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POCKET ACES

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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.

Nov 03, 2007

Let's Get Serious

The time has come to fess up. This poker stuff really isn't that much of a tough game after all, is it? When it comes right down to the bottom line, anyone can win. Sure, you can show up at a late-night, high-stakes game as the only person with a few total poker years in experience and lose your bankroll. But heck, you're up against nine pros who have more experience in poker than Methuselah had days on earth. (For those unfamiliar with the Bible, that would be well over 350,000.) And these pros are so accustomed to playing at the same table, they know all their nuances, so they might just pass some chips around for a while but all in all, they'll be focusing on you.

But, if you're at a table with nine other opponents who have about the same amount of experience as you, then the game's not so tough.

Years ago I had a long-running debate with a fellow poker enthusiast about hold'em. I was just getting serious about playing hold'em and I was fortunate enough to acquire software for review. Back then I was what they referred to as a Mac Person so my skills on the PC were fairly limited. So I had to learn this new operating system as well as this new game. Luckily the equipment I was using was hand-me-down because I fried two PCs in the process. Eventually I became more adept with Windows and more proficient with the fantastic software.

Up until this point I had no desire to learn the mathematics of the game; I didn't even care to memorize the starting hands. My main interest was in position and the two cards dealt to me. I developed a strategy that, in summary, gave me permission to play any two cards that could make a straight or a flush, any two cards that added up to 19 or more, as well as any pair. If I saw any improvement on the flop at all, I would continue. Because I placed no premium on any combination of cards, I would check, call and raise alternately, depending on the action before me.

The only other rules I followed pertained to win/loss. If I lost half my buy-in I would quit. If I won half my buy-in and eventually lost half the profits, I would quit. If I was on a winning streak, I would just keep playing until my eyelids dropped on their own.

Trust me, I played thousands of hands and saved the results until I bought a new computer and gave the old one away. But in that time, my bankroll soared from a mere pittance ($1,000 is a pittance in computer dollars.) to five figures.

I wasn't playing any live action hold'em because my stud game was still doing well. But I had read a couple of books and articles about hold'em, and knew I wasn't following conventional wisdom.

But my debate was with a hold'em player who was losing constantly in live games and I couldn't really argue motherboard against living, breathing bodies.

Still, when I watch tournament players today, I don't see much of a difference between my scenario and the way these people play. Everything really comes down to that river card. If you spike the ace on the river when your opponent was holding kings from the start, you don't need talent; you don't need skill. You just need the intestinal fortitude to know you could lose and the knowledge that your opponent could experience the same results. Your hand might have a 65 percent chance of winning but unless you know all the cards that have been played already, you have only a 50-50 chance.

I'm still not much of a really good hold'em player but until I stopped playing online, I scored very well in the sit-n-go events using my original software style -- two cards in position.

I'm not recommending any particular mode of play to anyone.

Get serious about what kind of style works for you in each scenario, be it a one-table sit-n-go, a full tournament, no limit or limit, or live action. If you expect to play with the top guns, make sure you are a top gun yourself. Get into that in crowd and wait for the next pigeon to fly in.

Get serious and know this isn't life or death. (If you're playing for next week's rent money, you didn't get serious enough.) It isn't even about mentally devastating someone. It's more about specializing. It's just about playing a game and winning or losing. Pick your game; find your style; be more fearless than serious and you'll do just fine.