore!
So, when I saw this kid - flipping through this poker magazine, I had a terrible thought...I didn't get the poker bug until I was 19...when he is my age, he'll have a full seven years more exposure! We could say for sake of argument, that sometime in the future - this kid will be all grown up - sitting across a table from me...taking my money! That bastard! Then I thought about how much harder I would have to work...how much I would have to do just to keep up with him. Ha, I had to laugh - this thought made me want to go play poker right then. The mere hypothetical challenge injected me with excitement - damn I love this game!
Besides, I figured as I grabbed a copy for myself… I won this battle little dude- he’s just flipping through it, but I’m old enough to buy one!
Del
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Ace-Queen Disdain
I recently had a lively discussion with a player, post-bust, who blew his stack literally and figuratively after his AQ faltered big time. Why is it that anyone would think AQ would qualify as an automatic call to an all-in hand pre-flop?
Now I know that there is a time and place where it might be, (short stack on the button for example), but generally, I find this hand can get you into a lot of trouble.
The basics: Against any pocket pair JJ or less you are only getting 50:50 OR if your opponent is tilting and holds two random cards (say 5-6) they are still 'live' and can be caught to suck out on you (same odds of hitting anything as you have.) Worse still, are the kinds of hands that would reasonably raise to all-in pre-flop that could end nearly all hope for your AQ...
Your unsuited AQ against AA gets you to only 18% to win, KK 22%, QQ 30% and even AK 25%. This doesn't get much better even if you are suited; these numbers are dismal.
I notice a lot of players have wised up to the fact that AK is a tricky starting hand and will bite you in the ass more often than not - so why have they moved onto playing similarly with AQ, which even the bottom of the barrel rookies can tell is not as valuable as the AK from the starting gate?
Well, I think the AQ needs some nicknames like its cousin the AK that drives the point home. My favorite for AK is Anna Kournikova - looks good but loses every time. This gets the point across as directly as possible that AK sucks more often than not. Over time - with sayings much like this one, players began to get embarrassed when they got felted and had to turn over a losing AK. Others would roll their eyes and think - 'there goes another one.'
I played three sit-and-goes yesterday and I must have seen more ridiculous AQ moves than I could have ever expected. I think the trouble is that some players will not face the ugly truth that no matter how good your hole cards may look pre-flop, they can quickly turn to dust after the flop and must be thrown to the muck if it comes down to an all-in. Don’t fall for the lure of invincibility that comes with a hand like AQ; it has all the disadvantages of the AK that you’re too 'embarrassed to lose with' - plus some.
As for Ace-Jack...don't get me started.
Delik
Now I know that there is a time and place where it might be, (short stack on the button for example), but generally, I find this hand can get you into a lot of trouble.
The basics: Against any pocket pair JJ or less you are only getting 50:50 OR if your opponent is tilting and holds two random cards (say 5-6) they are still 'live' and can be caught to suck out on you (same odds of hitting anything as you have.) Worse still, are the kinds of hands that would reasonably raise to all-in pre-flop that could end nearly all hope for your AQ...
Your unsuited AQ against AA gets you to only 18% to win, KK 22%, QQ 30% and even AK 25%. This doesn't get much better even if you are suited; these numbers are dismal.
I notice a lot of players have wised up to the fact that AK is a tricky starting hand and will bite you in the ass more often than not - so why have they moved onto playing similarly with AQ, which even the bottom of the barrel rookies can tell is not as valuable as the AK from the starting gate?
Well, I think the AQ needs some nicknames like its cousin the AK that drives the point home. My favorite for AK is Anna Kournikova - looks good but loses every time. This gets the point across as directly as possible that AK sucks more often than not. Over time - with sayings much like this one, players began to get embarrassed when they got felted and had to turn over a losing AK. Others would roll their eyes and think - 'there goes another one.'
I played three sit-and-goes yesterday and I must have seen more ridiculous AQ moves than I could have ever expected. I think the trouble is that some players will not face the ugly truth that no matter how good your hole cards may look pre-flop, they can quickly turn to dust after the flop and must be thrown to the muck if it comes down to an all-in. Don’t fall for the lure of invincibility that comes with a hand like AQ; it has all the disadvantages of the AK that you’re too 'embarrassed to lose with' - plus some.
As for Ace-Jack...don't get me started.
Delik
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Drink Up
To this day I am continually amazed when I am at a poker tournament and see people chug back beer after beer during the course a game. Let us not forget why alcohol is free at casinos in the first place - a drunk player is a losing player...especially at a skill and thinking game like poker!
I remember a time back in CT when I had a regular weekly game at a club of guys twice to three times my age that had many drinkers around the felt. You'd figure they would use their additional years of wisdom for their benefit, but alas, they usually would not. Don't get me wrong...I do love these types of players - it means less work for me! You can pick them out pretty quickly and then avoid conflict with them for a few levels, all the while they get plowed and you watch their every move. Tells and betting patterns don't change when a person becomes inebriated, they are amplified...less work for me!
One time, on a particularly crowded night at this club's tournament (about 60-70 players), I was delighted to see one of my favorite drunkards moved to my table after we lost a few short stacks at once to a big Set a player caught on the turn. More interestingly - he came with a pile of chips and his signature Bud-Light ('when you want to feel the buzz, but not be weighed down with all those calories'). It took only another hour or so for him to lose track of things and develop the need to see every hand down to the river and bluff in a lot of really bad spots. Somehow though, he made some lucky comebacks and started running really good again, managing to hang in there right down to the last 9 players; final table.
It was then that I decided I really needed to take him out. Since the tourney paid only to the top five - I wanted make sure I didn't finish the night unpaid or worse...on the bubble because of a lucky drunk. I knew that luck runs out, and when it does, all he's left with is a cloudy head. Additionally, I had a moderate stack, but mine plus his would be sweet! The moment we came off of break to start the final table I wanted to ensure he was ready, so I bought him a beer. Oh yeah - that's right, a $3 investment in my future.
Long story short - I finished 3rd that night and Bud Light finished 7th or 8th.
Friends shouldn't let friends play drunk, but top players should buy the round.
Delik
I remember a time back in CT when I had a regular weekly game at a club of guys twice to three times my age that had many drinkers around the felt. You'd figure they would use their additional years of wisdom for their benefit, but alas, they usually would not. Don't get me wrong...I do love these types of players - it means less work for me! You can pick them out pretty quickly and then avoid conflict with them for a few levels, all the while they get plowed and you watch their every move. Tells and betting patterns don't change when a person becomes inebriated, they are amplified...less work for me!
One time, on a particularly crowded night at this club's tournament (about 60-70 players), I was delighted to see one of my favorite drunkards moved to my table after we lost a few short stacks at once to a big Set a player caught on the turn. More interestingly - he came with a pile of chips and his signature Bud-Light ('when you want to feel the buzz, but not be weighed down with all those calories'). It took only another hour or so for him to lose track of things and develop the need to see every hand down to the river and bluff in a lot of really bad spots. Somehow though, he made some lucky comebacks and started running really good again, managing to hang in there right down to the last 9 players; final table.
It was then that I decided I really needed to take him out. Since the tourney paid only to the top five - I wanted make sure I didn't finish the night unpaid or worse...on the bubble because of a lucky drunk. I knew that luck runs out, and when it does, all he's left with is a cloudy head. Additionally, I had a moderate stack, but mine plus his would be sweet! The moment we came off of break to start the final table I wanted to ensure he was ready, so I bought him a beer. Oh yeah - that's right, a $3 investment in my future.
Long story short - I finished 3rd that night and Bud Light finished 7th or 8th.
Friends shouldn't let friends play drunk, but top players should buy the round.
Delik
Sunday, November 4, 2007
Jekyll/Hyde Factor
Funny thing about these labels we attach to ourselves with such impermeable closeness that they become a permanent part of our identity. I’ve found in my travels that it is very important to know the distinct differences between them, (as well as their hybrids i.e. tight/aggressive, loose/passive), but moreso, it is important to not tattoo just one individual player-type or even some choice combination of player-type on your poker physique.
When I sit in at a table, be it cash game or tourney - I have no idea what kind of player I going to be.
I liken sitting at a poker table, especially in a tournament, to being on death row. A bunch of people - all shifty-eyed and twitchy. Some will smile to your face, while thinking of felting you before you can blink an eye. Some will just flat out growl at you. So here we have this interesting bunch stuck in the same small space together, nose to nose, just working to keep their time from running out. Doing all they can, every appeal if you will, to just double-up and go on. These ever changing, unexpected situations and personalities will all need to be treated differently.
Example:
I hate the jackasses that always seem to take a 50/100 blind to an All-In Bet by the flop every hand for half an hour. In this situation I just happen to be the tightest, most solid player you have ever seen. I’m going to be folding 99% of my starting hands.
Eventually though, one of two things will happen:
The aforementioned jackass just will bust out because of the law of averages and drift into the poker afterworld.. OR - I’ll run into AA, KK, or AKs and it will be me personally selling the ticket to the aforementioned jackass, to go off to the aforementioned poker afterworld! Still, knowing that my decisions have been limited to such a small scope - I have a lot of free time on my hands. Perhaps now would be a perfect time to work on my Tells.
Although this is one of my largest pet peeves, it also provides one of my greatest joys in life…watching these players go down.
And they do - every…single… time.
In Comparison, I played a tournament a week ago in which I was anything but tight. At a nice little live sit and go, forty players or so with a starting stack of 2k for a $100 buy-in. It was a Thursday night and I noticed immediately that a large majority of the players had come right from work. With drinks in hand the gabbed about politics and weather patterns. And you know what? They were really having fun.
Me too after all - they wouldn’t even defend a blind with the worry of getting kicked out of the little gabfest. I found that a ¾ to pot size bet would move them off everything. Additionally, when I was beat I knew it - quick and with low chip casualties. Throughout the first few levels of play I slowly ate up a large percentage of the each of my opponents stacks. Eliminating only 3 of 8 while leaving 5 others in all-in / fold situations. Now, as I sit back and change back over to tighter play - I’ll wait for the short stacks to knock out and move me into a money position very shortly. I’ll grab a few blinds with my newly formed tight image and take down some big pots with premium hands when the times are right.
Next stop final table… with a whole new scenario and more characters to meet.
Who do you think was a better poker player - Jekyll or Hyde?
When I sit in at a table, be it cash game or tourney - I have no idea what kind of player I going to be.
I liken sitting at a poker table, especially in a tournament, to being on death row. A bunch of people - all shifty-eyed and twitchy. Some will smile to your face, while thinking of felting you before you can blink an eye. Some will just flat out growl at you. So here we have this interesting bunch stuck in the same small space together, nose to nose, just working to keep their time from running out. Doing all they can, every appeal if you will, to just double-up and go on. These ever changing, unexpected situations and personalities will all need to be treated differently.
Example:
I hate the jackasses that always seem to take a 50/100 blind to an All-In Bet by the flop every hand for half an hour. In this situation I just happen to be the tightest, most solid player you have ever seen. I’m going to be folding 99% of my starting hands.
Eventually though, one of two things will happen:
The aforementioned jackass just will bust out because of the law of averages and drift into the poker afterworld.. OR - I’ll run into AA, KK, or AKs and it will be me personally selling the ticket to the aforementioned jackass, to go off to the aforementioned poker afterworld! Still, knowing that my decisions have been limited to such a small scope - I have a lot of free time on my hands. Perhaps now would be a perfect time to work on my Tells.
Although this is one of my largest pet peeves, it also provides one of my greatest joys in life…watching these players go down.
And they do - every…single… time.
In Comparison, I played a tournament a week ago in which I was anything but tight. At a nice little live sit and go, forty players or so with a starting stack of 2k for a $100 buy-in. It was a Thursday night and I noticed immediately that a large majority of the players had come right from work. With drinks in hand the gabbed about politics and weather patterns. And you know what? They were really having fun.
Me too after all - they wouldn’t even defend a blind with the worry of getting kicked out of the little gabfest. I found that a ¾ to pot size bet would move them off everything. Additionally, when I was beat I knew it - quick and with low chip casualties. Throughout the first few levels of play I slowly ate up a large percentage of the each of my opponents stacks. Eliminating only 3 of 8 while leaving 5 others in all-in / fold situations. Now, as I sit back and change back over to tighter play - I’ll wait for the short stacks to knock out and move me into a money position very shortly. I’ll grab a few blinds with my newly formed tight image and take down some big pots with premium hands when the times are right.
Next stop final table… with a whole new scenario and more characters to meet.
Who do you think was a better poker player - Jekyll or Hyde?
Sunday, October 7, 2007
Dirty Little Secret About Tells
New players are often wooed by the promise of riches when following the ill-contrived notion that 'tells' are the key to successful poker. Sounds kinda cool right? Just look over at your opponent and... Oh! He scratched his ear! All-In!!!
Sorry to break it to you; it just doesn't work like that.
If you do however, find yourself in the magnificent position of honestly being able to say to yourself, that you have a solid tell on a particular person - a real tell - it would be hours or perhaps sessions and sessions you will dedicate to studying, memorizing and comparing the slightest tick of each opponent until you feel you can rely on it... then-Enjoy every short and ever-fleeting second of that rare enjoyment. After all, despite all your work, an opponent could always be of the strategy for false-tells, waiting for the big hands to use your information against you... what then?
So why spend all your vital juices and brain energy watching every move, every player makes?
Easy answer: Don't.
The mere act of sitting at a table with anyone for an extended period of time will cause you to pick up on clues, mannerisms, and a general feel for the strength or more importantly - the weakness of their hand.
Let these subtle clues sink into your subconscious, where you may draw on them if and when you can. In the mean time, pay closer attention Betting Patterns or the Math and less attention to who's ear is the itchiest.
Wishing you Big Flops and Bigger Pots.
Delik James
Sorry to break it to you; it just doesn't work like that.
If you do however, find yourself in the magnificent position of honestly being able to say to yourself, that you have a solid tell on a particular person - a real tell - it would be hours or perhaps sessions and sessions you will dedicate to studying, memorizing and comparing the slightest tick of each opponent until you feel you can rely on it... then-Enjoy every short and ever-fleeting second of that rare enjoyment. After all, despite all your work, an opponent could always be of the strategy for false-tells, waiting for the big hands to use your information against you... what then?
So why spend all your vital juices and brain energy watching every move, every player makes?
Easy answer: Don't.
The mere act of sitting at a table with anyone for an extended period of time will cause you to pick up on clues, mannerisms, and a general feel for the strength or more importantly - the weakness of their hand.
Let these subtle clues sink into your subconscious, where you may draw on them if and when you can. In the mean time, pay closer attention Betting Patterns or the Math and less attention to who's ear is the itchiest.
Wishing you Big Flops and Bigger Pots.
Delik James
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