Brought the D Game

Let me tell you something.  If you want to win in poker, you’ve got to bring it.

This may seem like common-sense, but this is something I must remind myself from time to time.  We had our home game last night, and I just flat out did not show up.

I was a little bit rusty and just not quite fully involved.  I did not bring my A game, and I paid for it.

I may try something new and force myself to push a total trash hand early next home game.  I’ll post my results if and when that happens.

Never Underestimate the Power of Aggression.

Aggressiveness plays a huge role in poker.  Poker tables rarely lack aggression.  Even in the few situations where only 1 or 2 people are aggresive, those 1 or 2 will soon change the makeup of the table.

Bringing up the rare situation, let’s say there are 8 people at a table with only 1 aggressive person.  Unless we’re talking about an old-woman’s rookie game (trust me I’m not), the table is soon going to grow tired of being bullied.  It may take that one hand for a player to get strong cards.  If the cards are strong enough, that person is going to feel like they have to and will win that hand at all costs.  This means that even if the bully backs out early, action still may fly.

Odds are, six other people have been biding their time, waiting to take down the bully.  For fun, let’s say the original player to draw his hand drew a hand of AK.  What he doesn’t know is that another player who has been patiently waiting has been dealt JJ.  For shortness sake, let’s assume that both players are going balls-to-the-wall with their hands and won’t take no for an answer.

The result will be a much larger pot than normal and all-ins between both hands more times than should be.

At the poker table, these bullies will be known.  Everyone at the table will be waiting to knock them off.  What isn’t well known is exactly how many chips this bully has helped himself to before the timid start to fight back.

While a wild bully might never back off, a smart bully will know when to back off.  Many of them, usually the smart ones, will back off at the littlest sound of resistance.  The moment one of the timid players fights back, his hand is going into the muck.  This is of course, if the bully has not hit a hand himself.  This hand would have a potential for wild action.

At this point, a game can sometimes move into a new stage.  The originally timid players may be aggressive players disguising themselves as patient players.  Other normally patient players may see the bully show weakness and also start to open up.  The original bullies now have also went their own directions.  The bullies that didn’t know when to back off are probably out of the tournament or have left the table.  The smart bullies have probably turned themselves into patient players knowing they can’t steal anymore chips, and some lucky bullies might still be bullying from behind the cover of a large stack.  This is when poker really starts getting fun.

So how much aggression should you really take into the game of poker?  The advice here will vary from person to person, book to book, and site to site, but the very best advice you can find would be to be selectively-aggressive.

Being selectively aggressive is a broad term, but it’s a very important one.  By weighing in the factors of hand position, hand history, and the actual hand you hold, the best poker players select more-often-than-not the best positions to be aggressive in.  I tend to lean on the tight side and must feel 80 to 90 percent sure that I’m right to start my aggression.  This way, even if you lose close to half of the hands, you’re sure to come out a winner.

To sum up this thought, let’s do a little math.

80% – Guess right and push chips around
20% – Guess wrong and lose mostly

As for that 80%, you still can lose the hand.  So in a worst case scenario, the math should look like this for the times you are right:

55% – Win with or without showdown
45% – lose in a showdown

Now figuring that you could win a few of the 20% of hands in which you guessed wrong, maybe 7-9%, the percentages for 80% correct guessing is approxametly:

51% – Win hand
49% – Lose hand

This math may be a bit inconclusive and off-topic, but the point here is that even if you guess 80% right that you have the best hand, it’s still a pretty even bet that you’ll win the hand.

The brings us to what ingredient gives their top pros their edge.  The answer is aggression.  A great player must factor in the times in which position or past play gives them a great chance at winning the hand without a showdown.  These hands (which will often be bluffs) are the edge you need to win at poker.

Cold Hearted Truth

So, before you go thinking I’m just another greedy poker player trying to make a few dollars off of some meaningless blog, I should explain a little.

I’m not.

That’s not enough? Well it’s the cold-hearted truth that I’m trying to get across here. Being cold-hearted is an important attribute in being a winning poker player. And before you go arguing that you can win and be nice, I’m going to let you know now, that you might be right. Some people might win playing a different style than me. In fact, I know plenty of people win playing a different style than I do, but I can’t teach you different styles. For one reason, I try not to have a style.

Having a style can beat you. For this reason, being cold-hearted is the only style you should have towards others, and more importantly towards yourself. You can’t lie to yourself in poker. You may say that you’re a good player, but for most people, they’re not telling the truth. And I’ll bet all of them realize it too. If one can’t realize it, then that is the first thing they need to work on.

So before I go off on more thought process rants, I still need to tell you some about myself.

As of now, you probably think I’m a real jackass.  I’m actually a nice guy (which turns out the be one of my weaknesses in poker), but I’m also a realist.  There are many times in life when I say the “right and nice” thing, but am thinking inside of the “real” side of things.  There’s the cold-heart in me.  I do keep it in check though.

Anyway, I’m great at math.  Sure maybe now you can add in cocky too (or confident as I like to think).  Trigonometry, Geometry, or other trees aren’t really my thing.  It’s the percentages and fractions and quick numbers that I can run laps around others with.  The numbers have always given me an extra edge on the tables.

Back to the realist quality, I have to give credit to my dad in that one.  He was a great father, always proud, but never “over-the-edge” proud.  He would give me credit and confidence, but always had a way of keeping me grounded.  I knew my shots at professional baseball were slim, but he kept pushing me at pitching.  A radar gun never topped 80mph, and that was it for me.  Got to move on and succeed elsewhere as high school was my limit.  I have no time to be a mediocre college pitcher.

On the other hand, he probably accounts for most of the reasons that I haven’t made it to the next level in poker.  He insisted that poker wasn’t a sure thing, was not a steady career, and that I needed to pursue other interests in life.  And you know what?  He’s right.  So few people make a living in poker, that it’s not really worth it to try.  The exceptions being the comfortably retired, or the successful business man with a small-time poker hobby.  Other than that, you’re probably going to go broke and be forced to quit the game before you make it on the WSOP.

I can honestly tell you that I am a winning poker player.  I also believe that I could consistently win in Las Vegas.  I also realize that luck plays a factor in the game, and I can’t gamble my life pursuits like that.  I will keep playing though, and waiting for the day that my bankroll allows me admittance into a big tournament.

That bankroll, though, has to grow quite large first.  One thing I’ve realized in my playing days is that emotion plays a huge role in the game of poker.  The greatest player in the game will never win if he can’t keep his emotions untied from the money involved.  If you care about losing whatever amount you’re gambling, eventually, you’ll play poorly enough that you will in fact lose that money.

So, I’ve passed onto you my rant for the day.  Come back and check me out again and I may just tell you a little more.

I am not a poker pro!

I am not going to tell you my name.  My name and face are unimportant.  I am just another greedy player at the table trying to take your money.  Also, you never know, I may see you at a table, and I just don’t want you to know my style.  I’m not selling my face and name off of the poker tours.  I’ve never been there.

Let’s just face one thing square up front.  Poker involves money.  No matter what you hear or say, this must be true.  Without money, poker isn’t a game.  You might as well join a game of spades or hearts, or even just get down and dirty with your niece in some Candyland.  You’ll accomplish more (letting her win) beating her than you will winning a race against two other all-ins in a free game with friends.  You’re just not going to accomplish anything playing poker without money involved.  There is nothing to fight the luck.

Throughout this blog my gifts of thought to you will be based mostly on No Limit Texas Holdem.  If you aren’t familiar with the game, I suggest learning the rules and playing for a while before you continue reading.  I’m not going to teach the basics.  This blog is meant to teach a better thinking process to average poker players, to give powerfully and uncomplicated math skills to a C student, to tone down the balls-to-the-wall gunslinger enough to win regularly, and to give any average player a deeper understanding needed to win at the game.  Oh, and if you think you’re the expert at the table, you’re probably wrong.  Even with the slight chance you are as good as you say you are, you can still learn from this blog by finding out what another poker enthusiast thinks.

This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t or won’t be able to play other poker games.  In fact, the information I provide will help your thinking and improve play across all games, and just maybe, in life in general.

Hell, just to be nice, I’ll give you some insight on how to adjust your play style accordingly to some of the other games.
So come back, join in on the discussion, and let’s all learn a little bit more about the great game of No Limit Texas Holdem!