Poker Articles

The night before I left for the Taj in Atlantic City to play the $300 buy-in PLO8 event there, my son and I were watching poker on TV. At a commercial, he ran from the room, and I heard him puttering about downstairs. I yelled for him when the next hand came on, but it was a few minutes before he came bounding into the room with an armful of stuff.

“I think you should wear a hat when you play tomorrow,” he began. “I got you a few so you’d have a choice.” He dumped some hats on my lap.

As I looked them over, I thought the inclusion of the black ski mask a little overboard, but I got his point. He held up a small pair of sunglasses and continued, “I also think you should wear these.” The glasses were of the type Raymer had made famous, but instead of eyeballs they had a skull and crossbones hologram over each eye.

I hugged him and laughed. “I’m going to play poker, not rob a bank.”

Of course he got indignant. “Daaaad! These are so you don’t give away your hand.”

I proved to him my poker face was good enough by keeping perfectly still as he told me first that he was failing math and then that he was pregnant, but he did start me thinking. I decided to keep tabs on my live play over the next three days and how I dealt with the interpersonal part of the game. I mean, after all this internet play, perhaps my live game had suffered.

What I found over the next few days was that I have two distinct and very different playing personas live. The one that I had been using all the time it seems over the last few years is what I like to call Triple S – strong, silent, and sullen. In this persona, when I am not involved in a hand I am invisible. I do not speak if I don’t have to and I either read or write or listen to music to pass the time. When I am involved in a hand, I am in a controlled state of non-communication. My movements are slow, practiced and precise, down to my breathing. I do not talk, communicate, or even move my head at all except to observe my opponents and see if they are giving away any information.

I had a few top players who were there at the tourney with me observe me when they could to make sure I didn’t have any subconscious tells or tics that I was unaware of. All three guys told me that they couldn’t read me at all, so I believe I am safe and my private information is secure.

It was only when I started to dig a little deeper that I noticed a problem. Let me start with, what are for me, a few axioms:

1) Live poker is boring. I am old to be sure, but I am still very much affected by ADHD. I have to exert a great force of will to sit still and I want to be doing something all the time. In live poker there are really long periods of time when I have to sit still and do nothing. I find this tedious at best. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!

2) My mood affects my behavior and my behavior affects my mood. Even if I am excited to be playing in a tourney, a prolonged period of Triple S puts me in a sour mood. If I force myself to play sullenly, pretty soon I become sullen.

3) To be at my best I need to enjoy what I am doing. As a long time teacher, I sometimes put this across as a universal axiom. From the little kids at my Elementary school to the adults I teach poker, I am always trying to get my students to enjoy their work. When you are truly having fun, it is easy to give your best effort.

I found that not only was I not enjoying playing poker in the Triple S style, it actually put me in a lousy mood all around. Fortunately I was able to rediscover my second style of live play. This style is active, involved and gregarious. I talk (prolly too much), laugh, and generally act like a real person. The only thing is that I still maintain a tight control over my emotions and actions while in a hand. I call this style the Force of Nature.

The advantages of this style are numerous for me. I can play at my best and continue to do so for long hours since I am enjoying my time at the table. At breaks and especially at dinner I can be around other people and not act like a jerk in a sullen mood. Instead of being invisible at the table, I am a force to be reckoned with, even when not in a hand.

I originally developed the Triple S style to allow me to grind out a few dollars every night when I first started playing poker. I would play at least four hours a night, sometimes up to eight or more hours and it was always low fixed limit poker. I would read books and write in my notebook while not in hands and the important thing was just to put in the hours.

This style served this single purpose well. In fact, while many of the other starving artists in Los Angeles waited tables to make rent, I was able to play for my supper. I spent many years playing this way and it has become second nature to me.

When I started playing tournaments I found the Force of Nature one day by accident. To be honest I was playing in one of my first tournaments after I had a teaching job some extra money and some friends and I were really wasted. I was smiling and laughing and having a great time and since it was a low buy-in tourney, I didn’t care if I won or lost. But boy did I win! I won and won and won until I got heads up and then we chopped up the prize money.

When I am at home playing on the net I naturally play in this same frame of mind. Until recently though I had forgotten how to do it in a live tourney. Thank goodness I rediscovered it. Not that I won in AC, but I did come close and I definitely had more fun!

Last night I watched the Jet Li movie, “Fearless”. In it Li says, “Through competition we discover our true nature.” I believe that letting your true nature come through is how you can always be at your best. Hats and sunglasses may hide the signs that betray your hand, but all the hats and glasses in the world can’t hide your true nature. Wear em if you must, but always be yourself and you’ll be fine.