Poker and Personality – Revelations

To hone poker skills, I have recently started reading books about the logic and history of poker and getting involved with ‘free bar poker’. There is a striking similarity among most of the poker literature, i.e. there is no easy way to win money, even if there is one….poker is definitely not it. On the contrary, if you are too casual about poker you can definitely help yourself to bankruptcy. Similar to any other game, poker deals with skills, especially with skills of knowing your cards, knowing your position and reading your opponent. The good news is that these skills can be learned and mastered with a certain effort. I don’t think knowing math, game theory or advanced statistics would really help coz at the end theories always revolve around the winners, who happen just to know how to do it. It is purely for academic purposes that we tend analyze and over analyze playing ability of a ‘pro’.

Gist of my observations and literature review, a tournament can be divided into three stages (about 40-50 people/5-6 tables) i.e. early stages, middle stages and final table. Each stage is distinctly different from others and needs a different mindset. There is tons of available literature on how to play during these stages and I would recommend reading Harrington’s or Brunson’s book for learning more about it. What is missing is these books are your mindset during those phases. This blog is to help beginner to intermediate poker players to understand the basic mindsets.

During early phase, be relaxed and have an open mind about people. Early stages are the first four blind raises. During early stage, the blinds are small; more people want to see the flop, some aggressive players and ‘suck outs’ take good hands. Follow the order cards……position….opponent. Poker is the last place where you want preconceived notions about a player on that particular day. BE PATIENT and seldom bluff. This is time where you can really establish your table image. This is the stage where you can gauge your table and opponents for a very cheap price. Firstly, play premium hands, secondly play by position. If you are only 2-3 positions away from big blind (in a 9 player table) you raise with a strong hand any hand not worthy of a raise should be strongly considered for a fold. There is no limping at these positions if you don’t have the right cards you ‘fold’. If you are under the gun or small blind you can limp in with a ‘call’. If you are big blind with marginal hand you ‘check’. if there is no raise during the round and only three people are involved in the game, you raise with a good hand (suited connectors or small pair). Well, these are only recommendations, as you keep playing you are bound to get more creative, both your play style and your mindset. Mantra: “A tight player with loose tongue is much better than loose player with a tight tongue”

During middle stages try to steal a few pots with your earlier image. Follow the order cards…opponent…..position. Notice that the difference between the early stage and middle stage is the shift in ranking between opponent and position. Since you have already established a table image and have taken mental notes on players, now you can play the player with your hand rather than the flop. During early stages, you have identified players and their playing pattern. Try to build momentum during middle phase, which doesn’t mean winning lot of pots, but winning few good pots. Try not to get involved in hands that don’t give you pot odds. This phase requires lot more attention to betting patterns and hands being dealt on the board. If possible get an energy drink and stay focused. As soon as it is down to 12 or so players you need to push the ‘gas pedal’ hard and get into the top 5-6 position. If you are already in number one position, take time to read other peoples game. It costs about 1.5 times big blind for every 9 hands/ (roughly about 30 minutes of game time).Time is worth more to you at this stage and that 30 minutes could well push you into MONEY. Mantra: “Chip and a Chair”- don’t bet all your chips with second best hand.

Once you reached the final stages and have avoided the suck-outs, you are in for good game. The final stages begin when the field is reduced to 2 (from initial 5-6 tables) tables. Take a small break and have some light conversation other than poker with other players. Look around, these are the players you will be playing in long run. In final stages you will see/encounter more bluffs, weak calls and bad beats. At this stage follow the order position, opponent and cards. All your hard work in the earlier stages to build your image will pay you off, this is definitely time to change a gear or two and induce “semi-bluffs” as you game strategy. You will seldom see more than 3 players getting involved in a hand. Some players just steal blinds while others are very patient. Get your full focus on the game. If you snooze even for one minute, the chances are that you will lose a big stack of chips. Right about where the money starts to come, people play really tight, your mindset should be to be “Very tight and aggressive” with big stack guys and “tight and aggressive” with low stack guys. If two big stack guys are playing this is the best part to learn about their cards and reactions that too with no cost for you. When you are not in hand, try to put your best guess on the opponents hand and simulate the hand play in your mind. The best way to approach a tournament is to build your attention span during the entirety of the tournament. With sporadic and distracted attention during the early stages to very vigilant on final table. If breathing techniques help you I highly recommend that you put them to use when you are not in a hand. Finally, I want to repeat myself “there is no easy way to win money, even if there is one poker is definitely not it”. It is a game and you MUST treat your play time with respect.