Come On In

Hi. Come on in. I've boiled some hotdogs in beer. Put them on a bun with sauerkraut and mustard, they're delicious.

Last time, we talked about luck vs. skill at the poker table. Actually, we decided that instead of luck vs. skill, we need luck and skill to win consistently. Now I have some random thoughts on the subject.

No. 1: We can easily define the skills of a boxer, or a baseball player, or a carpenter, but what are the skills of a poker player? Whenever I ask this question, I get a lot of hemming and hawing and mumbling before I finally get anything like a definitive answer. Try it on yourself and on other players, it'll be enlightening. Let me know what you come up with.

No. 2: Any dummy can win a huge pot when he holds four aces against three full houses. Poker skill comes in the playing of one pair against what you perceive to be two middle pair held by a passive opponent.

Skillful players are always looking for opportunities to take down a pot with the second-best hand, using good position and a strong front to make their opponents fold slightly better hands.

No. 3: When you lose a hand, it doesn't necessarily mean you played badly, so there is no need to get down on yourself about it.

When you win a hand, it doesn't necessarily mean you played well, so there is no need to be smug about it.

No. 4: It's a good thing that the best players don't always win. If they did, the game of poker would have died long ago, as would any game if the underdog didn't sometimes score a victory.

No. 5: I have a theory. In my mind, I label it a "fact," but I can't prove it. So, to the world at large, it remains a "theory." I'm content with that. The only "proof" I can offer is agreement from a half-dozen working poker players – and my own experience.

Most winning, skillful poker players, according to my theory, are also lucky poker players. They got lucky when they first started playing poker, won some money, saw an opportunity to win more, started studying the game, became skillful, and were thus able to continue winning. No one starts out as a skillful player. I certainly didn't, but I did start out getting lucky. If you have a minute, I'll tell you how it happened.

Many years ago, I was in Hollywood writing a screenplay about a man who, among other things, played poker. When it came to writing a scene in which the character was in a game, the thought occurred to me that I knew very little about poker. I had played only twice in my life, on a nickel-dime level. I needed to do some research.

I learned about a suburb called Gardena, just a few miles south of Los Angeles, where they played public poker. It was just what I needed. I decided to go there to play poker with the locals. I bought a book on card games that included a section on draw poker. It cost me a couple of bucks, and I still have it on my poker shelf.

Having read the information in the book several times, I put my trusty Mercedes on the freeway and headed for Gardena. Choosing the casino with the brightest, most colorful sign, I entered the lowest-limit game available, $1-$2. At the end of the evening, I – a complete novice – had won about $50, and had gotten the poker experience I wanted to write my screenplay.

As I drove home, my mind kept returning to the $50 win and how easy it had been. I returned the next night and scored a similar win – and did so the next night, and the next. Each time I won, I thought it was because I was a better player than my opponents. I wasn't – I was lucky.

Luck was also with me in that my decision to start playing poker regularly included a decision to learn all I could about the game. I thereby began acquiring my poker skills. But if I had not been lucky – if I had lost the first couple of times I played – I probably would have given up the game right then and there.

Lucky first, skillful later – but it's only a theory.

I never saw anyone eat seven hotdogs so fast. You'll be tasting the kraut for a couple of days. Now it's my nap time. Kill the light on your way out.

Editor's note: Roy West, author of the bestseller 7 Card Stud, the Complete Course in Winning, available from Card Player, has a toll-free 800 number and continues to give his successful poker lessons in Las Vegas to both tourists and locals. Ladies are welcome. See his ad on page 54.