Dollar for Dollar

Last year my wife said to me, "Honey, let's redo our kitchen."

"Fine," I said. "Get some estimates and let's see how much it will cost."

The figures ranged from $15,000 to $23,000. Sometime later, the lease on my car expired and I went out to buy a new one. All I can say is, I experienced sticker shock when I saw the prices of new cars. There are many "big ticket" items available today, and their cost can cause a person to shake.

On the other hand, when my wife asked me, "What do you want for dinner?" I said, "Let's go out to eat." I then got the standard comment, "We don't need to spend the money." I replied, "What can it cost us, $40 or $50? Honey, I put that in with one round of blinds when I'm playing."

Both of these examples show our perceptions of value as they relate to money. In our everyday lives, we justify what we do in order to acheive today's goal or long-term goals. I often find myself making analogies to my poker playing, in terms of dollars made or spent.

In looking at my everyday life and the many little expenses I have, justifying small expenditures as being equivalent to the blinds is obviously wrong. If I'm playing $30-$60 hold'em and the blinds are $15-$30, it's certainly not the same as taking my family out for a $45 dinner. In the hold'em game, I'm trying to win one big bet an hour. This, of course, makes the blinds the investment in the job I have chosen, and it doesn't relate at all to the money I'm spending at home. Yet, I hear many poker players making the same analogy that I used to make. Furthermore, poker players change their values while in a casino.

One casino where I play charges its players a couple of bucks to eat in the top section, where the food is comped in some other casinos. I've heard many players with hundreds of dollars in front of them complain that they have to pay. They pay the $2 and then tip the waiter $3. These are the same players who, at other casino top sections, get their food for free and tip the waiter a $5 chip. Is $5 more than $2 plus $3? No, but in the comped casino, the player has a different perception of the value he's receiving.

The point of all of this is the psychological way we look at chips and their value. It's all about managing the value of the dollar we are gambling.

This helped me turn the corner in tournament poker. Remember the cost of the new kitchen ($15,000-$23,000)? My wife gave me these estimates while I was playing in the World Series of Poker. The WSOP is one of the few tournaments that gives you an amount of tournament chips that is equal to your buy-in. So, if your buy-in is $2,000, you get $2,000 in tournament chips. While I didn't win the event I was playing, a new light was shed on how I play tournaments and the value of tournament chips. I got very deep into that tournament and the blinds were $1,000-$2,000. All of a sudden, the light went on in my head that every dollar I put into the pot represented a real dollar – dollar for dollar. As it turned out, before I busted out of that tournament, I entered into various pots that could have bought my wife any kitchen upgrade she wanted. I lost a $40,000 pot and won others of $15,000 and $23,000.

While I understand that I couldn't cash out at any given point, it impressed upon me just how valuable those chips really are. Thus, I now ask myself questions before putting money into a pot: Is this hand worth the cost of a kitchen upgrade? Can this hand win me the cost of a car? Is it time to bluff and take a boat away from another player?

While extreme in its relationship to real money, it changed my perspective on the way I play hands, on hand selection, and on bluffing prospects. I no longer say, "This hand is marginal, but I'm going to take a shot," or, "I know I'm beat, but I'll call anyway." I believe this way of thinking has improved my overall game, and most certainly my tournament game. I now relate every call, every fold, and every pot to what it represents in real money.

The next time you're in a tournament and it's $20,000 to call or the pot totals $50,000, remember the things you want most in life and relate them to the pot you're in. This just might give you the answer as to whether you should call, fold, or raise.

Whenever you'd like to play dollar for dollar, come and join us.