For various reasons it's been a while since I've played any poker. Last night I went back on my favourite poker site, PKR, and played a single table tourney. It seems Lady Luck is miffed that I've been ignoring her...

Since I knew I was out of practice I went into careful, tight play mode, waiting for the right moment. Unfortunately I was dealt nothing but rubbish. Not a starting pair in sight, not even a decent Ace. Finally I picked up A-Q suited in good position and shoved - only to run smack into pocket rockets! And to add insult to injury the final Ace turned up in the flop. Grr...

To paraphrase Brad Majors (a hero):

"Hospitality! All I wanted was to win a hand, a reasonable request which you have chosen to ignore."

Photo Credit: Photo-Mojo (Creative Commons)

Labels: general

2008 is now well and truly upon us, so Happy New Year to everyone. I hope you've recovered from the Hogmanay celebrations!

I don't do New Year Resolutions - they're just excuses to fail. (Everyone knows we all break our resolutions). What I do like to do is planning - and this is a good time for some.

So, what's the plan for 2008? How can I improve my poker?

The first step in looking forwards is to look back. From a skill level of "useless" I've become "poor with occasional good moments". I consider that a success. When I'm on a roll I can play quite well, but when out of practice I fall back into old bad habits very quickly.

I've learned that I'm a better tournament player than a cash one. The need to change strategy as the game progresses and the blinds rise appeals to me and I seem quite good at that aspect.

So those two observations provide two actions for 2008. The first is, of course, to play more poker. That probably applies to everyone.

More importantly I need to play more tourneys. Even though I prefer them I've played very few. This is because - if you do well - they take up several hours or more. You can't just say "I'll play poker for an hour". Unfortunately that's what I've tended to do - with the result that I've been playing more cash games than I should.

Of course, playing more tourneys means planning ahead and allocating the time for them. Which means I now need to go away and start planning the rest of my life...



Photo Credit: photojenni (Creative Commons)

Labels: general, improving my game

In poker as with many other games of skill the strategy that works against one opponent may not work against another. More generally the strategy that works against one style of play may not work against another. This leads to an interesting effect whereby we can sometimes see "waves" of strategy.

When I started playing poker fairly seriously I read lots of books. Most were at least a few years old and almost universally recommended tight aggressive play. It's still a good way to play. However increasingly we're seeing a new generation of players who are doing well with looser aggressive play. It seems that when everyone at the table is playing tight aggressive there's an advantage in being looser.

So what happens when everyone at the table is playing loosish aggressive? Where will the spin of the strategy wheel take us next time? Two years from now will we all be playing loose passive?

I hope not.



Photo Credit: kk+ (Creative Commons)

Labels: general, strategy

I've just been reading an interview with Bill Edler in Bluff Magazine. In it he comments that there is "tons more" luck in tournament poker than in cash games.

As a great tourney fan I was all ready to get offended by this. Tournament and cash games need different skills, but they're both just as skillful. Then I got to this line:

"Until science significantly elongates human life, tournament players will never reach the long run."

I've got to admit, he has a point.

Poker is a mix of luck and skill. In the short run anyone can get lucky. Ace-two off can beat pocket rockets. But in the long run skill wins.

If you play cash games you can just keep on playing, hand after hand, repeating similar situations again and again. You can reach a pretty long run view of the game in which your skill level really matters.

It's more difficult to do that in tournaments. There just aren't as many around. It's rare if not impossible for a player to bust out of one tournament then immediately play in another. Then another. Then another.

Even if they do, they will be starting from the early stages again. Tournament play requires different skills throughout the different stages - play at the final table is very different to play at the first blind levels. Even people who play nothing but tourneys are unlikely to see enough final tables to count as the "long run".

So what do I do now with that insight? Does it mean I should give up tournaments as pure gambling?

No. What it means to me is that I should play more tournaments in order to get as close as possible to the "long run".

Photo Credit: dicemanic (Creative Commons)

Labels: general, poker

I said I was out of practice and last night at the Nuts proved it - my game didn't last long.

By the second blind level my stack was already running dangerously short. I was dealt A-10 in late position. Everyone folded round to me and I made a standard bet. Dealer called and big blind checked, leaving three of us in the pot. Flop was rags and big blind made a small bet which we both called. Turn came down an Ace, big blind bet about half the pot.

With my short stack I wasn't going to call - it was fold or all-in. I put the big blind on either Ace-rags or a total bluff so pushed all in.

Turned out he'd slow played A-K. No help from the river so I was out.

Sigh. Still, at least I have the satisfaction of being able to say I told me so :-)


Photo Credit: clspeace (Creative Commons)

Labels: general, hands

For various reasons I haven't played much poker over the last few weeks. This evening I'm going down the The Nuts so I thought I'd get in a bit of practice online at PKR.

Oh boy. I was a braying fish.

I lost at every table I tried. I can't even blame lady luck - I just played badly. Fortunately I follow the poker prime directive, so no serious harm has been done to my bankroll. Just my pride.

Still, let's look for the positive reframe. If being out of practice means I play badly then it follows that the practice must have been working. My game must be improving overall. Four months ago I'd have lost far more and wouldn't even have known why.

Which is a good incentive to keep practising and keep learning.

Labels: general, improving my game

Before playing poker online I always try to get in at least a short session on the PS2. I've found that this gives me a fairly reliable idea of how my luck is running. Am I in for a good day where all the cards fall my way? Or is it "one of those days" where nothing will go right for me and I'm better off not risking real money?

My virtual bankroll is acting as a canary down the poker mine shaft. If it sings sweetly then I know all is well. If it chokes, falls over and dies then bad luck is in the air.

This should, of course, be nonsense. My luck on the PS2 and my luck on PKR are totally independent. Yet (without having done a rigourous statistical analysis) I'm convinced it works. Why?

Because hot and cold streaks are real.

However they're about a lot more than just the cards. Much as I might hate to admit it, my cold streaks are largely my own fault even though they look like luck.

Poker hands rarely come down 7-2 off suit or pocket aces, they're usually somewhere in between. Deciding how to play a hand is a mixture of conscious analysis and subconscious "instinct" developed over many hours of play. Most decisions we make during the game are marginal - if our poker instinct is off then a hot streak can become a cold one very quickly. Maybe other players have more self-awareness than me, but in my case I know my brain often interprets a run of bad decisions as a run of bad beats.

So my cold streaks are real and what seems to me to be a frozen deck is often a clue that I'm not on form. I've learned to listen to my poker canary and either continue playing on the PS2 until it starts "singing" or give poker a miss for the day.

Labels: general, poker

It's now two months since I started playing poker online for real money at PKR, so it's a good time to take a step back and see how things are going.

Initially I only played tournaments and sit 'n' gos. I've since expanded my play to ring games. I still prefer tourneys, it's just that I rarely have enough time to invest. There's no point starting a tournament hoping to get knocked out before your playing window closes! Initially my ring game play was awful and I'd usually lose my buy-in, but I've improved considerably.

The bottom line of course is my bankroll. How has this fared? Well it's currently about 10% higher than when I started. That's not enough for me to class as an ace but definitely better than a deuce! I'm pleasantly surprised that I've had two months of play for free, even a small profit is an unexpected bonus. And given that I'm still very much a newbie it makes me think there's hope for me yet.

So it's onwards and - hopefully - upwards.

Labels: general, poker

Am I the only one who suffers from "straight blindness"? I hate to think how often I've lost a big pot because I didn't even notice a possible straight developing. It's probably one of the worst leaks in my poker.

Hopefully it's not just me who has this problem. It would seem logical that straights are somehow more difficult to see than other hands. Pairs, trips etc are about matching values, flushes are about matching suits. Straights however involve sets of different numbers which may have different suits. It's a more complex pattern to match.

There's probably a project in there for some cognitive science student. As for me I'm going to try and consciously remember to stop and look for straights until the patterns are fully burned into my brain.

Labels: general, improving my game, poker

Since I openly admit my poker failures I think it's only fair that I'm allowed to brag about my occasional successes: Last night I entered an online tournament and from the field of 246 ended up in 3rd place! Yippee!

This being a money game, I won around 25 times by buy-in as a prize for 3rd place. Given the micro-stakes at which I play that doesn't come to much but that's not the point. To manage that result after only about two months of serious play makes me very happy.

Unfortunately it's probably still a little early to retire and write my memoirs.

Labels: general, poker

Last night at The Nuts I witnessed the most amazing example of beginner's luck. One of the people there hadn't played poker before and only came along because she was visiting one of the regulars. Despite this, she managed to personally take down at least six players!

The "best" moment came when one player went all in with A-Q. She called with 5-6 suited... and managed to hit three sixes and claim another scalp.

She reached the final table of 8 from the starting field of 30, finally going out in position 6. What makes it especially galling is that I went out in position 7...

Labels: general, nuts, poker

I'm not normally a fan of suited connectors, however one of my favourite hands is Ace-Deuce suited.

It probably doesn't make sense statistically. I haven't done the numbers, but I'd guess that compared to any other suited connectors the advantage of having the Ace is outweighed by only having one straight draw instead of four. So why do I like the hand?

I think it's largely psychological. I know I can be happy with either a very low or very high flop, plus I've got outs in the form of a possible flush draw. It feels like I've got more options than with ordinary suited connectors, even if the probabilities don't support that.

It also confuses opponents, I don't think anybody has ever put me on A-2s. Ace-Deuce suited makes a great instrument of psychological warfare. Nothing beats the look on the opponent's face when I take them down with it.

Above all else, I think A-2s is simply fun to play - and having fun is one of my main reasons for playing poker.

Labels: general, hands, poker

When starting something new it's always worth being aware of your motives. Otherwise you won't know whether you're succeeding or whether you're off course. It's difficult to steer without knowing where you're going.

So I sat down to think about why I play poker. It struck me that there are four main motives that are probably common to most people. I call these the "Four 'F's".

• Fame
  Poker may not yet be the next rock 'n' roll but it's getting that way. As the popularity of the game increases and TV coverage expands this trend is likely to grow. Being a TV poker player is a route to fame for those who would like to be a celebrity but are disadvantaged by possessing talent.
  
  
• Fortune
  Poker's about winning money, make no mistake. With no real money at stake there's no real game. So, is the money your primary motivation? Are you playing poker to get rich?
  
  
• Friends
  Poker is a great social game, whether it be a regular beer-fuelled session with friends or meeting new people at a poker club. This is something that online poker currently lacks to a large degree, however it's getting there as sites such as PKR add human features to the online game.
  
  
• Fun
  Fun comes in a lot of shapes and forms, many people would say that becoming rich and famous is fun! Here I'm talking about the fun of the game itself rather than the benefits of winning.

So where do I stand on this list of motives? Very definitely on the "fun" and "friendship" end - which is probably why I play on PKR rather than some of the more well-known sites.

Yes, I'd like to get rich playing the game - but I'm realistic enough to realise that's not likely to happen. At least not for a while. If I just wanted money the best strategy would be to grind away at the limit tables using poker assistant software to tell me when to bet. That would be no fun.

As to fame... no thank you. I come from the generation before the urge to be "on television" became society's number one driving force. If I were to appear on a televised poker show I'd probably want to do a Kendo Nagasaki!

Labels: general, poker

Well that was a bad weekend for poker. I didn't finish in the money once either in tourneys or sit & gos. Some of it was bad beats, much was simple bad play. Rather than grumble I'm going to treat it as a learning experience - why did I do so badly? Why did I lose?

I can think of two reasons. The first is that I had a lot of other things going on. Things I should have been doing, things I wanted to be doing, things I was thinking about doing. The result was that my mind was wandering.

The second reason is, ironically, that I've been reading too much about poker. In particular I'm reading the excellent Killer Poker Online, Vol. 2 by John Vorhaus. In the long run this book will definitely help my game, but in the short term I'm concentrating too much on thinking about the concepts in the book rather than internalising them into my play.

So, two main reasons for my poor play this weekend. Which are in fact exactly the same reason: not concentrating on the game in front of me.

Lesson learned.

Labels: general, improving my game, poker

Apologies if this post seems a bit preachy - it's aimed as much at me as at anyone else.

The first rule of any game involving money is simple:

Never bet more than you can afford to lose

Usually I prefer "guidelines" to "rules", but for me that is a cast-iron rule. In fact I like to go further and say:

Never bet more than you can comfortably afford to lose

Anything can become addictive, especially if - like me - you have a slightly obsessive personality. Poker is especially dangerous because of its alluring combination of luck and skill, risk and reward.

Even if you think you're on to a "sure thing", don't risk what you can't afford to lose. If you keep betting on 99% certainties then you will lose one day.

What about holding the nuts, is it safe to risk excessive loss then? It might be if you're a person who never, ever gets anything wrong. In the heat of the moment we can overlook things and in our desire to win can see what we want to see. More than once I've been surprised by a hand I simply didn't see coming.

It's not just money either. Even if you control your financial losses, there are other potential costs. If you're coming home from work and playing poker until 3AM, will you be any good at your job the next day? Will you even be fit to drive safely? If you're spending all your free hours at the online poker tables, what will happen to your relationships and your social life? If you stop going to the gym and live on pizza, what will happen to your health?

Poker is a game of control and the most important thing to control is yourself.

Labels: general, poker