Winners Focus on Power

"Poker is all about picking on the weak. It may be weak hands, weak players, or just weak play." ("Shulman Says," Card Player, Oct. 24, 2003) You may dislike that aspect of our game because it seems immoral, and it certainly is not chivalrous.
If picking on the weak bothers you, poker may be the wrong game for you. Poker is predatory, but so is life in general. The strong eat the weak everywhere, not just at the poker table. Winners recognize that reality, while losers deny, ignore, or minimize it.

Because they are so competitive and realistic, winners focus on power, not luck, justice, morality, personal relationships, or fairness. Poker and life are "unfair." The best player doesn't always win, nor does the one who "deserves" it for other reasons. Cancer, traffic accidents, and other tragedies happen to wonderful people, while drunken wife beaters win the lottery. That's the way poker and life are, and you should accept and cope with that painful reality.

Winners constantly strive to increase their power, aka their edge. They want the best seat in the best game, and they attack when they have the right cards and situation. Your edge shifts constantly. You had an edge moments ago, but it can disappear immediately. Winners always want to know how strong they are now.

Despite its importance, many people ignore or minimize power because they believe that it shouldn't be so important. They focus on more pleasant subjects such as luck, morality, and personal relationships. Doing so makes them more comfortable, but neglecting power costs them chips.

Because it focused on how to acquire and use power, The Prince is regarded as an evil book, and "Machiavellian" means "duplicitous," "deceitful," or just plain "evil." This perception shows how uncomfortable many people are with power. An ideal world would be run by moralists, but our world is run by power-seekers. In fact, many of history's most powerful men studied The Prince, and I urge you to read it.

David Apostolico wrote an excellent book, Machiavellian Poker Strategy. He convincingly argues that people who accept and utilize Machiavelli's emphasis upon power and realism are much more likely to win at the poker table and elsewhere.
When you're playing poker, power overwhelms justice, fairness, and all of the other factors that most people hold dear. Let's say that you have lost all of your money, maxed out your credit cards, borrowed from everyone possible, and your landlord has demanded immediate payment of your overdue rent. You're playing seven-card stud, and your only opponent after third street is a drunken millionaire.

Your first three cards are all aces, the best possible hand, while he has absolute trash. Since he doesn't care about money, he hangs around, catches four cards to make a straight, and takes your last dollar. If poker were based on fairness or justice, you would have won the pot and paid your rent. But, since a straight is more powerful than three aces, you're broke and can't pay the rent.

You should accept that poker players who rely on justice, morals, luck, or just about anything but power are "natural victims." Denying power's importance just increases the power-seekers' edge over you.

Power is Always Relative, Not Absolute

Your power depends upon the relationship between your cards, skills, position, and so on, and those of your opponents. This relativity is most obvious in the way pots are awarded.

In many places, power is often confusing. The "slam-dunk" lawsuit loses when the jury ignores the evidence. A great product is so ahead of its time that it fails in the marketplace. The best runner stumbles on the track. That uncertainty is not true in poker. If the hand goes to showdown, a flush always beats a straight; three deuces always beat aces and kings.

An aces-over-kings full house is a great hand, but if someone has quads, it will cost you a bundle. Conversely, a pair of deuces is a bad hand, unless your opponents have worse ones.

Since only one hand can win each pot, every competent player constantly asks: Is my hand the strongest? If not, do the odds of it becoming the strongest (plus the odds of bluffing successfully) justify putting in more money?

Skill and Discipline are the Most Enduring Power Sources

If you don't play better than your opposition, you must ultimately lose. In fact, since the house takes so much money, you must be much better to win (especially in the smaller games, because the house's charges are relatively higher). If nobody has a significant edge, you all lose.

Winners recognize this fact and constantly compare themselves to their opponents. Selecting games with the right kinds of weaker players has more impact on your results than anything else, perhaps more than all of the other factors combined. Yet, countless players pay little attention to this crucial issue.

In fact, some people deliberately seek tough games to get a kick. If you really care more about that kick than money, it's OK to seek tough games. But, if you want to be a winner, it's foolish.

Your Bankroll is a Major Source of Power

If you play above your bankroll, you take unnecessary risks. First, a run of bad luck can bust you. Second, you will probably play "scared," and scared play is bad play.

Let's re-examine going broke with three aces. Your aces gave you lots of power, but luck overwhelmed that power. Sure, your hand would usually win, but you had weakened yourself by playing with too small a bankroll. Winners avoid that weakness. Since their skill will ultimately prevail, but horrendous luck is part of the game, they make sure they have enough money to survive the inevitable losing streaks.

Many full-time pros have gone broke repeatedly. They may blame bad luck, but unrealistic thinking about bankrolls has often been a major factor. Winners make sure they have adequate capital for this game. If their bankroll becomes too small for their usual game, they play for lower stakes to ensure survival.

My next column will discuss the ways that power changes and how to adjust to those changes. For now, I will just insist that if you want to be a winner (or a bigger one), you must focus on power.

To learn more about yourself and other players, you can buy Dr. Schoonmaker's books, Your Worst Poker Enemy and Your Best Poker Friend, at CardPlayer.com.