Tilt!

I heard about it, read about it, and laughed about it. Now I did it.

I'm talking about going on tilt.

What's Tilt?

For those who don't know, "going on tilt" means letting the flow of the game, or perhaps other players in the game, upset you to the point where you don't play the way you know you should.

What Happened

In my case, I was playing online and lost a series of hands on the river. When the cards were turned up, I couldn't fathom why the other guy had stayed in to luck out at the end. Once I had KK, and a guy with A3 offsuit kept calling my bets and got an A on the river. Another time I had a draw to a flush, gutshot straight or an overcard - basically lots of cards could have given me the probable best hand. My draws didn't come in, and when the cards were turned up on the river, it turned out I was beat by a pair of 2's - and the guy was playing 52 offsuit!

There were several more similar hands in a short period of time.

I concluded two things: A) I want my money back!; B) These guys play really poorly, and I can outplay them.

What a bad combination of thoughts. I lowered my standards for starting cards, and lowered my standards for continuing after the flop. And lost more money, and still more. Before I pulled the plug I had lost about 50 big bets. Ouch!

Recovering

The next day I decided to get my money back, but to do it smartly. I have a setup with two monitors, so opened up three online games at Full Tilt. I raised my standards for getting involved in a hand, and in continuing, to where I would only play the highest percentage games. When a good hand did come, I moved the game window onto my main monitor and put the other games on the second monitor. Within about an hour I had recovered about half the money I lost the previous day, with my chip stack in each game consistently growing.

I'll "rinse and repeat" this evening and try and make up for my first (and last!?) tilt.

Lesson Learned

If you find you're not playing your usual game for any reason, but are pushing mediocre cards too far, just get up and walk away from the game for a while. If you're in a casino, take a break for a meal or walk around outside for a bit. Online, turn off the computer and walk the dog. Refocus. Reflect on how you usually play. Then hit the tables again with a knowledge that the right game play always succeeds in the long run.

Absolute Poker a Fraud?

There are concerns that Absolute Poker, a popular online poker site, may have been compromised by a combination of poor system design and a rogue programmer.

http://www.egamingtoday.com/Article/AbsolutePoker/Rogue.html

Or in the New York Times

http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/10/17/the-absolute-poker-cheating-scandal-blown-wide-open/#more-1986

Update: MSN now has a video article about the fraud:

http://video.msn.com/?mkt=en-us&fg=rss&vid=207fa45c-964a-4942-8286-c1018efc4b06&from=imbot_men3549

A Game of People Played with Cards

Most people consider poker to be a game of cards, played with people. Actually, the opposite is more accurate. Poker is really a game of people, played with cards.

Certainly you need to master the basics of good play. If you're just getting started, that will be your focus. Get a few good books and work through them carefully. Practice online at the lowest-stakes tables.

Once you know what cards to play when, all things being equal, realize that all things are seldom equal. "Equal" in this case means you have no idea what cards your opponent might have, except by observing his bets. If you know what to look for, you have much more information available to you. In poker, that information is known as tells.

If you think tells are rare, think again. Even the pro's have tells that are routinely exploited by their competition. The first few times I played poker, I was so focused on the new environment and on correct basic play that I didn't spot a single tell. In fact, I was probably sending out my own tells like a searchlight. Then it happened. A young marine next to me looked at his pocket cards, and his hand went straight for his chips and actually began to shake. I realized this is a sign of uncontrolled excitement and wondered if I had seen my first tell. When he turned over pocket kings and raked in a large pile of chips, I knew I had.

Old pro's claim poker is 30% cards and 70% people. I couldn't agree more. A single poker book opened my eyes to how this works. It's not a book about cards, it's a book about people. Written by a former FBI profiler who now consults to the top Poker pro's. If you buy any one poker book, make it a good book on how to play your cards right. But if you buy a second book, get Read Them and Reap. After you master the basics of the game, learning its lessons will improve your bottom line substantially.

As a closing anecdote, let me relate a hand I played a few weeks back. There was a young player at the table who must have fancied himself a WPT pro. He had the hooded sweatshirt and fashionable sunglasses, the practiced stone face, and an aggressive betting style. I was dealt KQ of spades. The flop added the J6 of spades and one garbage card, giving me a draw to the second-best flush. I perked up and gladly called his raise. The came the flop, the A of spades. I had the "nut" (best) flush. Excited, I turned toward the table, leaned in, eagerly reached for my chips every time I could bet, raised and reraised like there's no tomorrow, and sent off every other signal in the book that I had a good hand. Then came the river, and with it the T of spades. I had a Royal Flush! There was no way I could lose this hand, and I was practically jumping out of my seat when he raised me and I reraised. It has never been more thrilling to turn over my pocket cards. And I was extremely thankful that my opponent had not read the book I'm recommending to you. If he had, he would have known that he was beat long before he lost around $100 to me in one hand.

Don't Come "Ready to Play"

Yesterday I took a friend to the local card room for the first time. While waiting for our table, we reviewed what to expect when the game starts, and some of the most important strategy tips. The game we selected was limit Texas Hold'em $3/$6, the lowest limit running at the time. We were lucky enough to both be seated at the same time and both started to play.

I struck up a casual conversation with a few players at the table waiting for a premium hand. I also used the opportunity to observe the other players as they got good hands, bad hands, and flops that either helped or hurt their hand. A few of the players were hard for me to read, but a few were open books after about 20 minutes.

While I was waiting, I watched as my friend's chip stack slowly, and sometimes quickly, dwindled. He was engaged in too many hands, playing many of them at least to the flop. He's a smart guy, he knew it on some level. After the game, when we started to debrief what had happened, the first words out of his mouth where "I know, I played too many hands."

Many players come "ready to play." They're at the card table because they are out to have a fun, enjoyable time playing cards. They play hands they really shouldn't because they want to be involved. After all, any starting hand can win. The problem is, most starting hands don't win often enough to make up for all the times they lose.

Come to the table ready to win, not ready to play. Exercise patience. When you're not in the hand, watch how the other's play. Do they get involved with poor starting hands? Do they go too far with their hand just to see the river card? Do they have tells that can tip you off to the strength of their hand? Do these things, and poker is a fun and involving game even when you're not playing a hand.

To quote Evelyn Carnahan O'Connell, "Patience is a virtue."

As for my friend: He's a sharp guy and is studying the game systematically. He'll be a winning player before very long.

Play the Odds

I just lost a hand with pocket aces to a guy who had pocket queens, and hung around to the river in spite of my heavy betting... and caught a third queen on the river. Actually, the first 6 times I played pocket aces, I lost. This is NOT a probable outcome, but that's the thing about poker. Your short-term results can give you a false impression.

Pocket aces win about 40% of the time. My initial experience could have taught me never to play pocket aces, which would be a very bad lesson indeed.

Remain aware that you can have a run of bad (or good) luck with certain cards. Do not draw your own conclusions based on this short experience. Learn what is PROBABLE. In the long run, everything evens out and you will only win by playing the hands with a good probability of winning.

Playing multiple online hands

I just read a book by an expert online poker pro. I'm sure he's a much better poker player than I am, but I do know something about technology that he doesn't.

Once you become good enough, you can make more money online playing two games at once. He recommends switching back and forth between the two games on a single screen.

The fact is, it doesn't cost very much money to setup TWO monitors these days. All you need is a computer graphics card with two monitor outputs, and two monitors. I got my card for under $100, and plugged in my current monitor and an old one I had sitting around. Be careful because their are two different kinds of outputs, regular VGA as well as newer DVI. Be sure the outputs you get match the plugs on your monitors. Ask at the computer store if you're not sure.

With this setup, you can easily play two online games at the same time, without flipping back and forth between two monitors.

Concentration

It almost goes without saying that you should be ready to concentrate when you play poker... almost.

I decided, since I only play good starting hands, that it would be OK to run a Full Tilt poker game in one window while I do some work in another window. My reasoning was that I would just wait for one of the good hands I like to play, then switch gears and earn some money.

The insidious thing is... it worked. At least at first. I quickly won 20 big bets. Then the downside of this plan kicked in. I didn't watch the other players in the other games, so I didn't know who only plays good cards, who only raises with a great hand, and who either bluffs or just plays a bad hand to the showdown. And it cost me. I lost an ace-high flush to a full house, lost two pair to a straight, and just kept on losing. Soon I was down 20 big bets instead of up by that much.

Lesson learned - only play poker when you're prepared to focus on what you are doing. Use the hands that you don't play to learn about your opponents.

People learn differently

Some people learn well by listening, while others need to see pictures and diagrams. Still other folks need to touch and feel to learn well. It's no different with poker. There are some really great books on poker theory out there. They break down the game in a structured manner. Those who are good at learning concepts do well by studying them.

Then there are people who aren't good at book learning, or just plain find it boring. If that's you, I have an awesome book for you! The Illustrated Guide to Texas Hold'em by Dennis Purdy is more a picture book than a text book. It illustrates 150 hands that represent many common poker situations, and asks you what you would do before explaining what the author would do and why. It's great visual learning. I just kept flipping the pages and had a great time trying to solve the situations presented.

If you're more of a visual learner, get The Illustrated Guide to Texas Hold'em (or the NO LIMIT version).