The swings of tourney poker often bring this question into my head. Getting knocked out of a tournament is never fun, even if you had no choice or you made the right play, blah blah blah etc. It still sucks to have to get out of your chair, or to see that notification on your screen. But it's that leaving that makes sng's and tourneys seem less likely to bust a bankroll right away. Not only do you have the option of leaving a tourney...but at some point you're going to have to. How you let that situation affect you is where this question comes from.

"Running bad" in tournament poker is really a bit of a misnomer. Yeah you can run big hands into bigger hands, take beats on the river and whiff with every good draw...but in the end getting in those situations isn't where the advantage comes from in a tournament. The real edge in a tournament, I believe, is how you manage the tournament. Managing the tourney mostly refers to the ability to adapt to the changes that happen accordingly. I started seeing this more when going over a knockout hand with my girlfriend. I realized after a while that I wasn't really talking about the situation i was put in card wise but rather the situation i was put in for that tournament. The amount of variables involved in a tourney decision makes them seem infinitely more complex than ring games. But,nn then once you've made the correct decision time and again, you become a bit of a robot. We'd probably all do well to have the robot's emotional capacity right after a tournament. As long as you made the correct decision for the situation, you should be completely satisfied. It's actually being satisfied that I need to work on.

Just as an aside, this space will not only be used to post my thoughts on strategy, but also as a bit of a journal of poker experiences. The strategy/theory will mostly come in the middle of posts and won't be the main subject.

Anyways, last night I went down to the casinos in St. Louis,MO (actually the st. charles area). I am in st. louis hanging out with my family for the holidays as my current job affords me long breaks, which is nice. I visited the Ameristar and Harrah's, both of which I've frequented plenty on previous trips.

The funny thing is, table dynamics at both places were polar opposites. I arrived at Ameristar at 8 on a friday and they had all of 2 nl tables (ugh...). I sat down figuring if there isn't a good soft spot I'd leave. Well the table was fairly soft, with two passive regulars, one touristy/gambling type, and an indian kid who thought he was a pro (oh how sadly mistaken he was). The only guy that seemed interested in talking was the local to my left who went on about things practically to himself. The other local on my right was very silent but would at least talk about hands when I would muster a guess at his holdings (i had him pretty pegged). I tread water for quite a while, get AK, whiff, c-bet non scary board, get raised and viola i'm down like 70 bucks. I build it back a bit with a couple of flop bets that take it down with an overpair or c-bet. Then I finally get into an interesting hand with crazy indian pro kid (IK).

This guy thought he had all the moves. He would check raise with TPGK on a draw heavy board, c-bet out of the sb on stupidly scary boards. But he managed to drag a few substantial pots by simply getting lucky.

In this particular hand I find TT in mp and there is one limper and I make it 12 to go hoping (but not expecting) to isolate the limper. I believe one lp caller as well as IK out of the sb and the limper folds getting pretty good odds. Flop comes Q62 with a spade draw. IK stares at me in a way which is communicating spite for some reason, and check calls my 2/3 pot bet. At this point I am pretty convinced I'm ahead, and that for some reason he's putting me on a bluff (which I rarely ever believe but the way he looked at me and his previous play just screamed this). Turn is a non spade blank and he checks and stares and I make a 1/2 pot or so bet which he quickly calls. River is an Ah which sucks if he was trying to pick me off with A high but he checks and I check down figuring I'll get no value from worse hands any longer with the A, plus he could easily try and check raise bluff out of spite. I calmy tell him "two tens" and he gives me a look of disgust like I haven't seen in a while. I assume he had 88 77 or 55 because the limper tells me he folded 99 (which tilts me to no end, how does he find a fold getting  over 3:1 at this table?). IK goes into super-monkey tilt mode opening for the rest of his stack (like $70) and I decide to take the win and go to harrah's. 

Harrah's was hopping. There were tons of tables of all sorts of games and they looked pretty good. I find an ok table and go pretty dang card dead, once again AK gets no where, and once again everyone and their mom is calling raises preflop. I lose like 1/2 of my stack simply through never hitting. I then find out they're spreading 3/6 horse. I love playing anything that's not hold 'em live and I rush to the podium to get on the list. I'm seriously ancy just waiting to play this game. It takes them 2 hours to tell the entire room they have two seats...that have been open the whole two hours. Room management will not get a tip from me for a while... Anyways I get in this HORSE game and it is all sorts of fun. Most people are somewhat sufficient at the games but I probably figured to be a favorite, though 3 others were off duty dealers. But I start chatting up the guy next to me who is an off duty dealer from Ameristar.

It was at the end of this night that I realized why poker truly is fun to me. My motivations may have started monetarily, but after a while I've started to realize that simply being around these people from all walks of life can be incredibly fun! Joking around with dealers, laughing about the cards, teaching people chip tricks...these things I'll remember later. I won't remember that I lost like 5bb playing horse or that some dude ran 35 bucks into like 300 playing a 3-6 limit game (though damn that is a tear). If it weren't for this people this game would be like punching numbers into a calculator...if you're an accountant (like my gf and my mom and my dad and my brother) then sweet! But for me the people make the game, they give it life, they seperate it from other forms of gambling. So the next time that dude with the tattoos sucks out on you just tell him nice hand...but try and mean it. I hope it will do wonders in the long run.

Hello all!

I've had a poker blog for about a year or two, and figure this contest is as good of a reason as any to move it over here. I check this site daily and am continually impressed with the quality of content that is posted.

A little history for perspective purposes:

I've been playing poker for about 6 years or so, but only thinking about the game seriously for about 1 year (i.e. realizing that there is skill involved and that gaining that skill takes work). Poker recently became a bit of an obsession partially due to dueces cracked, and partially due to seeing how ridiculously juicy 1/2 live can be.

I primarily play micro stakes online including nl5, plo2 (normally deep stacked), and the .1/.2 7-game either on stars or on ftilt. If and when I play live it's 1-2-100 spread limit (in colorado) or 1/2NL when I'm back in St. Louis. I've also played plenty of free bar tournaments but don't take them very seriously unless there is a cash prize.

I started playing cash games in my dorm and was a regular loser, but have turned into a proven +EV player in most of the games mentioned above.

So, without further ado, here are the top 5 things I believe that I should be doing to improve my poker game. It can't be said enough that things come naturally to some in this game are the most foreign concepts in the world to others and must be pounded into one's brain.

Number 5: Table Selection

(This applies to cash game players primarily, as in a tournament you don't have much control over who you're facing)

The old adage goes like this: You may be the ninth best player in the world, but when sitting with the top eight players in the world you will always be the underdog.

In poker (especially hold 'em), who you're playing against is more important then the cards you are dealt in the long run. In the online poker world this is very much true. Have you ever wondered why online cash games seem so much harder to beat than a live cash game? Well one large factor is the players. When you think about it, it takes effort to get money online (especially after the UIGEA), which means that someone must go through  a lengthy and sometimes arduous process simply to play online. This person must very much want to play poker.

Compare this now to your average live poker room attendee. There are a myriad of reasons this person could be in the casino. Maybe they're on vacation, maybe they're just there to pass the time (certainly more true with older patrons), perhaps they're just a degenerate gambler, or maybe they are a professional poker player.

The last thing you want is to be caught in a game full of professional poker players.

Keeping that in mind, how do we avoid that situation?

The first thing we must remember is to not let pride get in the way.  If we find ourselves in an environment in which we are obviously not a favorite to win, then get out immediately! Playing live, this can suck...   Time after time i've found myself at a terrible table that I know I will have a hard time beating, end up asking for a seat change, and seeing a list a mile long. Too many times i've stuck around only to lose my stack and walk away angrily wishing I had left earlier.

As live poker players we must then figure out the optimal time frames to visit the poker room so that we may increase our chances of finding a soft table. This becomes even more important the farther away the casino is from you. Make sure to show up when players are likely to be tourists, and likely to be intoxicated. Friday/Sat nights, holidays, these are prime times to make the most money.

Online this problem is about 100x easier to solve. Most poker sites will post the most important statistic for table selection you can find (in hold 'em): % of Players who saw the flop on average. In general, the higher this number the looser everyone is playing preflop. This means that players will be playing worse cards and a tighter player can take advantage easier. The lower this number, the tighter people are playing preflop. Generally this means that players are tighter, and in theory one would think a loose/aggressive player could take advantage. But, as with most things in this game, it depends.

Which brings us to my next point...

Number 4: Pay Attention!!!

Being the typical ADD kid I am, this point took a long time to sink in and I still have trouble concentrating both at the table and off...I literally just considered going to reheat pizza before I was finished typing this sentence. It's bad...and no i'm not high...point 6 is "don't do drugs" but I'll let your high school health teacher belabor that point.

Anyways, where were we?

Ah yes, Pay ATTENTION!

The reason I still love to play this game is simple really...people are interesting! The human brain is capable of things that blow my mind! (a little redundant?) Generally, people do things for a reason. Whether it be habbit, emotion, or logical reasoning, something is controlling the decisions they make. And, in time i've found that poker isn't about winning/losing money...poker is about figuring out why someone made a decision, and then figuring out how to properly react to that decision with a decision of your own.

That being said, the only way you are going to pick up on what people's motivations are is to watch and learn. Try to get inside of their head and see what they see and how they would react to something. But do not assume that they are going to react the same way that you would!  Honestly try to step into their shoes using every bit of information that you've gained. This should include a plethora of different things such as:

hands they've showed down, how many hands they've played preflop, how many times they've folded to a turn bet/cbet/3bet etc., how they play their draws, how they play made strong hands, how they play made weak hands, what they're wearing, what they bought in for, what they just tipped the cocktail waitress, what they just ordered from the cocktail waitress, where they're from, things they've said, the way they stack their chips, etc, etc, etc, ETC!

Start small with a few observations and you will steadily improve. The point of all this collection is so that you can paint as accurate of a portrayal of the person(s) sitting next to you as possible. And then use that picture to analyze their decisions at the poker table.

(* A small disclaimer: sometimes the above advice can lead a player into using advanced plays in situations where they will most likely never work. This is called Fancy Play Syndrome. Realize that at most small stakes games, players will be thinking primarily about their cards...and that's it! Don't make the mistake of 'leveling yourself' by check raising a passive player who just bet the turn...)

Number 3: Tilt Management

( Depending on the player, this could be the most important piece of advice you've ever heard. I've ranked it number 3 simply because I don't struggle with it as much anymore. )

Have you ever been sitting at a poker table (or computer) and started to feel "the burn"? Anyone who's felt it knows what I'm talking about. It's that moment when the juice flows into you, turning you from realistic, logical, long-run thinking poker player into a degenerate gambler who is destined to lose all their money. It's the poker equivalent of getting bruce banner angry (and I don't mean the ed norton bruce banner who turns into a somewhat more musclely version of the jolly green giant...no I mean the marvel comic bruce banner who turns into a ginormous blob of green muscle that fills the entire comic strip wreaking havoc on every page thereafter).

We've all been there, and the weird thing is...it's natural! When we do something that our brains view as positive, the expectation of the result of this decision is naturally a positive one. But in poker...a weird thing happens. Somehow the wires got crossed and the poker gods just decided that you needed to take a beating in the form of a 2 out slap to the face...twice. Our brains don't like that...it confuses our poor brains...and they react through emotion. We get angry. We get sad. We get crazy. We convince ourselves we should play more hands (or possibly less). In the poker world we've coined this term "tilt".

Avoiding this monster isn't always possible. Not everyone can simply shrug it off. There is a financial result of a poker hand, and if it's negative, then that will have a somewhat negative effect on our lives. But to control the degree of the negative effect we must realize that the only sure fire way to avoid further loss is to stop!  If you're going on tilt...you must find a way to stop it, and sometimes the only way is to get up and leave. Use a stop loss...once two buy ins are gone, leave. Or, once you start to feel the burn, leave.

In a tournament this isn't as easy, but there are many opportunities for rest. Listen to a calming song, listen to some comedy, start joking with the dealer. Do anything you can to get your mind away from whatever is tilting you.

At the end of the day always tell yourself "If it weren't for variance, poor players wouldn't be playing this game, and I would never make any money to begin with".

Tilting sucks. Getting rid of it can suck more. It takes practice. It takes patience. But it can save your bankroll.

Number 2: Bankroll Management

Most of us have seen the first scene of Rounders, but have you ever introduced the movie to someone who's new to poker?

In the movie the main character risks his whole bankroll in an underground, high stakes poker game. He ends up getting completely cold decked and losing his entire bankroll in one single hand of hold 'em.

Most of the time when I show this movie to those unfamiliar with poker they come away shocked after the first scene. That's just not how it's supposed to work in the movies. The hero starts out by losing it all? That just makes no sense!

But to anyone who's gone busto before....it makes perfect sense.

A trained poker player realizes that certain situations are going to arise in which you are going to lose all of your money on the table, every time, no matter what. A great poker player recognizes that this may happen again and again over a fairly substantial amount of time (i.e. "running bad"). An even better poker player will recognize that regardless of this variance, his/her play is still profitable in the long run. But the best poker player plans for all of this accordingly.

If you want to play poker for any reasonable length of time, you must be part of this last group. Now i won't bore you with the specifics like buy in amounts or what stakes you should be playing at...there are plenty of resources (even on this very site!) for that. But I will say this: you must make it your mission to never go broke. Playing stakes that are over your head bankroll wise will NEVER pay off in the long run. Sure you ran hot at 50NL that one time, and sure you may have enough to even play that game comfortably now, but if you keep taking shots that are too big to handle you will go broke...it's only a matter of time. Going broke simply cannot be an option.

If you're complaining about going busto, go do it somewhere else. There is simply no room for it in a world where all the information you need to not do so is right at your fingertips.

Number 1: Study, Study, Study, Study...Think, Study, Think, Play

Unfortunately, all of the ideas I've just given you will not make you into a better poker player. No, in and of themselves they are just guidelines and small pieces of advice. I've learned these rules mostly through getting beat up as a result not following them. But what will make you a better player is carefully reading this advice, questioning it, and then applying it appropriately. If you can do that then you've become a student of the game...and you've taken a conscious step to get better. 

But you must never stop.

Getting better at poker is much like learning math. The first time you successfully solve an arithmetic problem there is a bit of a "Eureka!" moment in which a part of your brain is "unlocked." Suddenly you understand exactly what the teacher was trying to say! In that moment you have actively become better at math. If you're like me you were pretty convinced that you were the all-knowing, all-seeing, math wizard of the universe. And then algebra comes along. Suddenly you are no longer the king...you're not even remotely related to him...no you're a peasant on the corner begging for your next meal. The process starts over until you have once again reached another eureka-like moment.

If you've had a similar experience while studying poker than you know how good it feels. Once again you feel extremely powerful, like you can beat anyone. Until a regular 4 bets you with 54s pf and shows it after you fold. You are once again the pauper.

Moments like these will keep happening to you, and the only way to react is to learn from them. Learn from every experience you've had at the table. Run over hands in your head again and again until you think about the situation in a different way. Talk about hands with friends. Go over hands that you've won to see the spots where you could have played better! It is an endless cycle...but it is also the reason sites like these are made. And it can be a lot of fun. You will meet new people you never would have. You will engage your mind in ways that make your 9-5 job seem like the most drab thing on the face of the planet (if it doesn't seem that way already). And above all...you will get better at poker.

The Golden Rule: Poker is not all that matters

Some day you are going to die. This may seem like the most morbid statement but it shouldn't be. It's a simple fact of life. One that we often ignore. There are things in life that I believe are priorities above all things...and not one of them involves poker. If you're blowing off your family to go play, what do you think you'll be remembered for? The sweet bluff you pulled playing 2/5? Or the fact that your kids hardly know who you are... 

Put things into perspective on a regular basis. Realize that you have a limited time on this earth. Forget fame, forget money, forget everything that fades. Recognize the things that are the most important in your life and treat them as such. Have something to be proud of at the end of the day/month/year that really means something to someone else. Believe me there are more important things out there than an insignificant card game.

~Justin aka ebert19

(thanks for taking the time to read!)