Full-Contact Poker: Party Day

As you could probably tell from my first two articles, you won't exactly learn how to play A-Q from early position by reading them. It's not that I'm against a strategy column, but there is already a great deal of quality strategy information in each issue of Card Player. So, I asked myself, what could I add to the magazine? What could I write that already hasn't been written? I decided to focus on the intangibles – how to try to balance a healthy lifestyle while at the same time playing poker for a living. Sounds simple enough, but it's a lot like hold'em. It appears to be a simple game, and it is – but mastering it, well, that's another story.

Very few people in the world, if any, can maintain an optimum level of concentration day in and day out. Everyone has those periods in his life when, for some reason or another, he just can't focus. I'm no exception. As I've gotten older, those types of off days are fewer, but they still creep up on me when I'm working too hard.

If you remember from my last article, as a teenager I played 40 hours a week (eight hours a day, five days a week). Being young and relatively inexperienced, I also had my battles with patience. Playing tight was just so damn boring to me! Yet, I knew that in order to win, I'd have to show some restraint. And I did – for the most part.

Still, though, about once every four to six weeks, I'd declare what was called "party day." Party day was loads of fun. For the eight-hour session on party day, I'd throw caution to the wind and raise with about every hand that was remotely playable. Obviously, this probably wasn't all that smart, but the benefits I received from party day may have been well worth it. Those days taught me a lot about table image and controlling a game. As the "maniac" in the game, I had more than a few people talking to themselves while all of a sudden calling three bets with J 3!

Now, I was a complete maniac preflop, but what the other players failed to realize was that I made good decisions after that. I hardly if ever bluffed past the flop, as I was certain to get called. Yet, I got called every time I made queens and fives, nines and fours, or what have you. Party day would leave a lasting impression on my opponents for the next month, while I'd play my "A" game. My opponents always remembered how "bad" I'd played that day, and still played me as a maniac.

But the real benefit I got from party day was stress release! It felt good to just have fun. Also, my records on party days turned out to be outstanding. I'd caused my opponents to play worse than I played, all the while having a good time themselves.

Now, I don't recommend that you try your own version of party day. You'd be a lot better off by just taking some time off. Playing that way is very difficult, as you're faced with many more decisions than you normally are, which can lead to far too many mistakes. It's a dangerous tool that can go either way. For a player with some real talent, it can be an epiphany, while for others, it could be very discouraging.

I owe party day a great deal of thanks. Playing so many hands aggressively forced me to really improve my hand-reading ability in order to stay above water. Actually, party day helped me form my pot-limit and no-limit hold'em strategies for both tournaments and live games.

If I were a robot as a teenager, I never would have needed party day. I would have just played my "A" game all the time and got the money the good old-fashioned way – but I'm human. Party day got all of the "tilt" out of my system. All of the steam that I'd built up was released. I could then come in the next day with a clean slate, and slowly start building up some more steam for the next party day.

These days, I must confess, I have a new place to release my stress – supersatellites! I don't play craps or blackjack – I play supers! Sometimes when I'm experiencing tournament burnout, I'll take a stack of $100 bills and fire away at a supersatellite, moving in blind, calling with 7-2, or whatever. I've found myself rebuying anywhere from 10 to 15 times in those things, depending upon how long it takes me to get a big stack. Heck, if you play every hand, that's bound to happen sooner or later! After the rebuy period, of course, it's back to "trying to win" again.

Party day was a lot of fun back then. In the games I play now, party day wouldn't be very effective. Actually, I'd get killed. So, unfortunately, party day as I once knew it is a thing of the past. But now, thanks to supersatellites, party day lives on in a new form.

Daniel can be contacted at [email protected].