Winning Wisdom

At only 27 years old, Gavin Griffin already holds one of the most impressive collections of poker's most prestigious titles: World Series of Poker, European Poker Tour, and World Poker Tour championships.

Now, Card Player is giving its readers a chance to send questions directly to the poker prodigy.

Poker fans can send Griffin their questions to [email protected]. The questions can be about anything from poker strategy to his opinions on certain aspects of poker or his life as a poker pro traveling the circuit. The best questions will be answered by Griffin and published in Card Player. If your question makes it into print, we'll send you a free Card Player T-shirt.


Hi, Gavin:

I just started playing poker online. I have some experience playing live, but as we all know, online poker is different in many ways. As I was reading the Forum at CardPlayer.com, I noticed that most people post data that their tracking software has gathered on their opponents along with the hand they want to discuss. Right away, I got the impression that most serious poker players depend heavily on tracking software when they play online. I'm curious to read your thoughts on tracking software, whether or not you think it is ethical and if you use it yourself. Congratulations on your past success and good luck in the future. Thanks in advance.

- Phil


Hey, Phil:

Well, you said it, online poker and live poker are very, very different. The only tools available for tracking your opponents' play when you are playing live poker are your brain and maybe a notebook and pen. You have a lot to pay attention to when you are playing poker, and you should definitely try to take in as much as you can and remember it. When you are playing online, there are tools available that do all of that for you. There are programs that track player stats in cash games, tournaments, and sit-and-gos. They sort what percentage of hands your opponents play, how aggressively they play them, how much they are winning or losing, and how many hands you have played together. They also give you some really important information about your own game, like how much money you are winning or losing from each position at the table, how you do against specific players, or how you are performing with specific hands. All of this information is available, and you don't even have to do anything to get it other than pay $50 or so for the program (an investment that certainly pays for itself). The only thing you have to do is keep a program running in the background while you play, and it does everything for you. Some of them will even overlay the information you choose onto your game window, so you can see a player's stats without having to browse through the software.

All of this gives you an advantage over players not using the software. It makes it easier to figure out how a player plays without having to pay a ton of attention to him during individual hands, which in turn makes it easier to multitable, which in turn increases your volume and therefore your profit. One of the most important parts of being a successful online poker player is volume. You have the ability to play 5,000 hands in a few hours. The more hands you play, the more decisions you make. When you have more information than other players, you make better decisions and you make more money. Variations in your luck happen in days or weeks instead of weeks or months, and you reach the long run much faster, which allows you to more correctly evaluate your play and adjust to make better decisions.

Online poker is not perfect. There are ways that people can cheat, and they have. There have been some high-profile scandals as of late, mostly because high-ranking people within the companies in question have gotten greedy and tried to use their positions to their advantage. Poker tracking software has been instrumental in identifying these individuals, proving that they did something wrong, and putting a stop to the cheating. The programs were used to quickly put together and analyze data gathered by many different players. A pattern emerged from all of this data that could be explained by nothing other than cheating. It would have been much tougher, maybe even nearly impossible, to prove cheating if it weren't for these programs.

I think that data-processing programs are great for poker players and are not unethical. You are still making all of the decisions, and are just getting extra information to make those decisions. Anybody you are playing with could and should be using the same programs to help them. Use this software to your advantage, Phil, or you may just get left behind.


Gavin:

First off, congratulations on your accomplishments in the poker world. I was wondering if you could give me, as well as others, your insight on tips and strategies upon entering a H.O.R.S.E. tournament. I have heard some advice through friends, but would really appreciate it if you could elaborate on this further for me. Thanks.

- Richard


Hi, Richard:

I'm sure there are many people who would be able to tell you more about H.O.R.S.E. tournaments than I can, but I'll do my best. First of all, as I would suggest when entering any tournament, be prepared. Be well-rested, well-fed, and focused. There is no greater tool in a poker player's arsenal than the ability to focus and pay attention at the poker table. You can't do this if you aren't well-rested and well-fed. Any distractions like tiredness or hunger will take away from your ability to gather information from your opponents. Second, remember that H.O.R.S.E. is played as a limit game. In limit games, the size of the pot often makes your decisions for you. You should obviously have high starting-hand standards, but deep in a hand, make sure to always account for the size of the pot when making your decisions. The next tip I have for you seems like an odd bit of advice, but make sure you always know what game you are playing. This goes back to the point about paying attention, but it's an incredibly important thing, especially for people who aren't used to playing mixed games. I can't tell you how many times I've seen people (including myself on an occasion or two) lose a lot of chips because they were playing a full house in razz and they thought it was the stud high round. Finally, as always, make sure you have fun playing in a H.O.R.S.E. tournament. I know razz can be pretty brutal sometimes, but poker isn't worth playing if you're not going to have fun.

Gavin Griffin is a member of Team PokerStars. Visit his website at www.gavingriffin.net.