If It's Wednesday, It Must be Time for Poker

Returning to our Wednesday afternoon poker discussion group, allow me to introduce you to some of the players. There are Card Player columnists who regularly attend, as well as some writers for other periodicals. There are college students, a pai gow tiles dealer, a waiter and his wife, who is a supervisor at the concourse arcade of a Strip casino, and some retired guys who are trying to supplement their incomes. There is Linda Johnson, a World Series of Poker champion and poker guru, a married couple who are semiretired and trying to choose a direction to take with their spare time, and a married friend who is trying to convince his wife that the poker discussion group would be a good thing for them to do together, as she is just learning the game of poker.

The point is that anybody anywhere can put together a group of poker enthusiasts and talk about poker. Even without a resident expert or moderator, a problem hand to one person may be a very obvious play to another. One interesting thing we discussed last week was how tough it is for married couples to try to help each other with their respective poker games. One couple had no problem being objective and rethinking different poker scenarios, while the married guy whose wife has yet to attend asked, "Why won't my wife let me give her advice?" Of course, no one knows the answer to why some things can be discussed with loved ones while other things cannot. One couple works very well together discussing each other's weaknesses and strengths, as well as playing devil's advocate to each other in offering different play options for the same hand. Another couple agree that they disagree, and therefore do not try to discuss the play of hands. He prefers stud while she prefers hold'em. They often used to have "bad" discussions, with comments made such as, "How do you know? You are a hold'em (stud) player!"

Roy Cooke was our guest recently, and we are hoping that he will join us often. He brought up some interesting ideas about record keeping. He does it differently than I do, and quite differently than I suggest, yet after hearing his methods and reasons, I am not as adamant about my own method being the best – and I just hate it when that happens! When Roy plays, he logs his hours, the game played, the location, and the key hands played. He does not count his chips. That's right, he does not record his profit or loss each session. He keeps a bag of chips from which to play, and when he is through for the day, he puts his chips back in the bag and takes them home or puts them into his safe-deposit box. Perhaps he does not literally have a bag, I didn't ask him, but he plays out of the same money regardless of the amount, and he counts it only at the end of the month or year, or whenever his needs dictate it. He believes that poker is one long game, and that you don't need to know how many sessions are winners or losers; you just need to know that you played X number of hours and won $X at the end of the year. Anyway, it is food for thought. I like knowing my winning percentage, yet I can see that it may not be as important as I thought. To me, it is an indicator of progress, but the bottom line is still how many units I am winning. If I lose nine out of 10 sessions, but lose only $10 in each of those sessions and win $1,000 in the winning session, is the fact that I won only 10 percent of the time important? I guess not.

Doug Dalton, director of poker operations at MGM/Mirage, sat in when he hosted us in one of his conference rooms recently. In addition to providing those cookies I told you about (I'll get you, Doug), he shared one of his management philosophies that I think is very important. It is this: We, as players and students of the game, should look upon our favorite and regular cardroom as our partner, not as just the house. We certainly are the customers and provide the cardroom a player base and pay for the right to play, but cardrooms provide so very much to us, as well. Oftentimes, that goes unnoticed by poker players. Many of you play to supplement your income, or to make a living. The cardroom provides a gathering spot to make that happen. Without a nice environment for recreational players to come to, there would be no profitable games and no opportunity for us to earn money playing the game that is our passion. As partners, we owe it to cardroom management to make the other players feel welcome, just as the house has done for us. Our behavior should be held to a high standard. When you play, you should dress above the bare minimum, your behavior should be top-notch, and your attitude toward the staff and players should reflect what you would want in return. Don't run off a visiting player, don't give instructions at the table, and be courteous, kind, and fun to play with. Loose players will play longer and give away more money if they are having fun, and you the regular player can help to make that happen. Doing so will directly put money into your pocket. So, the next time you are playing, try to notice what you might be able to do for your regular cardroom, and not merely what it can do for you. It's already providing you a place to earn money, so try to reciprocate. Class dismissed.

Please E-mail me your questions and comments. I personally will answer every letter I receive.