Winning Wisdom -- Gavin Griffin

At only 27 years old, Gavin Griffin already holds one of the most impressive collections of poker's most prestigious titles. The former poker dealer won the $3,000 buy-in pot-limit hold'em event at the 2004 World Series of Poker, a win that, at the time, bestowed upon him the record as the youngest bracelet winner in history. Since then, he has accumulated more than $4.5 million in live tournament winnings, and made history again by winning the European Poker Tour Grand Final Championship, which boasted the biggest first-place prize in EPT history at the time, more than $2.4 million. Griffin continued his quest for major titles at the 2008 World Poker Tour Borgata Poker Classic, where he snagged a triple crown by winning the coveted WPT title and the $1.4 million first-place prize.

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.


Inexperienced in Live-Tournament Play

Gavin:
I play online poker as much as I can, but I am too nervous to play a tourney at a few of the local casinos because I have no experience and I do not want to mess up. Do you have any advice for me for starting out with live play? Thank you.
- Jeremy Sparks

Hi, Jeremy:
Let me start by saying that I get questions like this a lot. People are always worried about going to a casino to play for the first time, as they are not sure what it will be like. I also had this problem when I first played poker in a casino. I was 19 years old and a couple of friends and I went to a casino on an Indian reservation in Michigan. We were having a good time gambling and losing our money. I decided that I was going to try to play poker. They had a $2-$4 limit game there and I got on the list. We had been to this place a few times and I had hung out in the poker room to see what it was like. I knew that I had to get on the list to get in a game, but that was about it. They called my name and I bought in for $100 and went to the table. I sat down, and the dealer asked me if I wanted to post. I had no idea what he was talking about! My friends and I had never used blinds in our poker games, so it didn't really register with me that you had to post a blind in order to be dealt in your first time. I kind of froze and looked at the dealer. Nobody really helped me, so I just said yes, and the dealer told me to put out $4. I was two positions from the big blind, so the other players in the game must have been licking their chops after seeing me post like that. I ended up folding on the flop in that hand and then went on to lose my buy-in. (I did take a pretty bad beat during that session!) I wish that the people in the game had been more helpful, as it would have made my experience much better. I paid attention to everything that was going on in the game, and I really started to figure out what I was supposed to do pretty quickly. I didn't make any more mistakes the rest of the night. I lost, but I learned a lot about playing poker in a casino. I play a lot of charity tournaments these days, and I think back to that day when people at my table are making mistakes because they've never played in a casino before. Everyone has to start somewhere, and it doesn't hurt to be nice.

You have a bit more of a solid foundation than I did when I first played poker in a casino, so I think you'll do OK. You know what blinds and antes are, so that's a good start. There are two rules that I think are important for a beginning casino poker player to know. The first is the string-bet rule. When you are betting, you have to be sure to put out the amount that you are going to bet or raise in one motion, or announce that you are going to bet or raise, and how much; that way, you can make as many motions with your chips as you want. For example, if the action is checked to you and you want to bet 125, there are two things you can do. You can either get 125 in chips together in your staging area (the area right in front of you or your chips) and then push them forward, or you can verbally declare 125 and then put the chips out. This goes for raising, as well. If you want to raise someone's bet of 125 to 400, you can get 400 in chips together and then move them forward into the betting area, or you can say, "Raise to 400," and then put out 400 in chips.

The second major rule that you need to know is the oversized-chip rule. Rule No. 11 from the Tournament Directors Association website states:

"A single oversized chip will be considered a call if the player does not announce a raise. If a player puts an oversized chip into the pot and states raise but does not state the amount, the raise will be the maximum allowable up to the size of that chip. After the flop, an initial bet of a single oversized chip without comment will constitute the size of the bet. To make a raise with a single oversized chip, a verbal declaration must be made before the chip hits the table surface."

Oftentimes, I see a player who's new to casino poker place an oversized chip in the pot, intending to raise, without saying anything. This is a mistake that can lead to losing a pot or even all of your chips. Beware of this problem. If your intention is to raise and you don't have the correct change to make the raise that you want to make, either get change from a neighbor or state your intention to raise, and the amount, before releasing your chip. If, for instance, you want to raise a bet of 300 to 1,000 and you want to use a chip valued at 1,000, you must say "raise" before the chip hits the felt in order for it to count as a raise.

These are probably the most important rules that apply to live poker and not to online poker that you need to know before you play. There are others that may come up in odd situations, but most poker rules are governed by common sense. Be sure to always pay attention to what is going on around you, and don't be afraid to ask questions. For the most part, poker players will help someone who is new to the game, as it's always good to add more players to a local game. Best of luck, Jeremy.

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