Poker Perambulation

or, Lets Not Blow the Engine in Tournament Play

The car I learned to drive on Labor Day 1954 was a stick shift. I was fourteen and had not expected it to happen on that back road; but my dad was a good guy and game for giving his kid a thrill. He stopped on a flat stretch of back road with no traffic. I did pretty well under that scenario and got the car home in one piece without much jolting. In time I learned to move the car gracefully up a steep hill””not an event you want to happen first time out. I wouldn’t do it as smoothly today but I’m out of practice””should return in short order but old skills that go unused happen in life and in poker.

Changing gears in poker has similarities. To get from your starting point to your destination in either, there are going to be any number of situations that will need a gear change. In a car we see the hill and adjust; in poker it’s a foggy day and we may misread the grade but as we progress that becomes as second nature as is the move from first to second with the car.

Quite awhile ago, I watched some friends in a high stakes tournament that was to play over two days with a great blind structure. One of them was a girl and she just sat there most of the day. She picked up the blinds here and there but if she played a pot she’d fold on the flop bet. She lasted until almost the end of first day action. Another friend was mostly a ring player and knew how to gamble and he had won his way via tournaments to play the Bellagio’s WPT event. He was in the top 20 or better at times and playing an aggressive game. There were several others I followed.

The next day I posted about the play. I said of all the players, I though Booty (the girl above) played best. It was obvious that she got horrid cards. Yet, she kept herself in a position to benefit if that changed - it didn’t and being short stacked she went all-in with one of those marginal hands we’d normally play much weaker but it was time to try or die and die she did while holding the best pre-flop hand. The other one I mention above didn’t last as long. He squandered the power he had accumulated. He just couldn’t switch gears.

There are many ways to play a tournament and none is wrong. Early in the WSOP, Cardplayer showed hand but wasn’t giving the blind amounts. I saw some Pros gambling it up and remarked over Yahoo Messenger! to a friend that I thought they had turned into donkeys””which didn’t end up being the case. Blinds had moved faster than I realized and they went to a very loose game to try to build chips. The only gear change available wasn’t optimal but was all that was available.

One has to constantly adjust their game. Some, failingly, don’t recognize the need. Awhile back, Doyle Brunson said he was playing on-line tournaments. The game was being changed by the on-line players and his normal game wasn’t what it used to be. So, Doyle joined the donkey fest and figured out how he needed to adjust. A man who’d played poker, longer than most players in those tournaments had lived, need to improve his game. Others like Joseph Hachem and Greg “Fossileman” Raymer were comfortable in both settings. Chris Moneymaker has had to struggle adjusting in the other direction. Robin Leach continues to have no clue. (Jopke) The modern era and old-timers are all doing more gear changes in meeting unfamiliar conditions.

In stocks and in poker, there are the volatile issues and the steady plodders. It is the old tortoise vs: hare story. Each experiences changing conditions along the way. Last year’s ”˜steady grower’ can become this year’s ”˜crash and burn’ when conditions move to their weakness instead of their strengths. They could change gears or that gear was stripped and they lugged trying to get to the next one.

OK, were through with Philosophy 101. Let’s discuss our real gear changes.

We change gears:

• every couple of hands as our position changes

• and when the unopened pot gets opened

• every time we see the flop and move to post flop play

• based on the flavor of the table

• when we are heads up against a player we have a read on

• how our stack relates to the table and those in the hand we are playing

• how our stack relates to the blinds and antes to make a circuit

• how many are still playing at the table

• when our play has given an image that we can use

• with a rush or with poor cards

• when we have a significant stack swing

• the betting is not what we were anticipating

• when the cards are making us too predictable

You may have a few more that I missed or that compliment the above. Stop by the Author’s Forum and share them. if you would.

Martha Stewart would say, “A big stack: it is a good thing!” There are many players that can create one; but, there are a lot fewer that know how to defend one. The later turn into your ATM. The better ones can send you to the refrigerator for a bit of comfort food or a cold one. The players that play the same game without gear changes is always the ATM.

Short stack play is HUGE fun. That may disagree with what you think. This is where you have to play your best game. Blinds will limit but they can carry advantage. You concentrate more on position. You press any advantage you think you have. It is A-game time and gear changing throws in overdrive. Coming back from the brink ranks with making the money. And gear changing is a key

The biggest mistake I made in starting to play was to think I had an A-game when my best grade may be a B. And the difference was and remains my ability to properly change gears. Truth be told I have only moved to B+ or on occasion A-. Being brutally honest I’m an average or above grinder but elite remains a dream””but there is nothing wrong with dreaming. If Doyle has to work on his game, it gives the rest of us hope too.

Further Reference:

Selecting an Online Tournament Site Poker Betting Strategy

Poker Betting Strategy (part 2)

Addendum:

Well, the President signed the law as expected. Absolute, Bodog, Doyle’s Room, Full Tilt Poker, PokerStars, and Ultimate Bet have all had announcements that I’ve seen.  I am missing a bunch check the Site tab at the top of the page for frequent updates as they happen.  Party was ‘doing maintenance’ at the appointed hour and came back up  as expected.    U.S. players still have access to their accounts but cannot play.  PokerStars made the announcement dropping  Firepay and offering a deposit bonus for those needing to move over to Neteller.  I am sure others will follow.  This is incomplete, I know.  But it is the things I have seen for sure.

I played last night on FullTilt in the Omaha High area. Still playing low rent (.10-.20 PL) to try to figure out the game better. Having fun. I’ll post next week about Omaha High. I threw a bit of money on TonyG (nice bonus!) looking for Linda(see her remarks in Thurs post) to clean out. She wasn’t around so my stake is safe for another day.

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Stop by the Author’s forum and join in a discussion. I’ve said that I don’t even have an A-game so, at worst, you’ll fit right in. I’ll go further and say that I have gotten it wrong as often as the next forum poster and; if you think you’ll embarrass yourself, I can show you old posts of mine that are far worse. So, NO EXCUSES, come on by””even if it is to say, ‘I don’t get what you mean!’. If that is the case, then lets flesh it out together.

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As criminal deviants–thanks to Congress–we lounge in the recliner in our underwear gambling with real money. Talk about your reality TV show. And, some folks are threatening to move out of the country because it isn’t the one they learned about in civic class. Well, you are in luck because you don’t have to get out of your recliner or put on clothes to leave the ol’ US of A. Enter secondlife.com. There PR goes:

———–Quoted HTML follows————–

Second Life is a 3-D virtual world entirely built and owned by its residents. Since opening to the public in 2003, it has grown explosively and today is inhabited by 373,893 people from around the globe.

• From the moment you enter the World you’ll discover a vast digital continent, teeming with people, entertainment, experiences and opportunity. Once you’ve explored a bit, perhaps you’ll find a perfect parcel of land to build your house or business.
• You’ll also be surrounded by the Creations of your fellow residents. Because residents retain the rights to their digital creations, they can buy, sell and trade with other residents.
• The Marketplace currently supports millions of US dollars in monthly transactions. This commerce is handled with the in-world currency, the Linden dollar, which can be converted to US dollars at several thriving online currency exchanges.

Yes, all you blow-up girlfriend fans can move to virtual reality and a snazzy new virtual girlfriend. One reporter reports he paid $18 for a pole dance in a strip joint–looks like Pauly is welcome.

Shades of my Sci-fi books, the world is getting kinkier by the virtual moment. And, it’ll cost you real money that looks like it could be as costly as Pauly’s hooker bar. Owning a nice lot in this place is about the real money price of basic cable. But, I saw nothing about poker and so I took a pass. But, I still wonder if I could get Neteller to take their Linden Dollars–might move in and set up a counterfitting ring. Wonder what their virtual slammer is like…

Hmmm, could this be where Bin Laden is hiding?

The Congress needs to look into this. Some poor preachers kid in college somewhere might be in there trying to pay off his credit card debt for his virtual Porsche and the hookers by robbing a virtual bank.

This entry was posted on Friday, October 13th, 2006 at 4:01 am and is filed under Journal, Poker Thoughts. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.