All In, All The Time

This may be one of the most impacting phrases that I may have heard in long time. As some of you may know, I like to play poker in my free time. If you have ever watched poker being played on t.v. (i.e. The World Series of Poker), you will hear a player say "All in" when he/she feels that they have the best hand and is willing to risk everything that they have in order to win. I was at a seminar and the closing statement that one of the speakers made was, "All in, all the time."

This is a term that shouldn't just be limited to poker players. This is something that can be applied to any and all of us in different walks of life. When you apply your skills to something, being a parent, a spouse, your occupation, a commitment to acheive some sort of personal life goal, you should be your entire effort in to it with nothing held back. If you truly believe it is the best possible situation that could be handed to you, you should without a doubt be willing to risk everything to be successful at it.

I was given the greatest new careert opportunity when I came on to Johnstone Supply. My direct supervisor has continually supplied me with information and tools to help me be successful. In turn, I am fully committing myself to him and his business so that we are both successful. I realized during the interviewing process that the people who are already in place have bought in to the organizational program in place. I want to be a puzzle piece that fits right in and helps to complete a bigger, better picture.

There is no excuse for doing anything only halfway. If you are going to take that mindset, then you shouldn't even bother taking on the task. Champions don't hold up the trophy at the end of the season because they just did what they could to get by. This isn't to say that you won't have bad days. You may even have days where it seems as if everything that you do fails. You still have a responsibility to yourself and those whom you answer to, to give maximum effort everytime.

Encouraging Others to Play Bad

I always like to get input from other players who have been playing Hold 'Em for a longer period of time than I have. Especially those whom I know have been long term winners at the game. The knowledge that I can glean helps to make me a better player and helps to keep me from falling into the pitfalls that a majority of others may spiral into. I also like to listen to what losing players say because they give me a blueprint of how to beat them (that's another article for another day though). Of all of the advice, words of wisdom, and others things that I have absorbed, one piece of information has remained constant: The most profitable games that you can play in are games with players that are loose and fill the air with action. 

I always get a kick out of hearing players cry and whine when they get their pocket Aces or Kings smashed in a pot that has 3 or 4 players calling with hands like 2-4, 7-9, J-7 suited or off and the suck out winner makes a lucky two pair or a straight. I'm not immune. I've made the error of doing it myself at times. The fact that a big pair pre-flop is vulnerable against multiple opponents is just one facet of a disaster waiting to happen. On the flip side, would you prefer that these players actually play good poker against you? My answer to that question is a resounding and emphatic, "Hell no!"

When lesser skilled players try to get lucky and play that loose is where my bankroll growth comes from. In fact, one of the things I wonder and ask is this, not only do I welcome play that terrible but do you think it's a good idea to encourage your opponents to play that horribly. I ask this question because I know that this starts to approach a line of etiquette and maybe even ethics of what you should and shouldn't say in poker. A few weeks ago I remember a guy was constantly chasing weak draws and would miss. Eventually he took down a pretty good size pot in an 8/16 Limit game for about 15 or 16 big bets after I flopped a set. The loss stung a little but I was still up over 20 big bets from where I bought in. The young man was stacking his chips saying, "Long time, no eat," emphasizing the fact that he hadn't won a pot in awhile. 

I smiled and told him, "Congrats. You deserved that one," which was obviously a lie. Then I addressed the table, "See guys, if you don't chase you can't win." Obviously I never intended to lose that pot. My long term hope was that my opponent wouldn't change his game and would continue to chase after miracle draws that would cost him money and pay me off. He was already stuck in the game over $700 and I believed that if he continued to play the way that he was, that there was no way he could get even much less make a profit.

I don't know if this type of encouragement to try to get someone to play bad is really "ethical." One thing I will say is that that the rest of the game loosened up really fast and I ended up being the recipient of walking out with over 3 times as much as I started with about four hours later. The bottom line question that I have is do you believe that it's good etiquette to encourage bad players to continue to play bad. Especially if they are running bad and trying to gamble to get out of the hole? 

Any and all feedback welcome.

Your Best Customers

So often I have heard players who get sucked out on in a big pot, complain about the calls opponents make that end up beating them. You've seen them before. Someone gets running straight or flush cards, or they catch a four outer on the river and the pile is being pushed to your opponent. What makes it more painful is that you got your opponent to get their chips in the pot with horrendous odds, yet they didn't seem to recognize that.

I have some great news for you. You have just found your niche customers and potential repeat business. In each one of the situations where you got your opponent to get their chips in the middle when they were behind and they weren't getting the right price to call, YOU WON! I know, that doesn't remove the sting of the fact that they probably walked out of the casino with what used to be your money, but keep your chin up. When players continually make bad decisions against you, you have know found great cash paying customers who are may be continually willing to buy what you are selling.

One of the things that you have to remember is that you have very few edges in poker (for more on that, read "The Poker Mindset" by Matthew HIlger). One of the ways that you make money is by your opponents making mistakes, which are few in nature. If you have a table full of players that aren't willing to gamble against you when they are chasing a weak draw without the correct pot odds to justify the call in the first place, seriously, how are you going to make any money?

I heard someone once tell me that he believed that he would have more success in a game against players who understood what they were doing. That's a statement some make out of frustration when they take a bad beat. I understand the premise of where the comment is being birthed from, but in the grand scheme of poker success, it a purely asinine statement. Think about it, do you really want people that you've had success against actually playing better poker?

Players that you know will overplay a big Ace preflop to the river, or play two pair like it's the nuts when a 3 card draw to a straight or flush is on the board, are the types of players that in the long run will help increase your bankroll and make you the winning player that you strive to be.

Reading Is Fundamental

I have always felt that reading players was one of my weakest skills in the game of poker. I have never really tried to ascertain if someone was making a big bluff on the river to buy the pot or if they were raising or re-raising pre-flop with rags. My philosophy always has been, “Do I know what they have in their hand? No. Do I really care? No.” Into the muck the hand would go. I guess I’ve always just tried to play simple, fundamental, ABC poker and just play solid hands.

I must have graduated to another level because for some reason, last night I seemed to have a read on the table and on players that I have never experienced before. It was similar to Spiderman’s senses tingling when he knew that something was awry. An example was when I picked up Queens in the big blind, first player to open raise made it  3 times the live straddle. There were two callers before it got back to me. Usually with 3 other opponents going to the flop I wouldn’t hesitate calling with any pair because of the pot odds and implied odds to potentially flop a set. For some reason I stopped and looked over the table to see where the original raise came from. The gentleman who open raised was an older gentleman, and the most solid rock at the table. His raising range had only been extremely strong hands. The lowest his range went to that I had experienced was JJ, at the lowest. This player never even raised pre-flop with AK. I’m immediately realizing that my Queens my be in bad shape since I’m only ahead of one hand in his pre-flop raising range. I threw the hand away. Showdown at the river turned out that he had Aces.

It’s funny how I’ve always tried to establish my own table image. I got a great education on figuring out the image of other opponents. The adjustments that I was able to make accordingly made it a profitable night at a casino that has historically been the toughest place for me to win at.

Finding Fish

Poker is a game of very small edges. With the few edges that you have in the game it can be difficult to get maximum value out of a strong hand unless you are playing against opponents that know less about poker than you do. If you are able to recognize and exploit these mistakes you can make a lot of money. Something that I have recognized is that the mistakes that your opponents make are small in nature so you have to make the most of these opportunities and pounce on them when they arise. Most people that sit down at a table play the game recreationally. Though they want to win they don't have the same skill set as those who are consistent winning players. These types of “fish”, as they are often called, can be difficult to find, especially if you have a casino that you frequent often and find yourself playing against a familiar group of opponents. Players whom you play against on a regular basis get familiar with your style of play so outplaying them or getting them to pay you off when you have a huge hand can be the equivalent of trying to break into a bank vault. One of the ways that I have been able to exploit one of these edges is when I am traveling out of town and get a chance to go to play Hold 'Em in a casino where I am the foreigner. I have always believed that if you have other card rooms within a decent traveling distance from where you live that it’s a good idea to play there every now and then. The players who are regulars at a place that you are visiting will not be as familiar with your playing style, so you may be able to get away things that you couldn't at a poker room that you regularly frequent. I usually am able to ascertain in the first hour who's tight or loose, and If I can get all of my chips in with the best hand and get paid off in the process.

I was traveling out of town one weekend during the joyous Christmas season to visit family. I decided to go to a little local card room that had 2 blackjack tables and 4 poker tables in the place. It was Christmas Eve so there was only one table going at 10pm. I convinced my wife to let me go play for awhile since we had all of the Christmas gifts wrapped up and the kids were in bed. I got to the 1/2 NL table that was going and bought in for $200. I wanted to establish the image that I was cash customer looking to buy what people were selling. I figured that if I came in too tight, people might be leery to call my bets. The people there were nice but I realized about 15 minutes into when I sat down after I my got chips that every single one of them was playing with scared money. There was one person that was a bit of the loose cannon but even he was trying to play from a damage control perspective. I knew that this table was pure profit if I could get a hand.

Less than hour in the game after I won $100 dollars with a set, I picked up Q 10 off suit in the BB. There was a live straddle on of $4 pre-flop and the pot was 4 way going to the flop. The flop came 8 Q 5 rainbow. I checked the flop and it was checked all the way to the button who fired $16. SB called and I called to keep from getting the pot too big since I didn't have a huge kicker, while the next player folded. At this point, I'm in check call mode the whole way, because I don't want to lead out and get raised. The turn card came a ten. So now I have top 2 pair and immediately I'm trying to figure out how to extract what I can from the button who led out on the flop. SB bet $30, I called, and the button raised to $60. SB folded and I'm trying to figure how I can get his last $80+ he had in the middle. I asked him how much he had left and he revealed what he had left. I thought about moving him all in right here but decided to just call. If he put me on a gut shot straight draw and decided that I got there on the turn that I might lose him. By calling I was hoping that he would think that I was still drawing. I was fairly comfortable that he had a big Queen (AQ, KQ) and that I may be able to get the rest of his chips in on the river and long as a fourth card for the straight didn't get there. The river blanked and I thought about my move for about 10 - 20 seconds. I moved my opponent all in. He seemed a little stunned by the move. He knew I didn't make a straight on the turn but he was still trying to figure out if and where he lost the hand. He finally called and saw that his AQ was beat. One player at the table asked, "Where did this guy come from?"

"He said he's just in town visiting," another player responded. To which, the player asking the question responded, "He may need to go back home. He's taking the table down." Oh, but I wasn't finished yet.

About a half hour later I picked up AJ offsuit in the BB and raised all of the limpers to $12. This is pretty much a standard pre-flop raise with the intention of getting heads up and then taking the pot down C-bet on the flop. However, with 3 players calling I switched my post flop protocol from C-bet and take it down to check fold. That all changed when I flopped trip Jacks (Jc Jh 8h). I said to myself "Yahtzee!" I'm hoping that someone has a pair at this point and will bet it to take the pot down. I knew that there is a small possibility that someone in this mashup could have pocket 8s and have flopped a house on me, but my hand is so strong and with no one else on the table having at most $100 while I’m up over $300 in profit, folding really isn’t an option. I just have to roll with the hand even if I get cooled. The first player bet $8, I called, the next player folded, the last player to act raised it up to $20, and then the first player who led out just called the $12 raise. When it got to me I was trying to put the pieces together as to who had what. I was thinking that the first player who led out and then called the raise either had a draw or a pair because the board was to dangerous for them to flat call a raise out of position with a made hand. The late position raiser had to at least have a pair (I even suspected that maybe she had an overpair to the board and was trying to trap me pre flop when I raised and now is in no man's land). I was hoping that she had a Jack and that I could get her last $90 in in bad shape. If she happened to have flopped eights full or Jacks full of eights, oh well that's poker.

If either opponent had a draw of any sort I wasn't going to let them see another card for cheap. Even though I was getting 8 to 1 to call at this point with a super strong hand, I felt that moving it all in was a much better play. I have such a strong hand here that if I could get either one of my opponent to get their money in and my hand holds up that I would still get 2 to 1 on my investment. 3 to 1 if both of them call. Either way, I wasn't going to let either of them draw unless they were willing to play all or nothing, so I raised it to $100. The original raiser looked at me and then almost in disgust threw their last $90 in the pot. My other opponent folded. My opponent who called turned over pocket Queens and almost got disgusted when they saw my trips. My opponent got up from the table and then said, "Well, thanks for taking my Christmas money." I didn't want to say anything to rub it in. They went over to their spouse and pointed me out as, "…the guy that took them for their last $100." (Side note to my opponent’s last comment: I never have and never will apologize for taking any or all of someone else’s money. Even if it’s money that they were playing with that they wanted or needed for something else.) I played for another half an hour and then racked up and left with a little 3 to 1 profit over my original buy in. It was nice to be the unknown and take the table down for a such a profit in less that two hours.

Table Talk - Watch Your Mouth

I have always been amazed how much of an expert people try to look like after a hand has been played. I listen to players reflect on what a players pot odds were, the number of outs that they had, why they “had” to call, or how they would have never folded the hand if they were in the same spot because the person playing the hand was pot committed when someone put them all in. Table talk like this is common. Many players like to show others what they know, or think that they know. At the same time, if this is something that you find yourself doing often, it can be the biggest leak in your game. When you broadcast to the whole table what your playing strategy would be, you are in essence giving your opponents free information to beat you.

Let’s face it even if you are a winning player you don’t have a lot of edges in the game of poker. So why would you give one of them away to your opponents on telling them what your playing strategy would be? Often we hear of poker compared to war in some fashion. If we opt to think along those lines then we could compare the information that we give to or gain about our opponents to military intel. If poker were like war why would you want to give the enemy any tactical advantage over you? Any information about the way you or your opponents play can be crucial. If you see two hearts on the flop, and an opponent has mentioned earlier that he’s more opt to raise any bet with the nut flush draw, and you happen to be holding a set at the time, it would be safe to say that you may be in position to get all of your opponents chips in the middle and potentially win a huge pot.

This is just my opinion, but I think the reason why many us (and I’m not excusing myself from this conversation, because I have been guilty of this as well) like to discuss playing strategy is ego driven. We make ourselves feel better and want to look like some form of a poker genius that no one at the table better try to cross. I’ve been one to want to show what I think is my mastery of the game to others with my so-called wisdom and knowledge. From a profitability standpoint this is probably one of the dumbest things that you can do as a poker player. There is really no tactical advantage to giving the opposition hints to your playing strategy.

I am a person who is always looking to improve his game. I like to get opinions and information about different forms of strategy from as many places and people as I can. This day and age the ability to tap into those discussion groups are only a click away on the Internet. I enjoy reading different opinions from people when someone posts a story about particular situations and asking group members about what they would do in that situation. It’s not that I believe that any of the opinions are wrong. I am more intrigued about how they came to the conclusion that they came to regarding the decision that they said that they would make. Talking strategy with opponents and fellow players you trust is a great way to improve your game but at the table during the game may not be the smartest thing.

This is why I myself am very careful about what I talk about at the poker table when it comes to strategy. In fact, one of the few people I ever discuss my game with and someone whose opinion I truly trust because I have seen that he has been a long term winner, pulled me aside one time and advised me that I was giving away too much valuable information at the table. He told me, “You have to remember, these people are trying to take your money. Why would you educate them on how to do it?” That was something that I have never forgotten to this day and I go out of my way to implement it. This is why I never show a hand when I make a big bet and someone folds. I know that a lot of poker players lie about what they had when they are playing, unless of course they show the hand. People who know me, know that I don’t believe that lying is right under any circumstances. I’m not saying I haven’t done it. I just don’t believe it’s right. I won’t even lie at the poker table about the hand I had even if I don’t show. Many times when people ask I don’t say anything. If they persist I just tell them, “I didn’t show it. Are you really gonna believe me if I tell you?” The bottom line is, there is no advantage in revealing information even after the hand is over.

On the other side of that coin I actually like talking to players at my local card room about strategy. However, I try to just sit and listen and let them do all of the talking. They sit and tell me countless stories of big hands that they won, how they played it preflop to the river, and I just soak it up. I am hopeful that I will end up sitting down at a no limit table with them at some time in the future and be able to use the information that they have given me to beat them. When you start bragging about how you would’ve played the hand differently, you are in essence giving everyone at the table tools to beat you. A number of players that I play with know that I went to a poker boot camp and ask me for advice all of the time. I have to keep things generalized to, “It depends on the situation, the table, the players, your stack size, all sorts of variables.” I tell them that I am still learning so I may not be the best person to ask advice from. The reality is that I don’t want to make them any better than what they already are.

Hero Folds

 The other night I realized that I might be on the verge of beginning to play poker at a higher level than before because I found myself getting rid of some big hands, and I mean some BIIIIIIIIIG HANDS, that in times past I don't believe I would have been good enough to lay down. One such hand while playing 2/2 NL I picked up Kings on the button. There was a straddle on for $4 and it's limped to the cutoff who min raises to $8. I re-raise to $36. Everyone folds back to the cutoff who thinks about it and then finally calls. At this point I put my opponent on AK down to Jacks at the absolute worst. If an ace or any broadway card hits the flop, I'm not putting one penny in the pot.

So the flop is perhaps the most disgusting flop I could ever see with A Q x rainbow. I didn't want an Ace. I didn't want another card above a 10, and I got both! My opponent makes a pot sized bet of $80. I thought I was going to puke.  I got up from the table, disgusted and just vented for a split second. I think it was safe to say that everyone at the table realized the hand that I was holding. I folded. A year previously, I don't know if I was good enough to lay that hand down, even on that type of flop. But the long term decision for the session as a whole was easy: be stubborn, go all in, and go broke in that spot, or save the $160 you have and keep playing. That fold kept me from having to re-buy and put me in a position to win a pot later that evening for over $400 and eventually go on to win just over $500 that night. In short, that earlier fold was worth approximately $500.

Trying to prove that you can’t be outplayed is not the mark of a good poker player. In fact, not folding hands where you are fairly certain that you are beat is a huge leak in your game that will cause you to hemorrhage off money. There are times when you have to pay a player off with a big hand. There are other times that when you are in the middle of the wrong battle it's better to just run away and come back to fight on another day. It's never fun to look at a big pile of chips while you are being put to a decision and envisioning those chips potentially being pushed in your opponent's direction. Letting go of what you may suspect is the second best hand though can be worth a lot of money during the long term of your poker career.

Cooler

A couple of days ago I got a chance to talk about a hand that may have been one of the best hands that I played in awhile. It was something that also gave me a great education and I’m hoping that everyone who reads this gets something meaningful out of it as well. I was playing in a 2/2 NL game and I had increased my chip stack from my initial buy in of $200 to just over $500 dollars. I was already on my second buy in for the day after getting stacked earlier. I picked up K♦ 8♦ on the button. When I’m in a later position I like to widen my range of hands a bit every now and then, especially if I have suited cards. Since I had a King that was suited I decided to raise and see if I could just take all of the dead money down or isolate someone, c-bet and just pick up the pot. Instead, I got 4 hitchhikers so I had to go to plan B; flop two pair, a flush draw, or fold. With an 8 kicker I wasn’t planning on playing a King that hits the flop with any aggression.

So, there’s $60 in the pot with 6 of us seeing the flop. The flop comes J♦ 6♥ 5♦. The flop gets checked all the way around to me. I bet $30 in hopes of taking the pot down. I start seeing people fold, which makes me happy. A player in middle position calls cold and everyone else folds. When the middle position player calls, the range of hands I put him on is a diamond draw. The way he was playing told me he wouldn’t draw to a straight with only 6 outs since two of his outs could still make a flush, so that’s where I had him at. The turn card comes a 9♥. At this point, the only hand I know that would still be ahead of me would be 7♦ 8♦. A lot of times I could just check here. I also feel that betting would be a good idea if my opponent is still drawing to a flush. If that’s the case, my best chance to win is to bet and take the pot down right there. That may not seem like the smartest move considering that my opponent may have a straight, but I decided that if he does make a move on me, that I could then decide if I wanted to fold or not. So I bet $50. My opponent starts thinking about what he wants to do and starts calculating the math for what is the right decision. He finally decides to call. This bet ends up being perhaps the most critical point of the hand which will become clear after the I explain how the hand plays out. On the river comes a 2♦. My plan if the diamond hit on the river was to check raise. I checked. I expected a value bet of about $50 to $70. Instead he surprised me with a bet of $150. It surprised me a bit but it gave me a reason to just get the rest of my chips in the middle of the pot, so I just decided to raise him all in. My opponent seemed a bit stunned for a second and then called. I turned over my hand just as he revealed that he had A♦Q♦ for the nuts. To say I was shocked was an understatement. It took me a minute to regain my focus and push the chips over my opponent’s way. I knew his hand range was in the area of a flush but it never even crossed my mind that he had AQ. Unlike most players, he didn’t raise before the flop so that wasn’t a hand I would suspect him having.

I talked to him after the hand was over and he was surprised that I was actually so willing, and gracious in defeat, to want to talk to him about the strategy that we both were utilizing in the hand. The turn bet I made of $50 was the key to him getting to the river. The only reason he called was because he was still drawing to the nuts with 3 to 1 pot odds. He said that he only stayed with the hand because he was drawing to the nuts. If he had a smaller flush draw of any sort he would have folded. Had I made a pot sized bet of $100, he said he calling would have been much tougher. A bet of that size tells him that I have a set and with only 9 outs to make his hand, is too much money. Because of the Jack on the flop, he felt that I only had a pair of Jacks and believed that he could still improve his hand with any diamond and the other 6 Aces or Queens left in the deck. So in his mind, those six extra outs made him only about a 3 to 1 underdog with the river to come.

This is where the $50 bet on the turn kept him in the pot and may have ultimately played a role in upending my hand. Bet sizing is extremely critical when you start playing for pots that are valued at over 50 blinds. Equally important is having knowledge of the range of hands that your opponent could have and that can beat you if the river hits. This is probably where I screwed up.  My range of hands for him was dead on. But it never occurred to me that he could have been drawing to the nuts. If you put someone on a range of hands to have to make it as wide as possible to the best possible hand, especially if it’s a hand in that range that can beat you. This loss was a hard one, but it was a very valuable lesson. One that cost me a lot of money. It is one that I am not bound to make again.

Tilt

Over the last couple of weeks through some different poker groups that I am affiliated with, I have been seeing and hearing many comments and questions about the subject of tilt. Many have had questions or their own definitions about what it exactly is, how do you know if you’re on tilt, and just as importantly how to avoid it. I think tilt has so many layers to it so I believe it’s vitally important to understand it’s nature because it is perhaps the most destructive force to a poker player’s earnings and bankroll.

In order to face tilt and combat it head on we have to have an understanding of what it is. Many of us think of tilt as a player steam betting or raising after losing a big pot to a suck out, berating a bad player at the table for their horrible play, foaming at the mouth and wanting to shred the dealer to pieces because they can’t win a pot, etc. But none of these things are tilt. These actions, attitudes, and emotions are all the fruits of tilt. Getting upset and being on tilt are two different things. A player can be upset yet make the correct decisions on the next hand as to how to play. Albeit, it is a more complicated task when emotions and tensions are high, but it can be done. At it’s core, tilt has a very simplistic definition. It is simply the act of playing worse than what you are capable of. To go on tilt means that your play has deteriorated in some way where you are no longer playing your “A” game. 

I have heard players, many times, mention how the result of a certain hand or the play of a particular opponent has put them on tilt. Their comments will be along the lines of, “If that card on the river hadn’t been that suit, my hand would have been good,” or, “How did he call that big bet on the turn for a four outer?”, or, “That player is such a moron. I know I am a better player than they are. They just keep sucking out and getting lucky. I’m going to get them back before the night is over. Then they’ll know to watch out when they play against me,” and a myriad of other asinine statements. After these situations occur they start to play worse than what they are capable of. When they go broke and storm out of the casino, swearing that they have had it with the game of poker and the casino that they lost at, they will focus back on those individual instances as to why they had a bad night. 

Even though these are good excuses for getting upset, they are nothing more than that. Excuses. This may seem a little critical, and I know that what I am about to say is welcoming criticism, but any disciplined player that reads this will know that this next statement is fundamentally sound. If you go on tilt is of no one’s fault but your own. No matter what the results are of certain hands that didn’t go favorably for you, no one forces you to go on tilt. Tilt is a personal decision and choice, plain and simple. You are only responsible for the decisions that you make at the poker table. Yes, you are a subject to the randomness of the cards that come out. However, no one can put a gun to your head and tell you to call a pre-flop raise with a hand that you know you should throw away. Your opponents may have the ability to antagonize you in an attempt to get you to play more hands than you should, but if you take the bait, that’s your fault. 

So how do we keep ourselves from going on tilt and if we do start leaning that way, how do we keep it from hurting our game. One of the things that we have to accept is that all of us have tilted in the game at one time or another. Anyone who has tried to say that they have never tilted either hasn’t played poker, or is a liar. Everyone who has ever sat down at a poker table has made a decision at one time or another that they knew went against what they consider their fundamentals of correct play. Remember, anything that you do that is less than your “A” game is tilt. However, the levels of tilt can vary and the consequences can be far less disastrous than others. None of us ever wants to admit that we aren’t playing well, and it takes swallowing a lot of pride to look at ourselves and say, “I really stunk it up when I played those hands that way.” Recognizing that you have tilted off of your best game and catching it is a huge level of maturity for a player, and that type of maturity is one of the elements that separates the winning players from the losers.

Heart vs. Head

Let me preface this article by saying that the poker mechanics that I am talking about here and in a majority of the articles that I post are in regards to cash poker games. Cash games are more of my element over tournament poker so some of the comments that I make may not have the same relevance. I have continually chided that to tournament and live poker are two different species of game.

I hear poker players make a common excuse for a hand that they lose and why they lost. They make a call to a big bet, knowing that they are behind in a hand (and I mean waaaaaaaay behind with horrendous odds), they lose the hand, and they say something along the lines of, “I really didn’t want to call but,....” Now that’s the first problem right there. They have their buts in the way. Those are some of the biggest buts you’ll ever see in your life. When you say but you change everything that you said before it.

I think poker players have a bad tendency to make betting decisions with their heart and not with their head. The chips that are in the middle of the pot are screaming, “Come get me if you dare,” yet they have the most horrendous odds of making the winning hand and they call just hoping to get lucky. The end results of these decisions usually go the way that the player figured that they would and I can usually hear them walking away from the table mumbling to themselves about how badly that they played and they knew it, or how much they hate the game and will never set foot in the casino again.

I remember a session when I was playing 1/3 NL and I picked up 89 hearts in the cutoff and I find myself seeing the flop with 3 other opponents. The flop comes J♥ 10♦ Q♥. First player to act bets $50 into a pot of $64 and the next player folds. With a straight already in my hand, a redraw for a flush, and one other opponent behind me waiting to act, the last thing I want to do if he a King in his hand is to give him the opportunity to catch the Ace that he needs to beat me; at least not at a cheap price. I figure my best chance to win the hand is to move it all in right here. My feeling in that situation is that if someone already has AK and flopped the absolute joint, I can pay him off, and gladly so because at least I know that I got my chips in the middle with a made hand, and I have good pot odds to hit a flush for a winner. If he has a King and is drawing then I can gamble for a big pot with the advantage going to the river. The player behind me folded and the initial bettor calls. He has pocket Kings. He picks up a King on the turn to make a set, but the the board doesn’t pair on the river and the pot moves my way.

The call by my opponent (even though it was what I wanted) was a bit baffling to me. He was getting a return of just over even money in a situation where he was just over a 3 to 1 underdog. Remember, there were only $64 in the pot going to the flop. He had $185 left. When our other opponent folded, the most he was going to get was $185 of my chips. I knew he was behind once he thought about calling, and I gave him some good fold equity to just throw his hand away. I knew he wasn’t looking at it that way mathematically at the time. I don't think he could let himself consciously leave that much money in the pot with a pair of Kings in his hand. He even admitted to me later, while we both happened to take a break at the same time, that he suspected that I flopped a monster but he just couldn’t let the hand go.

When you let emotions start making your decisions on what to do versus making a decision based on what you know is right, that’s a huge leak. It’s one that can and will cost you an enormous amount of money over the long haul. In fact, it will ultimately make you a losing player. Your heart and emotions have absolutely no effect of what cards are going to come out of the deck because the cards don’t recognize what you’re feeling. If you’re beat and you either suspect or know it, the best advice is to throw the hand away. Some will take nothing away from what I’m saying and that’s okay. Believe me, if you continue to do what isn’t working for you your opponents won’t mind that you have refused to change when they are going to the cashier’s cage and counting what used to be your chips, again.

Escaping a Poorly Set Trap

Even though my profession of being in sales can take me out of town and away from home for a day or two at a time, every now and then I may find a place to to play a little poker and be able to unwind and make a little extra money as well. A few months back I found myself in that exact situation for a couple of days and I was able to find a place in town to play some poker during the evening. I lost one hand where I got all of my chips in the middle on the turn with a straight, but got drawn out on by a flush and had to re-buy. After utilizing some patience during that second buy-in I finally came across a hand that got me back ahead thanks to a crucial mistake made by one of my opponents.

The game was 2/2 No Limit. I'm in the cutoff, which is one seat before the button and I pick up A9 of hearts. UTG raises to 8 and everyone calls. With $70 in the middle going to the flop, I know that if I don’t hit a big flop I have to get away from the hand. Otherwise I may find myself chip committed to a pot with a marginal hand and get felted again. I had already decided that no matter what, I was not reloading again that evening.

Flop: 10h As 8h. It’s checked to the middle position player who bets $20. I call. SB calls. Turn card: 4c. SB checks. Middle position bets $30. Most people wouldn't give a bet like this a second thought, however for me an alarm goes off in my head. I’m trying to figure out why his bet is so small. $30 into a pot of $130 almost has the same value as a check in my opinion. With 5 to 1 pot odds, I wouldn't even expect anyone with top pair and a marginal kicker to fold. I'm really trying to ascertain what my opponent is doing here. To me, this was the critical point in the hand. I look over and see that my opponent has about $100 left so I call. SB calls as well. River card: 3h. SB checks. Middle position goes all in and I instantly call. SB folds. My opponent turns over pocket 8s for a set, as I flip over the nuts. He didn’t say anything accept, “Nice hand,” as he stood up to go to the ATM to reload.

Had he not bet so small on the turn and would have forced me to have to call by going all in for his last $100 it would have been a much harder call for me to make. He gave me such huge pot odds to chase my flush, which was only helped out more by my other opponent who called, that I had the right price to pay to see the river. I suspected on the turn that he had at worst two pair on the turn. When the hand was over, I suspected that because he had a set, he was trying to bet small enough to trap players and keep them in the hand. In the end it backfired. I ended up finishing ahead slightly for the evening, cashed out my chips, went back to my hotel, and went to bed.

What To Do When You're Card Dead

The other day I was playing in small stakes No Limit Hold ‘Em ($2 for both the small and big blind). I noticed an unusual phenomena that I hadn’t experienced, at least from the perspective of when I’ve been playing well. During about six hours of play I was involved in only 11 pots of over 180 hands that were dealt when I wasn’t in the blind. For me that’s a very low percentage. I won 2 of those hands for a gain of a total of only $12. 8 of the hands I either made a raise or called a pre-flop raise but whiffed on the flop and wasn’t able to go to the fourth and fifth street. The last hand, I was short stacked, pushed pre-flop, got beat, and that was all she wrote. What I experienced with the lack of playable hands is something that every poker player goes through at one time or another. It’s called being card dead. 

One of the most frustrating things for a player is to consistently be dealt playable hands only to whiff on the flop and not be able to go further. Even more frustrating is to muck hand after hand after hand because you continually getting hand like K3, J6, and of course everyone’s favorite, 7-2 over and over again. When you are continually having to throw hands away pre-flop or you are able to get some chips in but then can’t play beyond the flop, a player can get the feeling that they have a bit of a bleeding problem that they can’t stop.

It’s difficult to put a number on the percentage of hands that you should play. Most statistics that I have read show that the common tight player may will have a range of hands where they play anywhere from 10 - 20% of the hands that they are dealt. Players that are known to be more loose are known to play 30 - 50% of the hands that are dealt. I consider myself a fairly tight aggressive player and would say that I end up playing one hand every time time the button comes around. For me, I know that two hands or more that is played in a single orbit is a lot. The percentages that I mentioned are not numbers that have to be followed to the letter in order to be a successful player. There are days where you may have more playable hands than normal and other days where it seems as if playable hole cards are avoiding you like the plague.

So what happens and what do you do when the deck seemingly turns into a mortuary on you? No one who plays poker likes to keep throwing cards and chips away. There are two simple ways to overcome this problem. One is to just be patient until you wake up with a hand. This is a discipline that many have a difficult time following, especially when it a game with a lot of action. They want to get in the middle of it. Even though this is harder to do than it seems, and the temptation is overwhelming to want to get your money in the middle, there is a greater profit that can be gained by being a casual observer. Even though you aren’t in the hands, your opponents still are. During these times you should be observant as to what is going on at the table. Look at player betting patterns, look for tells, and maybe even more importantly, look at what players are displaying at showdown. This type of information is free and it can pay huge dividends later when you in a situation to take down a big pot. 

One of the problems with waiting for the pre-flop monster is that you may not get any action when you do raise. Not all players are complete morons. If they see that you haven't played a hand in 5 rounds, you haven't been talking to anyone, and now you suddenly raise, chances are they'll let you scoop the limper bets for virtually no gain. I think this is why many players will lean on the second alternative which is to start opening up and playing whatever two cards come to your hand and outplay your opponents after the flop. This is a mixed bag idea in my opinion and I more than believe it has it's place in poker. It's been the alternative, however, that I have seen tip two ways for players. One, there are times when a game is extremely tight and a player is able to raise preflop, make a continuation bet on the flop, and take the pot down uncontested. This type of strategy works for aggressive players that have a tendency to observe the weakness of people playing with scared money at the table, and they exploit it. Two, and more often than not, I've seen it cost people more money than what they have won. In fact, usually the end result can be disastrous. A player feels that they aren’t getting playable hands, they feel that they have to force the issue and start making tricky plays or big bluffs to take down a pot. They keep committing chips to a pot where the opponent isn't backing down. They find themselves digging their own grave, all while their opponents are more than happy to help lead them into the ground. 

Never think that just because you have great skill at poker that players with less skill can't sense if you are on tilt. No one likes being stuck in a game. If you pick the wrong time to get creative and run into a monster hand, you put yourself into a position to start chasing losses and to lose more money. I have personally seen this lead to players to losing their entire bankroll in a single night! 

One of the most disciplined things that you can do is to remember that each deal is a separate situation. Four hours of no hands to play has no effect on what is face down on the felt at the time a new hand is dealt. I’ve been both sides of the scale with a cold deck where I either utilized patience or blew through a good chunk of my bankroll unnecessarily. The second option was a painful financial mistake that I will not let myself go through again. I’d rather feel the frustration of sitting, observing, and waiting to get in the action than to go home broke after losing my buy-in because I was reckless and stupid.