Hey PocketFivers. For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Jason Gray and I've been playing poker for almost seven years now, with the last three and a half as a professional. I am one of the founding members of Final Table Team. I’ve put a lot of time into learning poker by using many tools, such as books, training sites, watching poker on television, talking strategy with friends, and obviously the most important thing: time at the tables. I’ve tried to learn to play most of the popular games well, and have played low to high stakes limit, no limit, and pot limit cash games, sit and go’s and multi-table tournaments. Right now I specialize in MTTs.

In this article I'd like to talk about what's on my mind and current things within the poker world. There are many small areas that often get overlooked when talking about poker and the poker lifestyle that hopefully I can bring up along the way. Since it's WSOP time I'll start this article by talking about my typical life during the tournament, and end with a discussion of my thoughts on decisions; poker and otherwise.

I've been down here in Vegas for the entire WSOP. There is a tourney every day at noon, and usually one at 5 pm. The noon tournament is usually the smaller buy-in of the two, and often is a more popular game like Hold'em. These are filled with more entrants and somewhat less experienced players. The evening tournaments have much smaller fields and all of the bracelet hungry live pros like to play them. I have seen a lot of people play the 12 pm tournament really fast, hoping to build a stack or just bust out before 5 pm, and then jump into the next tourney. It's probably not the worst thing to try, but anytime you’re not making the right plays based on a time restraint you’re killing your ROI.
Let’s say we played the $2k NL Hold’em tournament at 12 pm, but gambled way too much around 4 pm because we wanted that big stack. So now we lose our chips pushing pocket deuces all in pre-flop for a 25 big blind stack, and decide to buy into the $5k Stud Hi-Lo tournament. Is our mindset really going to be solid? Will we be able to block out every thought of how our luck was in the 12 pm tourney, or that we are stuck $2,000 already along our $5,000 buy-in? This is not to mention the fact that most of the smart 5:00 pm players probably had more sleep and will be able to maintain a higher level of concentration at the later levels. So overall I think it’s much smarter to play one live tournament per day, and if that doesn’t work just relax, prepare for the next day, and/or play online.

This is what I've been doing during my trip. I play each day’s 12 pm tournament only if I feel physically and mentally up to the task, and if I bust I head home for the nightly online tournaments. Obviously there are times I just don’t feel like playing poker at all, so I'll relax, exercise, go to a show, hang with friends and then get some sleep for the next day. I know some of the higher ranked players play most of the day, every day. They are doing this to reach certain goals and it might work for them. Although I believe that everyone needs a balance. You should set up a schedule that allows you to play at the most profitable times and days, but also allows you to spend time with friends and family. Every player will need a break from poker eventually. When things are going really bad (which they do for even the best players in the world) take a total break for 5-10 days. You'll come back with more confidence, patience and excitement that will propagate the positive instead of continuing the negative trend.

Over forty five days of brick & mortar large buy-in tournaments can take a huge toll on the body and mind. The game is much slower than online and often you'll find worse players. Mix that with a cashless streak or taking some beats and it can sometimes be unbearable. This brings me to probably the most important trait of a great poker player: the strong mind. I’ve met and spoke with many of today’s great players and I am confident that the top notch pros, the ones that keep getting those huge scores, have a very strong mind and will. They always keep the end in sight. You must be positive at all times and let the negatives flow out! Don’t let one beat or bad tourney, or even twenty get you down. Just make sure you’re always making the best decision with the given information, and act on it. If you work hard and keep a level head, success will follow eventually.

Now, once you’ve got the success part down, you must keep working to improve your game, while being smart with your money. Try not to get overconfident, thinking that you'll automatically make a set amount per year. Going on shopping sprees for things you don’t need or bankrolling all of your friends isn’t usually smart business. Sure, you have to have some fun, but really you must have great bankroll management to stay successful in this game. People often look at a good player and say, "He’s great because he’s loose aggressive,” or “He's great because he's tight aggressive and patient." Using both of these styles at the right time makes a good player, but this player still must have great bankroll management to even stay in these games, and he must have a strong mind and will to get through hard times, make good choices, and have the goal in sight. For cash games, if you think you are a consistent winning player, I believe you should have 20 or more buy-ins for the current level you’re at. If you get below this amount you must drop down limits until you work your way back up. Just because you hit a huge tournament score don’t go from playing $5-10 no limit to $100-200. Perhaps you can take a small percentage of that score and take a shot, but you really should always work your way up and earn your place. If you don’t do this you won’t be as well rounded and accustomed to the different styles of players. For tournaments, I believe you should have at least 50 buy-ins for that specific range of entry fee -- but 100 is a better number. This will help you survive the volatility and get through the variance.

Ok, now let’s get to some other topics of decision making. In poker and life we must always try to make great decisions. We need to take the given data, make an educated guess as to what the best choice is to get the desired outcome, and then act upon that. At the poker table players sometimes act too fast and don’t get this done effectively. Have you ever watched a hand being played out which you are not involved in and think, "Wow! It's so obvious he is bluffing” or “He must have the nuts here"? Well, let’s think of why the other player in the hand didn’t know this. He probably had a good feeling about what was going on, but his emotion and hurried thinking got to him and he made a sloppy choice. Don’t let that be you! Poker can be broken down into a pretty simple formula. First, know what the other player is holding, either by tells, watching how he's been playing, bet sizing, and all the other data you’ve collected during the session. Figure out his likely range and keep narrowing it down with the more information that you collect during the hand. Second, figure out what the most profitable decision you can make with your holding and position at that time, and act on it. Sometimes it may even take extra courage to muck a strong hand or to make a move with no hand. After you’ve been playing awhile and getting good at this you should be able to trust your instincts and go with your gut almost always.

Decisions in life are similar. In my own experiences, I’ve hung out with the wrong people, got involved in some bad relationships and made other poor choices, but why do people do this? I think it has to do with having too much emotion blocking rational mind, and acting too fast without enough thoughts of all the consequences. So, choices like drinking before or while playing poker will almost never lead to anything positive. Hanging out with "bad" people or those who have a lot of downfalls will only influence you in a negative way. Not getting enough sleep or the right food will lead to your mind wandering away from the tables. All of these little things come into play. Always keep improving and keep an open mind about new ideas and theories. In every aspect of your life make great decisions and you can reap the benefits.

Peace and love,

Jason Gray

* Jason Gray represents a group of six professional poker players called Final Table Team. Their website, www.FinalTableTeam.com features player bios, blogs and updates on their progress in live and online poker tournaments.

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Image 1: Jason Gray

Image 2: Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino - Las Vegas

Image 3: Gray brothers: Jason (left) and Craig (right)