Don’t Forget the Basics

I was playing a heads-up sit-and-go against an opponent who’d given me a fairly good match. I was holding a 2-1 chip lead with high blinds when we both got all in — A-9 for me, K-5 for my foe. I flopped trip nines and rewarded my worthy opponent with a “gg” in the chat box — prematurely, as it turned out, for he hit a runner-runner straight to double through me and stay alive in the match. But here’s the thing: He wasn’t there anymore!

So clearly disgusted was he at the sight of my three nines that he just up and left the table, and never came back. Eventually, he was blinded off, and I won the match against a foe who was at first worthy and in the end “sitting out.” Look, it’s not like I didn’t understand his point of view. He thought he was defeated — knew it, for all intents and purposes — and didn’t feel like sticking around to endure the inevitable. I can relate to that feeling. We all can. Who wants to stick around and feel pain? But such an irrational emotional reaction negates a basic truth of poker: It ain’t over until it’s over. No matter how hurt he felt, he ignored common sense — forgot a fundamental — when he left me, giving me an uncontested win.

It put me in mind of the many other basics that we often overlook in the heat of battle, and made me think that it might be a good time to review and refresh some of them. You could call this stuff “good poker hygiene,” and it should be automatic stuff, second nature to any player who would call himself a winner, because in poker today, there’s some fairly above-the-rim play going on, but you can’t expect to succeed in the rarefied air of … let’s call it … art poker unless you’re taking care of business with the basics.

Here are a few things that I hope you haven’t gotten out of the habit of doing:

Wait to look at your cards: As the cards are dealt, there’s a great temptation to see what you’ve got and start formulating a strategy for your hand. The trouble is, we give away information thereby. Unless you’re 100 percent certain that you’re 100 percent tell-proof (and don’t be, because you’re not), make it your practice to wait until it’s your turn to act before looking at your cards. That way, you never risk giving information to those who act before you.

Look downstream: By the same token, not everyone you play against will have such good card hygiene. Make it your practice to look downstream every time, to see what you can pick off in terms of your foes’ intentions. Who’s reaching for chips? Who’s cocking his cards for a muck-pitch? Who looks ready to raise? You won’t always be correct in your analysis of these actions, but if you don’t look, you’re denying yourself information that you’re being offered every hand for free.

Never look at the flop: Players do this all the time, and it just cracks me up: They sit rapt and riveted as the dealer lays out the flop, keenly focused on the cards and instantly calculating what impact the flop will have on the play of their hands. They never look at the other players! To me, this has never made any sense. After all, the flop will still be there in five seconds, but your foes’ fleeting reactions will be gone. And I know you can argue that good players don’t give away this sort of information, but are all of your opponents that good? At minimum, by looking at other players instead of the flop, you remove all risk of betraying your own reaction to the cards, and how can that not be a basic good thing?

Shop around: Both in the real world and online, we have such an abundance of choices, yet we often settle for the first seat that becomes available. If you’re not actively searching out the best game with the weakest opponents, you’re squandering an ongoing profit opportunity. By making the decision to play in a less than optimal game, it’s as if you’re committing to playing each and every hand in a less than optimal way.

Think things through: Take a moment to do your basic calculations of pot odds and card odds. Even if you know that your decision is obvious — maybe you have a clear fold, no questions asked — it never hurts to review the basic math of the situation. For one thing, such practice improves your ability to make these calculations on the fly. For another, you eliminate another tell — let’s call it the autopilot tell — by eradicating the difference between how you behave when you know what you’re going to do and when you’re not entirely sure.

Eliminate distractions: Whether you’re playing at home, where the phone may ring and e-mail may beckon, or in cardrooms, with their big-screen TVs and formidable drink servers (and formidable drinks!), it’s so easy to become distracted while playing poker. Needless to say, this detracts from your ability to glean information from your foes and to play your best, most focused game. Always and forever, bring your best “be here now” attitude to the game. If you can’t do that, you probably shouldn’t play.

Monitor your mindset: If you’re playing great, acknowledge that you’re playing great, and keep doing what you’re doing. If you’re on tilt, or think that you might be about to go on tilt, just get up and get away from the table. In all cases, keep an eye on how you feel. As has often been noted, at the poker table and elsewhere, “Nobody hurts you harder than yourself.” Only you can know if you’re in the right state of mind to play poker — but if you’re not paying attention, even you can’t know it.

This list, as we know, could go on and on. Don’t play when you’re ill, angry, or drunk. Don’t lose more in one session than you can reasonably expect to win back in the next. Don’t let other players get under your skin. Keep track of chip stacks. Know the structure of the game or tournament you’re playing in. All of this stuff is basic, and all of this stuff is crucial. Because it’s all so basic, you might feel that you had it all dialed in long ago, and really don’t need to revisit it now. I might even agree with you, had I not just won a match from a foe who made the basic mistake of leaving the table before the match was done. He gave me free money, and I don’t care how clever, tricky, or skillful a player he might otherwise be, he can’t hope to be a winner if he consistently, or even occasionally, does that.

John Vorhaus is the author of the Killer Poker book series and the poker novel Under the Gun. He resides in cyberspace at radarenterprizes.com. Photo: Gerard Brewer.