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Maryann Guberman has been a writer and editor with many gaming publications, including Sports Form, Card Player, Poker World, Player's Panorama and Systems and Methods. She also has written and edited numerous books on gambling.

Feb. 10, 2007

Passé Poker

When you're through changing, you're through. -- Bruce Barton

In the beginning, before the current poker craze, you could rely on many rules of thumb for your playing tactics, be it stud, draw, hold'em or any other community card game. But with so many people getting their poker education by watching final-table tournament poker, many - if not most - of these rules have fallen by the wayside. Those that haven't fallen have certainly become weaker. Chances are you can find these rules at work in games with old-school players but you'll also find that the rules don't work as well as they should.

Take the favorite saying paraphrased here: If you can't find the sucker in the game, it's you.

This just isn't so anymore. The sucker is the guy who acts out of turn, makes string raises, gets into the pot more than half the time, never saw a raise he didn't like and craves a lot of action. He's the guy who can't believe you stayed in with your pocket aces to the river because the last card filled his inside straight to beat you. He's the suck out king. She's the gee-I'm-sorry-but-my-4-7-was suited queen.

Now if you had just the king or just the queen in the game you could celebrate in advance of a good night. Trouble is, today's games seem to have five or six of these regal characters messing with your chips so your good night message often ends up as a good night kiss. Now if you look around for the sucker, you might just see

Here's another paraphrased poker maxim that has lost a lot of the wind beneath its sails: It's easier to bluff a good player than a bad one.

Sorry guys but it's not easier to bluff either one anymore. Really good players would (and still do) drop out of a marginal hand when confronted with a raise. Likewise, a really good player could make another wise guy fold with a simple raise that indicated a good hand. Again, possibly because they see too many extremely marginal drawing hands being raised by tournament players on TV, the average inexperienced player has taken this to mean it's okay to bet and/or raise with any garbage to try to force another player out. So he bluffs too much. Likewise, the average inexperienced player today doesn't understand that the purpose of the raise is to force him to lay down his marginal hands, so he doesn't lay them down. He calls too often and reraises too little. The result is that the bluff has lost its power and must be reevaluated with each attempt.

How about the blind stealing advice that used to work so well? Here's how that counsel goes: When you are the dealer (therefore in late position) and nobody has shown any strength by betting, you should attempt to steal the blinds by raising. Well, forget about it ... unless you have a really good hand. It seems as if everybody and his college roommate have read this advice. Now when you are the dealer and you raise, you're going to be called, usually by both blinds. They think you are raising to steal and they are aren't going to let you get away with it. Unless you have reason to raise, don't.

What we're saying this week is that no poker advice is absolute. For example, advice that states aggressive play is correct isn't leading you down any garden path, especially if you play no-limit poker; but, it's not the end-all for limit games. More importantly, a constantly aggressive approach can lead to disaster. A player who doesn't temper his game can wear away the patience of his opponents and instead of causing them to go on tilt, causes the giant within them to stir. If a player has been taking a constant beating because your aggressive stance has been keeping him out of action, he likely will go on tilt, yes. But he's just as likely to stalk you by playing along only to ambush you when the cards are right. By all means, be aggressive but don't overdo it if you expect to get the right results.

Now of course there are exceptions to these passé poker rules but you have to ferret them out yourself. You have to watch the game and get a feel for the texture. You have to understand how each player reacts to various situations. Then you should adjust accordingly. In cardrooms you do this by paying attention to each opponent. You make mental notes about how each reacts to different situations. Then you combine your card knowledge with this information and you tailor your game to the circumstances.

If you're playing online, you should keep an opponent diary of sorts so when you meet them again you won't have to go through the routine. If bigdogwithaces plays fast when he has a good hand and slow when his hand might not make it to the river, pick up on this so the next time you get to a table with him you will already know his style.

Poker is an evolving game so learn the ropes and then evolve.

Rules are rules and you have to learn them. You don't break the rules but you can't be afraid to bend them when the situation calls for it.