Size really matters ... at #Poker

Please don’t let the title confuse you, this short article is about poker and will take a closer look at various aspects of the daily grind that involve ”size”. Even though it might look pretty simple on first sight and appears easy to learn, it still takes a lifetime to master this fascinating card game and you will only be able to gain and maintain an edge over your opponents if you consistently work on your game and poker education.

The main goal is getting as much knowledge as possible about all different aspects of the game and short term success might not be able to compensate a long term loss. It is a matter of sample size to determine if you can beat the competition already or if you are currently on an upswing within a few hundred hands. Obviously it is by far easier to track this progress at online poker, since there are several tracking programs to help instead of depending on your own memory at the live poker tables.

But why is sample size that important? It gives you a basic understanding of your performance and the consistency and with the help of tracking programs, you can analyze your game and find leaks that you would have otherwise barely noticed. Because otherwise a different size might take over control and that is the size of the ego. If you don’t analyze your game and try to find leaks, you don’t know for sure how profitable you actually played or if you missed out some equity in different situations.

Don’t get me wrong, ego and personality at the tables are important and it helps a lot when you have confidence in your game. But emotions should never fully take over control because in this case, you will most likely not be able to make the most logical decision. Sometimes you have to listen to your gut feeling, but don’t let trash talk and prejudices have any say when you need to decide whether you want to fold, call or raise. 

Another size is more of a basic when it comes to poker: the size of the pot. Especially at Pot Limit games it indicates how much you can raise if you are still active in the hand. Even though No Limit Texas Hold’Em is the most popular poker type, games such as Pot Limit Omaha are slowly catching up in popularity and it becomes more and more important to master this aspect of the game as well.

The pot size should already be a very common aspect of the game, because it can also determine if you will still get called on a value bet on the river or not. Finding the right betting size is a fundamental criterion and you have to find the right balance, because you don’t want to scare off a potential customer that will pay you off on a premium hand. On the other hand you also don’t want to give away any odds for other players that are still involved in the hand to jump in and see a cheap flop, turn or river.

Bankroll management (BRM) should give you an indication what size of your bankroll you can risk without causing too much damage if you end up losing. It might reduce the potential win as well, but you should not underestimate the important of the safety aspect. Even if you end up losing a portion of your budget, you can still come back in the next session and at tournament poker, a good fold is better than a bad call as well. 

Another important aspect that involves size is the stack size, be it in tournament or cash play. The deeper you sit in a game, the more options you have to make moves and plays that you could normally not afford or push through due to not enough fold equity. You can play big pots in position or just push out short stacks on the bubble, a gamble here and there doesn’t hurt your stack as much and in general you can take more risks and get away with it or paid off big time.

The more we learn about this card game, the more we realize that we might not know as much as we think we already did. But that is just another motivation to consistently work on the game and always approach situations on and off the tables with an open mind. Sometimes we have to trust our gut feeling, or think twice before making a decision.

Poker offers a lot of challenges and lessons in every hand that we play, but if is always up to us if we are willing to learn from it or not. It is a question of dedication and how much time, efforts and money we want to invest to improve and standing still doesn’t increase the odds that we will be more successful. 

One last thing: What came to your mind at first when you saw the title of this entry? Be honest and you will get an idea how open minded you really are, this will also help you at the tables as well.

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Pot Limit Omaha - The thinking game

On first glance Omaha seems to be Hold’em x 2 and you get 4 hole cards instead of 2, but this attitude and mindset is the worst thing you can do when approaching a new game type. Whilst Omaha becomes more and more popular, most still don’t know how to play and don’t take the necessary time to read basic strategy. Omaha, same as other types such as Seven Card Stud, require a lot more attention and thinking to consistently beat the game and maintain an edge over the opponents.

The first and most important rule you have to keep in mind might be simple and most experienced Omaha players would laugh about it, but while you can use both hole cards at Hold’em but don’t necessarily have to, there is a difference at Omaha. You HAVE TO use exactly two out of the four hole cards, it doesn’t matter which ones though as long as you use two to build the best hand with 3 of the other 5 community cards on the board.

Starting Hand Selection:

Since Omaha is considered a drawing game, you always want to play starting hands where you draw to the nuts or where you have multiple draws to hit. Off suit pairs might appear strong, but in fact you only have 4 outs to improve your hand and still can’t be sure that you have the best hand. You might be in front preflop or on the flop, but there are quite a few draws that can beat you on later streets. 

Examples of decent starting hands would be a high pocket pair with suited connectors, in that case you would for example have - you have 2 nutflush draws and additionally 2 straight draws as well. Obviously you can’t always wait for such premium starting hands and they are no guarantee that you will win the hand, but it is always recommended to play with multiple draws to increase your odds to improve your hand postflop.

Hand Strength:

At Hold’em, a pair of Aces is the best starting hand and this is obviously also the case for Omaha, but the value of the hand also depends on the backdraws. Most overplay high pocket pair at Omaha simply because they expect to be good still, they go into coinflips preflop and wonder why they lose against someone that called the all in with suited connectors. 

You should always ask yourself at any point during the hand where you are at and what hand ranges may beat you. You might still be ahead, but this can be a dangerous safety when multiple draws are out there – do you always want to go broke with two pair even though there is a possible straight or flush on the board? Does it make sense in the long run to play big pots against more than one player or should you try to keep the pot low when you don’t have the ultimate nuts?

Draw Selection:

At Hold’em you usually have a few backdraws when you missed the flop, at Omaha the draw selection is by far more important and you always have to check if you are drawing for the nuts or not. Many chase a flush with low cards, but since your opponent has 4 hole cards instead of 2 the odds are also higher that he / she might have a better flush. If you want to make sure that you win the hand and know where you are at, always aim for the best possible hand.

Would it make sense to chase for a gutshot on the flop when you just hit bottom pair as well and don’t really have any backdoor flushdraw? How many cards in the deck would actually help you to make the best hand? If you just have one backdraw, you should not play bigger pots because the odds are not really high that you will hit the perfect card to win the hand.

Hand combinations you should avoid playing:

- four card flush hands without straight combinations

- off suit cards without 2 straight combos

- high pocket pairs without straight or flush connectors

- blank overpairs on the flop without straight or flush backdraws

There is no perfect strategy to consistently win other than avoiding spots where you go broke without drawing to the nuts. You might not always get the chips or money in ahead, but often you will see players go broke with multiple draws against your flopped set and you would be surprised when you see the percentages in an odds calculator. 

The less players at the table and involved the hand, the more lose and aggressive most people tend to play and the hand value and hand range is more open. But this still doesn’t mean that you have to flip any four preflop in and see who is gonna win the coinflip. There are by far more draws that you have to keep in mind and put up for consideration before risking your stack and barely have any cards to significantly improve your hand on a later street.

Often you will see by far more action and premium starting hands don’t hold up, but you don’t always have to go broke with a decent starting hand because you missed the flop. This strategy might work at Hold’em because the opponent has less equity to draw out on you, the opposite is the case at Omaha where your Aces can already by almost drawing dead on a 4 6 8 flop.

As you can see, this is really just a basic guide to get familiar with the thinking process at Omaha. It is by far more difficult to learn this game rather than the old fashioned and popular Hold’em, yet most play it like Hold’em x 2 and this can be exploited and may very well end up in profitable session.

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How (not) to play poker

Originally I wanted to use a different title for this blog entry, but I decided to change my mind because it would have given the false one sided impression for it and this entry is by far more open minded that you would have thought on first glance based on the other title. I will implement the youtube video at the end though that has given me the inspiration to write about this topic.

Quite often we complain about beats and the final result of a hand and use all possible swear words to describe how bad an opponent played the hand, the most popular one is probably “donk” … yes in poker it’s not the f word, it’s the d word! But is this really always the case or do we just see this from our own perspective and the fact that we play to win and hate to lose?

Well, let’s see it from a slightly different perspective … the following statements and explanations will be ironic, but this does have a specific purpose and I would recommend reading carefully until the end. Otherwise you will probably just draw your conclusions about this blog based on this sarcastic approach to explain the sense behind so called “donk moves”.

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“Any Ace will do”

Why shall I fold to a raise and big reraise if I got an Ace on my hand, I mean I can still hit nut quads, right? Also, many like to reraise with a high Pocket Pair there and when I hit my Ace I am golden … so just get em in preflop, the kicker doesn’t matter!

“Any Two all in”

They are just too scared to play against a maniac like me and will fold anyways, I might even get pocket Jacks to fold in this spot … I mean the all in button would feel so bored and lonely if you don’t use it from time to time, right?

“I got a pair, I can’t fold”

My hand just looks so uber good, I don’t care that my opponent already raised preflop … I got a pair and can still hit quads on turn and river. Also, there might be 3 over cards but who said that he hit … he could have raised with AK and we all know that AK barely wins. The same applies for top pair as well, no matter what kicker and how scary the board is … we just have to call!

“But it was suited”

I know that you got a strong hand but I know I will hit my flush … and if you got a high pocket pair my chances to hit the flush are by far higher because you need 4 cards to hit the flush and me just 3, gotcha!

“Hey, I had two flush draws”

Well I know you are on a draw but I also have 2 flushdraws and can’t really fold … you raised strong preflop but there are 3 spades on the flop and my 2s might be golden, just because you raised you don’t necessarily have the Ace of spade to dominate me.

“Oh Anna, you look so beautiful”

AK is the best drawing hand that you can get preflop and you can hit the nut straight, so why should you ever fold? Also, you will almost always have outs or a coinflip, even against Aces you can hit a set of Kings, right? It just looks so nice, I am so in love with you and don’t want to let you go.

“It’s my fav hand”

I won my biggest pot ever with those cards, no way I can fold … I mean I had so much luck with them already so why shall it not happen again? I cracked Aces so often … I mean cmon, you also call all the time with your fav hand as well, don’t you? No matter how big the raise it or how many draws are out there on the board. It’s my fav hand !!!

“Your raise was not big enough”

If you raise 25 more, I could have folded … but you gave me 0.26:1 odds and I just had to call, it would have been totally different with 0.25:1 odds! And the blinds were not that high, I can still win those chips back later on even if I don’t win this hand.

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A lot of you might have laughed when reading the statements above, but are they really that funny or have we been guilty of that before as well? Nobody is perfect and we all make mistakes … been there, done that. But if we would really be perfect, we would be nobody, right? And I prefer to be somebody, even if that means that I do make mistakes from time to time. We shall not be ashamed of making mistakes, but we should be open minded to learn from our mistakes and don’t make the same again in the future.

But who actually said that everything always has to be results orientated? If that was the case many would have already had to stop playing poker. The vast majority of all poker players are losing in the long run, if we would all be that great and successful, there has to be a forum full of donks that always just lose and we are somewhat special, huh?

One of the biggest leaks and part of our nature is that we always tend to see ourselves better than we are and try to blame others for our bad luck or lack of success. This might sometimes be the case and no matter how good we play, sometimes it’s just not meant to be and our opponent played better than us. But we shall not forget to check the other side of the coin as well and look into the mirror from time to time. 

We can’t always blame others when we don’t blame ourselves and analyze our own game and try to find potential leaks. We don’t play every hand perfectly, most of the time we just don’t notice how badly we play because we don’t pay attention to every little detail. Our human memory is determined for failure because we just can’t remember everything … and our ego is telling us that we are better than others. But how can we reasonably blame others and expect their respect when we don’t even question ourselves day by day? 

Bad beats will always be a part of the game and the best starting hand doesn’t always win, but is it really just bad luck or also bad play? You have to work on your game all the time and try to gain more knowledge, because standing still is the first step to failure. Sometimes the attitude towards the way the hand was played from you is just as bad as the suck out on the river.

It is a consistent fight to learn more about this complex card game and maybe build up an edge over your opponents. And why do we complain about those bad players? Should we not appreciate them and the fact that they commit their chips on a worse hand than us? As long as we focus on our own game as well and try to get in ahead or with a reasonable chance to win – sometimes you need to rely on your gut feeling.

We have no reason to complain because this will be profitable in the long run ...you just need the stamina to keep the spirit up and don’t let the short time failure tear you apart and ruin everything that you have built up so far. Because how else did you get this far, was it just pure luck?

Last but not least the youtube video that I promised at the beginning … it’s called “Put a donk on it”:

Thanks for your attention.

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A state of mind Part 1: Poker is not pure gambling!

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

Looking back at the success of online poker and the boom it caused after 2003, it is quite understandable that everyone wants to get a part of the cake ... especially when there is so much money involved. Even the mass media has realized the potential and expands their horizon now and shows the average reader and watcher their very own mix of sensations and publicity, may it be good or bad ... it doesn't matter though as long as it does attract the audience.

The problem lies within the general "recipe for success": The truth does not always sell as good as a plausible story full of prejudices and false pretenses that will catch the attention of the ordinary and uneducated masses. It is not the responsibility of the mass media to educate the audience, they have to make profit and in the current society this is usually defined upon publicity. It already starts within the educational system that does barely encourage the younger generation to pick up knowledge on their own. 

It is a two sided sword though and we shall not blame someone else for the lack of education, we are responsible to do our utmost to gain knowledge and improve our chances to break out of the daily routine. But it is obviously by far easier to search the mistake everywhere else, it's a reflection of our current society that we appreciate everything when we can take advantage of something ... but if exactly the same does not help us, we want to send it to hell.

Unfortunately those prejudices don't stop around the corner; they are also well established in most of the governments all over the world. Online Poker is a thorn in the flesh of most politicians and they try their utmost to build up the impression that every poker player is a criminal and you get treated by far worse than the general manager of a bank that just burned several million Dollars due to a speculative trading.
It is quite remarkable though that most of those prejudices are just based on assumptions and not personal experiences ... and somehow surprising when you consider the fact that the government does not make any money with it. A really strange coincidence, isn't it ... the campaigns against smoking have also decreased dramatically in the last few years, maybe because they need the taxes on cigarettes?

I for my part can't wait for the day when an official research by the state will claim that poker is an illness caused by a specific genetic defect and that we should get a medical treatment to find a cure. Nobody is a gambler by default, some people tend to get addicted but that doesn't mean that every poker player doesn't know at all what he / she is doing. It doesn't automatically mean that we are fanatics that enjoy the danger and put our life to risk whenever we can, yet many still think that poker is played in a dark backroom and when you get beaten you pull out the gun and shoot your opponent as shown in the old Wild Western movies. 

Would it not be by far more profitable in the long run if poker actually gets regulated on a reasonable level, where the government and the poker players cooperate to establish a secure and profitable ambiance for all? Or is it evil by default that everything where the state doesn't get its fair tax has to be wrong? When you see the recent development all over the world, you might get that impression ... there are a few exceptions and we also know that organizations exist that want to improve that situation, however nobody really knows where this might end up. The poker business is still going strong despite the current economical crisis and the slow process of recovery.

It is the time though that we all do more to show that poker is not gambling, sure it is a card game and thus will always involve luck ... we as poker players are not denying this fact because it is more than obvious. But with the right preparation, strategy and also education there are a lot of potential solutions to cut down the variance and make the game more predictable. Or why do you always see familiar names in the big tournaments all over the world? They must either be the luckiest players on this planet and can maintain this hot streak for years ... or they have an edge and actually know what they are doing.

Part of the fascination of this game is that we all theoretically have the same odds at winning, this is mathematically correct ... yet some players seem to be more successful in the long run than others. Is it eventually possible that there is more than just luck involved? Holy crap, this would actually mean that everybody can learn to be successful at poker if they are open minded and constantly work on their game! More about the educational and psychological aspect to follow in the next blog entry ...

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How do you combat a downswing?

It happens to every poker player from time to time, no matter what you do ... you just can't seem to win ... you get in ahead and still lose on turn or river. How do you combat those situations and losing streaks? There are different approaches, however also a lot of ways to make it even worse and bust your bankroll pretty quickly.

What you shall try to avoid:

1) Tilt


The tilt is the most common mistake that many players make, they loose up in their play and try to win back their losses as soon as possible without even paying attention to the table and their opponents anymore. They just see their own hole cards and fire out as many bullets as possible until either they have the money back or bust their stack / money.

2) Move up in limits


Well, if you just lot of money, it is by far more difficult to get all losses back quickly at the same limit. So why not just move up ... more money involved also means I can get my money back faster, right? Of course that is true, but if you are in a downswing, it will always have a certain impact on your game and you more likely end up busting more money and destroying your bankroll.

3) Blaming the poker site

Obviously if you don't win, the poker site has to be rigged. And the more you tell that yourself, the higher your anger and rage will be if you get beaten the next time. It doesn't matter if it was a setup or if you went in behind, it has to be the fault from the poker site and they don't want you to win anything. Usually that is followed by quite a few swear words in table chat as well and / or blowing off some steam to everything and everyone near you. But wait, did you actually get your money in ahead or did your opponent just outplay you?
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There is no ultimate solution that fits for everybody, you can try different ways to combat them but there is no guarantee that you will be able to un-tilt your mind. It will always be part of the game and the best starting does not always win ... but you have to keep in mind that you shall always try to get your chips / money in when you are convinced that you are ahead. Let's take a look at a few potential ways to combat the downswing in a constructive way. 

Possible ways to combat a downswing:

1) Taking a break

Sometimes it just helps to close the software and take a break before you go broke. There is a concept at MTT / SNG poker that also applies here "a good fold is better than a bad call" ... if you just don't feel it, you can still come back to win it. Of course it is hard to declare a defeat, but Rome was not built at one day either and you might have lost one battle but the war is not over yet!

2) Analyze your game

It does help at online poker when you do have a tracking program, because if you want to review your session and just depend on your memory, the opinion will be biased and you just can't keep all the necessary info about specific hands. One way to solve this problem is to browse your hand history on the poker sites that are usually saved ... but it will take by far more time and manual work. It is an important step in the recovery process though to review your hands, because it will give you a better understanding of what actually happened. Most of the time we just see the final result of the hand and keep that in mind, but we barely pay attention of how the hand was actually played until the river.

Even if we are on a downswing, it does not automatically mean that we play bad. We can still get our chips and money in ahead ... the question is just if opened hells gates ourselves or if there was nothing that could have been done. Luck will be a part of the game, it is for every card game ... but you should always focus on getting in ahead rather than depending on luck yourself. 

3) Switch to another poker type

Most of the time the cash game players recognize a downswing much faster, because they play by far more hands than a Tournament or SNG player. It does not mean that you shall not play cash game anymore, but maybe you should consider to play on short handed tables instead of fullring ... or you don't play NLHE for a while and try PLO or Stud. Those are the poker types that require more thinking and might also give you more insight on your Hold'em play as well.

If you tend to tilt your money away quickly at cash game tables, try some SNG ... they don't take as long as MTT's and you might win less if you take it down. But you also just risk a fixed amount of cash and can't kill your whole bankroll in one hand (unless you buy into the highest SNG that you can find with your remaining money ... lol). And it may also give you some confidence in your own game back if you happen to take it down.

4) Follow BankRollManagement

There are a lot of poker forums and sites that offer articles about a proper BRM, if you follow it you will just risk a certain amount of your bankroll at a time. This requires a lot of discipline though and the temptation is pretty high to just ignore the restrictions because you would have to move down and play on lower limits, even though you know exactly that you can beat a higher one already. BRM is a more old fashioned approach, but it also reduces the risk to burn your bankroll at once. It is always up to the player how much risk he is willing to take, those restrictions are just guidelines that may help you on the way to become a better player ... because they always have the long run in mind and not the short term profit.

5) Get rid of all potential distractions

Most of us tend to do other things at the same time as well when playing poker. Do you know how much they influence your play? If you can't fully focus on the game itself, you won't be able to play your best game. 

6) Play shorter sessions

It is by far more difficult to maintain the same concentration and play your best game forever, you can use "natural drugs" such as coffee or energy drinks that might help to keep the same level for a while, but they usually just make everything worse after a certain time. Review your sessions and see if you lose a lot after a specific time ... cut the sessions down and play more short sessions with a small break in-between to refocus.

7) Workouts

Many are not aware that some sports may help to come back totally refreshed, you can release all your anger and frustration in a constructive way and also do something for your fitness as well. It is important to maintain a healthy connection between body and soul and if you generally feel better after a workout, you will also be able to focus the mind and get back to play your A-game. If you are ill, you will always be distracted ... even though you might not notice that you can't give your best. Would you let your star player participate in the next game even though he has a broken leg? 

I could go on and evaluate each topic more in depth, but I am afraid that would just kill the exposure and many people are not able to keep up the concentration or simply don't want to because it would require to invest more time to read through. Quite a few of those aspects in this blog entry are also part of my psychology project though and will probably be explained more effectively when they have their own topic.

Thanks for your attention.

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What does poker mean to you?

Sounds like an easy question, right? But it isn’t … promised! I was thinking about such a blog for a while and decided to finally put all different ideas together that have been spinning through my head and that I also noticed on the tables a lot lately.

If we look down at poker through the eyes of the politicians worldwide, the majority would say that poker is illegal gambling and should be forbidden. In Germany for example it is classified that way and still, many play online – we can even see poker on a daily basis in TV, on a sports channel. You can take the UIGEA and the geo-blocking in Kentucky, but those people don’t really want poker to be popular … do they really know how many taxes they lose by banning it? Because all the poker sites go to other countries where they get awesome deals with taxes etc. . If you really want them to understand what poker is all about, you need to go much deeper and understand all the aspects of the game – for an outsider that has never played that card game before in his life or has only seen it on TV, I would even agree that you can consider it as gambling. Look at “High Stakes Poker” and all those stars they play some really strange hands – when you try to learn poker from TV, you might be prepared for the mass Freerolls at Pokerstars or FullTilt. But you will barely get in depth strategies and learn how to play this game properly, the players on those formats mostly know each other very good and make their decisions upon the experience.

Why is poker that popular all over the world? The majority does not play because they really believe to become a millionaire and the next Chris Moneymaker, although I am pretty sure many have similar dreams. But for many others, poker is also a socializing tool and they are able to meet other players from all around the world and just play some cards. They don’t want to become rich through poker and enjoy a few hours a week to see some familiar faces online on the tables and enjoy the banter on the tables and the competition to beat them. It does not mean that they don’t get out and forget about their real life and screw up with their friends and the family. They are not automatically addicted and forget about their personal responsibilities such as work and many more, but the politicians want us to believe that and also want to suggest that image of addiction. In Germany, the official statement claiming that online poker is legal is the prevention of people from addiction … but as long as they get the taxes on cigarettes and the national lotteries, those 2 other “risky hobbies” stay clean. It should still be upon each person whether they want to play or not and don’t get patronized by the state they are living in, I think that is written down in almost each constitution. Let’s get back to the socializing aspect, I know a lot of people that found new friends and even the love of their life through online poker. Poker is like a unique language worldwide because we all play with the same cards, we may not always understand our opponents because of the different nationalities and languages, but we will always be able to speak through the cards and earn the respect for playing decent and skilled poker.

But how do you gain that skill and the ability to play decent poker? Well this is based on the progress and the willingness to learn all the time more and more theory of this complex game and in the same time also notice the different aspects on the tables. Poker is not just pure math and also not pure luck, it is a card game where you need logical skills, psychology and math as well. Luck will always be a part of this game, but you can minimize the percentage with your ability to learn new things and study articles about game strategies. It is easy to start with and get the basics in your head, but it takes a lifetime to master. If you are playing online poker, many just think that it is enough to know the starting hand charts and the values of the hands combined with the click on the all in button – “I have to go all in because JJ loses so much on here” said a player with a 2000 stack and blinds 15-30. Great play, well at least he did not lose to an ace rag, but still a wasted spot to make more chips and it is always upon each player on how they play the hands to win or lose. Many try to blame the online RNG = random number generator and criticize the opponents as donks because they called with some random crap hands. Funnily enough, most of the times it comes along with the term freeroll in the same sentence – so just to clarify: freerolls are for beginners and you should not expect that the overall skill is the same like the WSOP! It is free money and if you are going to start somewhere to build your bankroll and don’t want to deposit, freerolls are mostly the best way. You will need a lot of stamina and patience to survive in those games and win a few bucks. You will see a lot of crazy moves and please don’t consider that as real poker, you could also play on the playmoney tables and would not learn much more than just playing premium cards. But poker is much more than just pushing buttons, it is about knowing and using your table image and advanced strategies like 3-betting and check-raising. You can try it in a freeroll, but you will barely see an effect because most of the players don’t even try to pay attention at those plays. It is always your personal decision on the tables that will finally define your result and sometimes you need to gamble to win - “no guts, no glory” it says and you need “the balls” top call. Sometimes it is better to slowplay and let your opponents hit their draw because they can’t beat your nuts, in other hands it is not good to keep the betting low and let your opponent his the draws. Then you get called a donkey because you stayed in the hand and called down on a flushdraw – the question here is: Was it so cheap that the opponent had the odds and outs to call? Should you have bet more on the flop or turn to make your opponent fold? Well it is always wise to say that afterwards, but the good players keep those things in mind and try to figure out what cards the opponent can have. It is hard to describe, but as a poker player you have to multitask all the time and think about your table image, your hand strength, the odds and outs and also the possible draws and made hands the opponent might have. Those mind strings don’t come over night and it takes a lot of experience on the tables and thousands of hands played. If you see the pros live on TV, you just think “hey that looks pretty easy, I can do that too” but the reality is far away from that.

You can call it a feeling or the killer instinct and you can’t learn that from the books. It’s a natural gift and you need to be good in math and logical thinking to keep you in the run. As more and more players log into the online poker rooms each time, it gets more and more technical and at the same time also more and more a mind game and the player with the best instincts and a balanced mindset will have the best theoretical chances to win. That’s one of the reasons why you will find the same names on top of the leaderboards and tournament results in the major games. Sure, at online poker you can also win a lot by multitabling and using tracking programs to get you up to date statistics from the tables and help you to find the best solution for each hand. But those programs will never take out the human emotions and they are part of the game, without em it would be really boring and if we would all play with emotions, there will barely be any major tilt moments or bad plays by the instinct. Also, the helping tools at the computer make it pretty easy to be competitive in the internet by playing poker, but the transition might be hard for those mostly “young guns” to find their way in the major live tournaments and have the same success there. The factor of luck is a bit higher at online poker than at live poker, because you have to add other influences like body language and eye contact there. Also players feel very comfortable in their chair in front of the computer or laptop and don’t really need to take care what they wear, but at the official live tournaments there is a special etiquette and you can’t just sit there in your underwear. When you play the first time live, it might be hard to keep up the concentration and also pay attention to your body language and your eyes. First time you look down at pocket aces, you might grin and make a big smile and that would not be very profitable for your poker face and image on the table. Many older and experienced live poker players also like to tease those internet players with their hoodies and sunglasses and try to influence them with a few words “hey son, do you know …”. The factor luck is lower here and the psychology and player reads gain more importance than at online poker – online you can only try to make reads on time-tells and betting-tells but this may lead to a predefined opinion and the opponent might want you to get this certain read to outplay you. Generally I would say that online poker is 60-70% skill and 30-40% luck, at live poker I would rate the skill much higher but that’s basically based on the higher thrill and the opportunity to look in the eyes of your opponent and try to figure out whether he is bluffing or not - the body language is very important here too. One major difference is also the fact that you can’t play in multiple tournaments at a casino and also won’t be able to play on more than one table and on different softwares. You will have to control your emotions and don’t give away too many tells on the tables, which can be difficult when you have never played live in a big game as you are usually used to sit in front of your computer and don’t need to care about your face and body language.

Do I think that poker is a sport? No, not really. Of course it has some aspects on different sports and the competition is very similar, you can also have the same stress and burn calories during a long and hard battle in one session online or for example at one major live tournament. You need to be mentally strong to survive the long tournaments and stay focused all the time, because in a tournament it is just one single mistake it takes and you might be out and hit the rail. I might compare poker with chess as it is also a strategic mind game where you need to stay focused and have a certain game strategy and already think forward to the next possible 4-5 moves. You can look in the face of your opponent or play against a computer as well, like the grand masters do regularly to test their skills. You can also play it online and have to take it very serious, but opposed to poker you can barely win millions by playing it live or online. The skill and training is the most important aspect and the logical thinking becomes one of the major keys to win. This should also be important for poker and it’s up to each player on how serious he / she takes that game and how the preparation is. There is a lot of basic stuff in poker books and they are good to start with and get in touch with this game, when you get more experienced and try to play on higher limits, you can also share your experiences at online poker forums and read the articles about advanced strategies there. Well, some are just there for the passwords to the private freerolls, but those players don’t really want to improve their game and just play the same trot all the time.
Of course we should also not forget the business part of poker, it is not only a mind game, you can also win big as a player and as affiliate. You need to sign up the right players under your tracker that play a lot and generate a lot of rake and the poker sites will be happy to give you a good deal on the rakeback and bonus races including privates games and much more. For the poker sites it is also a good deal to give away VIP deals and special support, the cashflow on the internet in the so called gambling industry and day by day, billions of dollars and massive profits are generated. High value players can also earn a player’s contract and get paid for playing online and representing the poker site on the major live tournaments worldwide. It is a good publicity and the poker sites also go international and try to find more names from different nationalities, they spend millions of dollars on promotions and TV adverts. I have the utmost respect for all poker players that earn a living for themselves and their family, because they have the pressure to win at poker and have to play even more focused – a downswing may cause a lot of problems for their daily life. Also the pro’s have a high responsibility in the press and interviews and of course also in the tournaments itself. They have a lot of additional clauses in the contracts and what sponsor they may represent etc, their behavior has to be accordingly and they can’t just abuse other players on the tables (well unless they know each other very good and can stand a joke lol). As you can see, the whole poker business is much more complex than you mostly thought and there are a lot of influences onto this card game. It is not just pure gambling like Roulette or Blackjack or Slots in the casinos, it really saddens me that most of the politicians and more than half of the online poker players look or act like it would be simple gambling. This game has a lot to offer if you want to, but you have to take it as serious as you think you can afford and how much effort you want to put into that card game.

Always remember, it is not the RNG at the online poker tables that decide about your win or not, even a pair of Aces is just one pair preflop and can lose against any 2 cards – the way you play each hand decides about your success and sometimes it does pay off to lay down a big hand when you think you may be ahead preflop, but just can’t risk your tournament life and better ensure a placing in the money to ensure a bit of cash. You need to have a lot of patience and the willingness to learn more about your game, as well as look skeptically at your own game and also accept some bad plays. If you realize that and want to improve your game, it is the first step to become a good player. You can’t learn the killer instinct as this is basically a feeling that each person should find for themselves. But with playing a lot and gaining experiences, you will be able to cut down that gap. There is a small lesson in each hand that you play and you might not notice that or don’t really pay attention to it, but every suckout and bad beat will give you some information about your own game and about your opponents. You can always blame others for a bad play but you have to look at your own game as well – if you stay focused and get beaten by a bad run of cards or bad luck, but put your money in with the better hand and feel comfortable, stick to it! There is always another game and you will see that it pays off in the long run if you try to improve your game and take a lesson out of each tournament or hand at the cash game tables.

So now it is your choice, how would you explain poker to others and what does poker mean to you, what role does it play in your life? Nobody will have the same opinion, because we all made different experiences so far at the poker tables – may it be live or online – we all have our bad beats and bragging rights and it is up to each own, how he or she handles em. But we all share that card game and love it … or hate it at times, that doesn’t mean that we are addicted. But we fell in love with that game and some are luckier than others. Pick your choice and show, what you think of poker, how would you describe it to persons that have never played poker in their life before?

P.S. I don’t do short stories!

P.P.S. I would like to have series answers and not just “yes I agree” or “no, that guy is talking total crap”, I want you to explain it in a few sentences and really show what you think of poker!

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Trade, Fight, Build, Think !

Well I bet you are wondering about the title of this blog entry on a poker related blog and it is also not based on a certain poker theory. I am playing a sci fi strategy game for years now and the latest version called "X3 Terran Conflict" got published about half a month ago. Now you wonder what this has got to do with poker and I will tell you about it. As the title of this slogan says, its all related to those 4 keywords and basic concepts of the "X-Series". It is a sci fi strategy game and shooter where you have to build up your own economy and also fight against pirates, alien invasions and complete different plots of the storyline and other missions.

If you want to read more about the relations of this game to poker and what meaning the keywords have, check out my blog on pokerspace or wait for the next episode on this blog

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