They play like little girls

Hey, I didn’t say that. It is in the blog blurb about the Chasing Chris gang. There is an article by JB Harshaw on the site that has that idea or theme and tells it well. Go read this article and then come back.

That is a good article. Its only fault is being a bit too gender specific. There are a variety of weak-passives that play just like his article. Frankly, when I don’t watch it, I’ll fall in the same trap. It is a comfortable way to play and when you’re getting lousy cards that makes for an easy slide into my C- game. It isn’t as punishing at ring. But it sure isn’t optimal play either.

If you are close to JB’s description, you really need to select sites. (And, pray.) In the old days you could do that easily. I looked at my old computer and the number of sites I had available/registered approached 20. I’d use the easy cashing mechanisms to move money around like a drunken sailor. The first thing I looked at on a site was their blind structure. From it you would get a solid idea of how play would go – aggressive or less so. Sadly, the best structure for U.S. facing sites is the one that cannot be named in polite company.

Parts of what JB describes are in the ladies game. But, face it. It is in a lot of our games – at least at times.

The reason I find calling folks donkeys off-putting is that the difference in tournament play between that and what we’d like to call ‘an advanced move’ is often only mindset. While Harrington looks at a M=10 as an inflection point, given the structures you’ll encounter, you should be a gamble/aggressive before that is reached. When your opening 4x bet is getting close to 30%, you’ve just about pot committed. And, if a blind increase is in the offing, you are too late. Pot odds are now dictating. And, ‘any two’ is a viable hand when you are offered 3:1. Behind or ahead has little impact.

Is it the goal to last 2 or 3 hours? If you’ve been short stacked and lucky to survive, the answer is hardly cut and dried. The idea in tournaments and in NL is to force the other person to make the hard decision. When you are just playing to survive with a weak stack, you are the one repeatedly making hard decisions. I can just about guarantee that playing ‘donkey’ at inflection points isn’t going to limit your wins when you force the other players game.

So, when the player says they are always getting in with the best hand and then getting sucked out on, that is hardly complimentary. That is especially true when you’ve gotten your stack in such trouble that the pot odds give just about everybody the right to play against you.

You don’t have to become a loose cannon. You don’t have to be a card rack either. But, limping should be the occasional play from late position with a speculative hand. But, even then it is just one option open to you. And the other option beats the hell out of always waiting for that premium hand and then telegraphing what you have.

If you only make people uncomfortable when you’re holding a big hand, there are big ears enough for all.

ADDENDUM:

The other day I was promoting tight-passive. Today, it is close to 180. What gives? you might ask. It is just another page or chapter from the same book. If there is a constant in playing poker, it is that you must introduce variety into your play. But, we need to do that in a reasoned manner. There are all kinds of tilt and some aren’t tilt as much as a flawed mindset. I have a tendency toward passive play at times. I can see that I’ll overcompensate as one of my B-game tendencies.

PokerStars is running 2 final table showings. They cycle constantly under the [SPECIAL] tab in the tournament area. They show the cards from two completed tournaments. This is the $5200 freezeout and the Sunday million. I watched last weeks and it was a good investment of my time. You’ll see good players and see how they do their gear changing. You’ll see people with tendencies just like your’s and mine. The one from the previous week now – that you won’t see – was particularly good at showing successful variations and some players overplaying their tendency. You won’t see Broomcorn’s uncle but there was a player that had to be a first cousin. There was a table captain that did it as well as TonyG. You see people fold best hands time after time. You can see why I thought it worth my time and helpful to my own game.

This entry was posted on Monday, July 28th, 2008 at 2:24 pm and is filed under Poker Thoughts. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.