In the Fun House

The carnivals and fairs always had a fun house in my youthful world. Most cost a dime to go through. There would be a floor that jumped and jiggled around; a barrel rotating on its side; a blast of air for the girl’s skirts. All that and more for one, thin dime – the tenth part of a dollar.

The part I want to talk about in the blog was the hall of mirrors. They all had one. You could look at yourself and what you saw might be fat or overly skinny; long legs would morph into a lowered crotch in a step forward. Mirrors typically show us as other see us – at least when we’re not in a fun house. That quit for me a couple of years ago when a genie cursed all mirrors I look into. There is this old fart that always looks back out. Sure as hell isn’t me.

I know that I should use a mirror at the tables. We all should. I am amazed how few people ever bother to try to understand how they are seen while they devote effort in closely examining everyone else. When I was playing the daily guarantee tournaments at TonyG, there was a fairly small number playing. Over time I developed notes on most of the players. At big sites/tournaments, I may go a couple of tables before running into a guy or two that I might have notes on. On TonyG’s site, I often had notes on all the other players.

I’d guess that 75% or so of the original notes were accurate depictions. When that was the case, close to 100% was consistent to the description. Variety usually came from the group that I’d originally misjudged. My notes were a lucrative source for chipping up. I was able to make better reads there than any place I’ve ever played. What had become obvious is that a major portion of the people were cookie cutter players. They were never going to vary from the mold. They had a potential for variation about equal to a bronze statue.

Of the 10-15% that had gear changes, most would revert to form when pressure occurred. It was that 25% of those that gave me the greatest concerns. Some I could try an advanced move on and others had to be played pretty straight up.

In all this, I found it amazing that I was also fairly well read by a few players. I thought I was mixing it up fairly well but we all can revert to tenancies. The prize structure made me want to do more than final table. I wanted that top weighted money and I think that was a hidden influence that I tended to ignore. A couple of players figured that out. When I figured they figured, I was able to change against them. I’m sure I missed a few that figured my defaults and sneaked past revealing it. (We became a fairly chatty group and those give tells too.)

On most sites you and they can get away with more. One smaller sites or where you are playing ring against a thinner group, you need to stay consistently aware of your image. I look more and more at myself as a note others might write. I look to change my play more in pressure situations. We are never going to see ourselves truly as others see us but at the poker tables it is worth the attempt.

ADDENDUM:

The implementation rules are out from the Treasury Department. It is pretty much a non-issue. It is like the chicken soup at the $4.95 Chinese Buffet – weak and watery. But, the damage was done in the passage. It affected listed companies. They are out of the market and we are dependent on the lesser grades for moving a dollar or two onto a site at a higher cost than in the past.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 9th, 2007 at 12:12 pm and is filed under Journal, Poker Thoughts. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.