Poker Articles

By Zpaceman | Published Oct 05 2007, 12:09 AM
In economics, so-called Beggar-Thy-Neighbour policies seek benefits for one party at the expense of others. Farm subsidies, for example, keep production of foodstuffs in one country where they might be more economically produced in another country. The home country suffers higher taxes (to pay for the subsidies) and higher food prices, while the other country becomes poorer due to the loss of valuable exports. The only beneficiaries are the home country farmers and their local politicians. These people play the system so that they gain and everybody else loses.

Poker is a game where a beggar-thy-neighbour approach would appear to be the best strategy. Poker is a zero-sum game. For every dollar that we win there is someone else that loses a dollar (excluding the rake). When we sit down at a poker table, therefore, we are literally trying to “beggar” our neighbours for our own benefit. Our sole objective is to crush our opponents and win all of their money.

To achieve this objective, we strive to become the best poker players we can, learning the best strategies and tactics to beat our opponents. We confidently sit down at our tables, and, after quickly surveying our opponents' online statistics, we often discover we're up against a motley crew of beginners and donkeys. Then something odd happens. We lose. Somehow one or more of these losing players gets the better of us by a cooler, a bad beat, or, even worse, calling down our elaborate multi-street bluff on the river with second-pair-weak-kicker.

Our first reaction at this point is usually something along the lines of “oh my god, what a donkey,” closely followed by “better lucky than good,” or “wouldn’t it be better if everyone knew how to play?” We’re mini-Hellmuths, convincing ourselves that if it wasn’t for luck we would win all the time.

And there’s the rub: the luck factor. Poker is a game where skill is combined with a large element of luck where anyone, no matter what their skill level, can be a winner on any given day. When we consider the luck element in poker, we need to reconsider whether a beggar-thy-neighbour approach is the best strategy for the game.

If poker was solely a game of skill, we could crush each and every one of our weaker opponents every time we played. We could ruthlessly beggar our neighbours and win all of their money. But how much money could we really win? How many weaker players would gamble with us if they knew that they could not beat us?

The luck element in poker is the essential pre-condition for such wide participation in the game by players of all skill levels. It is the luck element that keeps bad players in the game with the occasional win, coming back for more when they’ve lost. And it is the luck element that attracts more players to the game when an unknown amateur beats a host of professionals to win a world title.

In reality, the amount that a good player can win is directly proportional to the amount of money that all players invest in the game. It is in a good player’s interest, therefore, to attract as many new players to the game as possible and to keep players in the game for as long as possible. As such, there are a number of ways where a nurture-thy-neighbour approach is better overall strategy for the game of poker:

1. Creating a fun and friendly environment for all players. As well as avoiding generally offensive language (which is, in any case, policed by the online sites), we should also avoid berating other players. We may feel like snapping someone’s head off when they just made a horrible play and sucked out on us, but before we launch into a tirade of abuse, we should consider what effect this might have on the other player (and the other players at the table). They may decide not to play any more.

2. By the same token, a generally successful player should try to be humble around other players. Attributing our success to superior skills and intellect may massage our own egos but may also discourage others from wanting to play with us. To encourage other players, especially at the medium-higher buy-in levels where many of our opponents possess some level of skill, we should talk about being lucky to run so well rather than telling our slightly less skilled opponents how good we are (or how terrible they are).

3. Contribute to online discussion forums, magazines, and training sites with positive advice and teachings. While it may seem counter-intuitive to help our less skilled opponents become better, what we are doing is encouraging their continued participation in the game. Good players should be able to continue winning no matter how much advice they give (e.g. Dan Harrington’s recent win at Legends of Poker).

4. Flatter prize pools enable more players to get lucky and make the money. Good players know that most of our profits are made when we make the top three places, but by paying out more spots, tournaments attract bigger fields of weaker players.

5. Good players thrive on slow blind structures, which enable plenty of play in order to pick-off weaker opponents, but if all tournaments were structured this way, the weaker players would get discouraged. Beginners and recreational players prefer faster structures where they can gamble and get to the money quickly. While many good players dislike the reduction of skill involved in turbos, we should encourage the sites to provide many of these events because they’re great for weaker players, especially when they enable them to qualify for higher buy-in events which then have much slower structures.

6. All poker players like to have chips, so starting with more chips is a great incentive for players. Strong players like more starting chips because it gives them so much more play and the ability to survive bad beats and cold runs of cards. Weak players like more starting chips because they feel like they are getting more value for money so they can play more hands.

Good players should continue to feel like crushing their weaker opponents, but before they express these feelings by saying how good they are and how terrible their opponents are, they should put away their egos, tell everyone how fortunate they’ve been, and give some kind words of advice and encouragement. Adopting a nurture-thy-neighbour strategy is good for the game and gives us all a lot more to play for and win than more destructive strategies.