Table Dynamics
It's Not All About the Cards
What is table dynamics? It's a question I am often asked when I start talking about it. The student looks at me clueless and I go into a lecture I've memorized.
When you are playing a poker tournament, each individual table has a unique dynamic that dictates the style of play that will ultimately get the chips at that table. You have to remember in a tournament, you are not directly competing with the 500 others that are playing, you are competing with the 5-9 players at your table. When your table breaks or you are moved to another table, you will face a separate, distinct, and often new table dynamic. The most important thing to remember about table dynamics is that during tournament play, you MUST change your game to take full advantage of each unique table dynamic you are challenged with.
There are problems with this, however, as most players never consider table dynamics when they devise their tournament strategy. The small number of players that do recognize table dynamics are important do not have the skill and/or experience to figure out which method of play will send the chips their way and thus are unable to take advantage of the table dynamics.
The minute few who do recognize the importance of table dynamics and can apply the correct method of play for that dynamic are usually unable to adjust their play sufficiently to take full advantage. The great players, of which there are few, recognize the importance of table dynamics, recognize the style of play that will get them the chips at the table from that dynamic, and have the necessary style of play in their skill set to adjust to that dynamic, and are capable of utilizing all of the above to their full advantage. These players, by taking full advantage of each unique table dynamic they are confronted with during a tournament, put themselves in a position to get lucky much more often than random chance dictates.
Now that you know what table dynamics is, you're probably wondering how you can learn it. It's not an easy skill set to pick up and honestly, despite the concepts I will try to teach you, many of you will fail to learn and apply it properly. I would have to say the biggest factor in being able to figure out and use table dynamics is experience. The more you play, the more you will be able to identify situations and patterns and be able to make the necessary adjustments.
I can help get you that experience by having you do an assignment that will give you some ideas as to how you can map out your table and develop some strategies for attacking the table rather than individual players. Granted, you always need to be aware of specific players and their tendencies, but tables tend to act in patterns. Some tables will be ultra-aggressive with lots of raising and re-raising. Other tables will be extremely passive with lots of limping and calling. You will also find tables that are super tight where a raise generally takes the pot down. This assignment will help you figure out what type of table you are at and have you apply different strategies based on this so you can figure out which are the best for that given dynamic.
My usual method of teaching requires interaction with the students so that I can go over the assignments with them and help guide them in figuring out the concepts. I don't have that advantage here so what I will do is complete the assignments myself in some low buy-in Internet tournaments and post the results as if I was a student so that I can go over the various concepts in depth.
The next chapter will be the first assignment and it's a doozy, probably one of the five hardest assignments in the book... I hope you're ready.
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