A Tale of Two …

"When I reach the fork in the road, I see that one is less traveled. On the other hand, it has signs, directions, road maps, and statistics."

- Warren Karp

Getting into poker today is much different than yesteryear, and yesteryear was not all that long ago. As I've written in previous columns, I had to watch my father play in order to learn the basics. From that point on, I experienced years of trial and error (costly errors) before I honed my skills enough not to get killed in live action, and then even more years in order to become a winning player. That's not so today, all you lucky poker warriors. Today there are books, and plenty of them, containing quality information from quality authors. They are books that talk about statistics, strategy, hand selection, odds, and so on – things that took me years to learn. Then, of course, there is the Internet, which has a plethora of poker sites. There are Internet newsgroups, forums, and magazines. On some of the forums, you can even ask questions of the pros and get honest invaluable answers. Then there is software, software that you can put on your computer that can analyze hands, play mock games with you, and develop your skills by showing you which plays work and which do not, statistically. The learning curve in comparison to yesteryear is unbelievable; in fact, with diligence, a person could theoretically accomplish what took me and others many, many years to accomplish in a matter of six months to a year.

I say theoretically because nothing substitutes for live play, and eventually you'll have to come out from behind that book or computer screen and get into the game. Let me tell you about one friend who did, and one E-mailer who wants to.

While working my way up the ranks in tournament poker, I found myself making many friends along the way. One of them is Carlos. I met Carlos at The Bicycle Casino while playing in the daily tournaments, which have $15 buy-ins and $10 rebuys. Carlos was an average player trying to learn the ins and outs of tournament poker. What I liked about him the most was his demeanor. He was never without a smile and never without a laugh, win or lose. Recently, Carlos told me about his entry into the game. He had played as a young boy, but never in a casino. Finally, he decided that he would give it a try, and walked into the Bike. He approached a floorperson and asked where the instruction table was. He was invited to sit down in a $1-$3 stud game. Carlos said he was very nervous, but decided to play. Not long into the game, he got rolled-up fives (his three starting cards were all fives). He raised and got reraised. On fourth street, his opponent, with a 6 up, paired his doorcard (showing open sixes). Carlos thought that he might be beat. On fifth street, Carlos caught the fourth 5. Imagine, your first time in a casino and your first big hand, and you make four fives. The story doesn't end here! On sixth street, his opponent made three open sixes. Carlos thought to himself, "Wow, am I going to win a big pot." In the end after all betting was done, his opponent stood up and announced that he had four sixes. Carlos' constant smile wavered, and he reluctantly turned over his four fives and said, "I can't believe I lost with four of a kind." Just then, everyone at the table yelled, "Jackpot!" The next thing he knew, people from other tables, the floorpeople, the casino manager, the chip runners, and the servers came running over. Carlos had just won a "bad-beat jackpot." Yes, he had lost his first big pot, but ended up taking home his share of the jackpot worth $1,800. Carlos became a regular, and said he lost that money in the next two weeks, but he was hooked.

I played in a $330 buy-in tournament recently, and guess who was at my table – Carlos. Like me, Carlos used the small tournament circuit to hone his skills and try to move up. He used the tools available to him, lots of hours of play, to become a good player. His smile is still there, and I wish him continued success.

Next, let's look at an E-mail I received recently. I'll paraphrase some of it with the permission of the writer.

Jay's E-mail was titled, "How do I learn to play poker?"

"I live in Las Vegas. When I gamble, I play positive expectation video poker machines, and I play them with near-flawless expertise. For me, playing video poker is fun, despite the fact that it's a chore for me to practice regularly on my home computer. And believe it or not, I win more than I lose (this is a big part of what makes it fun for me). I have never played live poker, because live poker is not like video poker; it is more like chess. If one wishes to become a chess master, there is a course of action to follow. First, you learn the rules. Then, you spend countless hours analyzing the functionality of the pieces. You learn the combinations, the openings, the middle game, and the endgame, and then you spend lots of hours analyzing position and balance, among other things."

So far, this sounds like poker to me.

Jay continued, "Here's the problem with beating your opponent at chess: You've played him before, probably several times. He knows how you open, your lines of thought, and that you are more dangerous with your knights than your bishops. As you improve, he watches you. He's seen you go from being a poor player, to a mediocre player, to a worthy opponent. This information helps him beat you – it is the psychology of the game."

Still sounds like poker to me.

Continuing, Jay said, "Poker has the same problem, and that is why I've never sat down to play live poker. I want to be a worthy opponent before I ever sit down at the poker table. I don't want my opponents to 'learn' me while I'm not competitive. But I do not know the course of action to take. So, that is my question. What is the course of action to take to become a good poker player?"

The quandary for Jay is his desire to become a worthy opponent before he sits down in a game. There are many components to the answer to his question, none of which suggests that he skips paying his dues at the table in a live game. Many of the components are at the beginning of this column. They include books, magazines, the Internet, forums, and software. All of these venues for learning will enable Jay to spend the countless hours needed for analyzing the functionality of hands, and learning the combinations, odds, and implied odds, the opening hands and the betting, the middle game, and the endgame. Then, he must spend lots of hours analyzing position and betting, raising, trapping, and check-raising, among other things. Having an opponent "learn" him while he's not competitive is not as likely as Jay would think, because players in a game change from day to day, and as he gets better at his craft, he will most likely move up in limits and play against better players who never saw his noncompetitive game.

Carlos took one road to learn this game, Jay wants to take another. Neither is wrong, and both can be successful. However, whereas Carlos took years, Jay can accomplish it in months. When I talk with pros about the present and future of our game, we all agree that it's becoming harder to walk over the field, as most new players are better educated than ever before.

So, I leave you with this: Read those books, try out that software, get online, join forums, and ask questions. I thank Carlos and Jay for sharing with us, and now it's time for you to come join us.