The Poker Corner
The Poker Corner
When most people sit down at a poker table, they lose. It’s inevitable. That’s the characteristic of poker that I think is most like professional sports. At the end of the game or season, there are always a few satisfied winners, and many, many dejected losers, left blaming everyone but themselves for their failure. Did you ever notice that about winners and losers in sports? You never hear the losing team say “we lost” but you always hear them say “they won” or “they were better today.” This is especially true in the playoffs. Every team thinks it is good enough to win the championship, and no individual will ever admit that his team was just not good enough. Since most sports fans love the underdog, they hate to admit that more often than not, the best team wins.
In poker however, losing isn’t always reserved for bad players. Often it’s one small mistake, one bad read, or one moment of bad luck that causes the better player to lose. But if you’ve played even a modest amount of poker, and had even a modest amount of success between endless periods of failure, I’m sure you know this all too well.
You know that it’s almost impossible to realize that your opponent has flopped low trips against your pocket aces even when you made a substantial pre-flop raise to prevent that from happening. It’s almost impossible to know that your opponent was waiting for and hit his gut-shot straight against your top two pair.
These are the facts of poker life. The best player will not always win and the worst player will not always lose. Don’t get me wrong, by no means am I trying to muster the guts to say that long-term poker success can be attributed to luck. What I’m trying to say is that short-term losing can be attributed to bad luck.
How else does one explain the early exodus of many of the best poker players in the world at the most recent World Series of Poker events? Phil Helmuth said it best on ESPN at this year’s Series after busting out of an event “If poker were all about skill, I’d win every time.” Unfortunately for Phil, luck is the reason why he doesn’t win every time. However, guys like Helmuth, Phil Ivey, Howard Lederer don’t earn a living at the World Series of Poker, they earn a living taking money off of less-skilled, but heavy-walleted players at some of the biggest cash games at the biggest casinos.
I’ve been playing poker seriously for about three years now. Not professionally, not with the best players in the world, and certainly not for thousands of dollars a game. But I have played at tables full of smart people with 1400+ SAT scores and 140+ IQs, and rich people with seven figure trust fund accounts. I’ve sat down with people who play hundreds of hands a day and whose eyes only see in black and red. So why does someone like me, a 21-year-old middle class Masshole, have a black value, not a red value in his calculation of career poker earnings?
That’s a great question.
If I had an easy answer, I wouldn’t be wasting my time writing a poker article for free. I’d be playing $10,000 buy-in cash games at every casino along the east coast. Unfortunately, I have neither the bankroll, the time, nor the talent to be playing anything more than 1-2NL and 2-4NL ring games online and the occasional $20-$100 cash game with friends.
I may not have an easy answer, but I think I have an answer: Patience, intelligence, and knowing my limits. I know I don’t have a $50,000 bankroll, so there’s no point playing super-high stakes. I know I’m not a mathematically genius, so there’s no point playing strictly by the numbers. And I know I’m not a psychic, so there’s no point in trying to read every opponent’s mind.
When I sit down at the poker table, I’m patient—I’ll wait all day for the right hand, for the right situation to suck some poor soul into thinking he’s in the driver’s seat. I’ll bet when I have the best hand, I’ll fold when I don’t. Poker is not rocket science. If you think someone has a better hand than you do, he probably does. If you sense weakness, go for the jugular.
When you’ve been sitting at a table, staring at J6 off suit for two hours, you will inevitably get antsy, and that’s why many players can’t consistently win at poker. Unless you’re willing to re-buy until your bank account is empty, that one failed bluff will destroy your night. I heard Greg Raymer say that a $50 bluff into a $100 pot only has to work one out of every three times for it to be the right mathematical play. However, what if $50 is all you have and one missed bluff with cost you everything? That’s a problem faced by many small stakes players, but hardly a problem any professional would ever face.
You see, the average poker player, despite his apparent risky behavior, is still risk averse. Even if that $50 bluff is the correct play, the average poker player does not want to take that risk because of the chance of going broke. The best players in the world do not fear bankruptcy and that’s one of their greatest advantages.
If you’re one of those players that fears losing your whole stack on one hand, try dropping down to a smaller game where you feel more comfortable and have a more substantial bankroll. If you find yourself cringing at the thought of losing one big hand, you do not belong with the big boys. Take a step back, re-examine the stakes you’re playing, and find a game you feel comfortable playing in.