Mind Over Poker

In my last column, we took a look at Miyamoto Musashi’s The Book of Five Rings. Musashi wrote in depth about his lifelong exploration of two essential elements of ancient martial and strategic traditions. According to the Thomas Cleary translation, “[t]he first of these basic principles is keeping inwardly calm and clear even in the midst of violent chaos; the second is not forgetting about the possibility of disorder in times of order.”

Last time, we looked at the application of the first element to no-limit Texas hold’em. Here, we’re going to study the second element.

The situation in poker can change dramatically with the turn of a card or a big bet from an opponent. A hand in which you seemingly have control can spiral out of control quite quickly. While we can never completely eliminate the possibility of disorder, we can play in a way to greatly diminish its potential.

When I first read Musashi’s second element, I was reminded of my friend who is known to gripe that he never wins with pocket aces. While that is probably not 100 percent accurate, he does lose quite often with them because he deserves to lose with them. He slow-plays or makes minimum-raises, and lets players in cheaply. He looks at aces as an entitlement to the pot rather than a hand to be played smartly and for value. Unbeknownst to him, he takes a fairly orderly process and doesn’t anticipate the disorder that can follow.

By not raising, he invites multiple limpers and now has no idea where he stands when the flop comes down. What does he do if he faces a semi-coordinated flop like Q-10-2 with two spades and he’s check-raised? He could be up against A-Q, Q-10, a flush draw, a set of deuces, and some other potential hands. If he had raised preflop, he most likely wouldn’t have to be concerned with a hand like Q-10 or pocket deuces.

A lot of poker pundits advocate that if you are going to enter a pot, you are always better off raising than just calling. While I don’t buy that logic as an absolute, by any means, I think the real message is that by raising, you take control of the hand. When you have control, you have order. Others are now tentative of you and your next actions. They are more likely to be cautious in their own play. The big caveat is that you always have to be aware of the potential for disorder. Poker is a very nuanced game that can become very chaotic at times. I like to take control while minimizing variance. To do that, you have to constantly balance aggressive play with an eye out for disorder. What do I mean by that?

Here are a few examples. While I like to make continuation-bets, I won’t every time. Doing so invites a trap or a bluff from astute players. While I make sure to price players out of draws, I don’t make overbets and offer opponents an incentive to steal a now-larger pot. I base the size of bets not solely on what is material to my stack, but what is material to my opponent’s, as well. I try to keep pot sizes small when the stacks are deep. In short, I try to limit my opponents’ ability to create disorder.

Conversely, I look for opportunities to create some disorder of my own. I’ll bet cards that don’t help me, but that I know are likely to scare my opponent. When I have position, I’ll call a post-flop continuation-bet with an eye on stealing the pot on the turn. I’ll also check-raise against those continuation-bets. Of course, with any move I make to create disorder, I must be prepared to receive a little more disorder from my opponent.

David Apostolico is the author of several poker books, including Tournament Poker and The Art of War. He is available for lessons, and you can contact him at
[email protected].