Decide to Play Great Poker

Exciting times around here, folks. Exciting times, indeed. After the world’s longest gestation period (longer than an African elephant, and they can go 660 days before popping), Decide to Play Great Poker is in print at last. It’s my new poker book, co-authored by Annie Duke. Or I guess you could say that Annie’s new poker book is co-authored by me. In any case, it’s a freaking awesome tome, and I say this as someone responsible only for the pretty words, not the brilliant concepts, for which all hail the great Annie Duke, the most electric and incisive poker teacher and scholar I have ever met in my life (or, indeed, in the lives of many African elephants).

I won’t go so far as to call the book revolutionary — but okay, you know what, I will, because it takes the conventional approach to poker and turns it completely inside out. When you’re done with Decide (and I’m warning you now, it will take you several rewarding readings before you reach that point), you will think about poker in ways that you never have before. You’ll understand the game more deeply and completely than ever. In poker situations in which you once stumbled around dazed and confused, you’ll now have crystal clarity. You’ll know what you’re doing, why you’re doing it, and how your approach is theoretically sound. Let me give you just two touchstones.

Poker, as we know, is a game of decision-making under conditions of uncertainty. Most poker players, it turns out, base their decisions on what they think is going to win them the most money. However, here comes Decide with a new thought: Making money isn’t the goal of poker, it’s just the byproduct of correct decision-making. Seeking to maximize gain isn’t always the correct decision. There are some times, for example, when you really want to minimize loss. Then again, there are times when you don’t know whether you’re trying to maximize gain or minimize loss — like when you have A-Q on an A-x-x board, and you don’t know if you’re facing A-K or better, or A-J or worse. In such situations, what you really want to do is minimize decision-making difficulty. Make your decisions easier; make the other guy’s decisions harder. You can make money all day long on that margin — while not ever caring whether you’re making money or not! And Decide shows you how.

Decide is also all about “good math” and “bad math.” Good math is making sure that the pot is offering you the right odds to draw, and bad math is … well, not that. Most players understand this, but they don’t understand it fully. With a flush draw, for instance, we know that we’re about a 2-1 underdog to complete that flush with two cards to come. On a flushy flop, then, a lot of players will call along if they think they’re getting better than 2-1 — forgetting, of course, that they might not get to see both the turn and the river for just the price of their call on the flop. Within the Decide framework, they’ll never be getting the right price, because if they do bad math with a call on the flop, why, we’re gonna make ‘em do bad math again on the turn. Then they’ll either repeat their math mistake, or else fold for the price of the mistake they made on the flop. And yes, they might get lucky and make their hand, but — here’s the beauty part — it doesn’t matter! Every time you do good math, you win. Every time your foes do bad math, they lose. As long as you’re on the right side of the math, you need never be vexed by adverse outcomes again. They just don’t matter anymore. (And believe me, the math’s not that hard — if I can do it, anyone can.)

A considerable benefit of this is that your tilt factor goes way, way down. When you know you’re playing correctly, and when you understand the logic and purpose for your every move at the poker table, it’s much easier to take bad outcomes in stride. They bounce off of you like bullets off of Superman. (Or similes off of good writers.) You become emotionally invulnerable — and that, my friends, is a consummation devoutly to be wished.

Wow, I’m pimping the pulp pretty hard here, aren’t I? It almost feels like I’m proselytizing a new religion, and, well, maybe in a sense I am. You know, I’ve written more than a dozen books, and I’ve become pretty adept at promoting them, but I’ve never had the experience of promoting a book like the experience I’ve had with Decide…all goggle-eyed enthusiasm and no self-consciousness. Because even though I’m a co-author, what I really am is a big, big fan. So, yeah, it feels weird telling you how important this book is, and how very urgently you need to read it, how it’s a freaking steal even at $34.95 (for print; less for the e-book), and how, in my humble opinion, it’s the greatest thing since sliced ice, or even Super/System. I mean, how up my own ego must I be to blow my own horn this way? But the thing is, it’s not my horn — it’s Annie’s. I’m proud to say that this book could not have been written without me, since I’m the guy who took Annie’s concepts and laid them out on the page for all to see; on the other hand, this book could never have been written by me, either — not in a million years. I just didn’t see poker that way.

But hey, guess what? Now I do. That’s because I’m not only this book’s co-author, I’m also its first reader, and it has made such a difference in my poker comprehension, confidence, and, oh, by the way — results. Decide has taken my game to a new level — a level I didn’t even know existed. That’s pretty darn swell. So, I’m all wide-eyed, and the world can just deal with it.

I have my fans; I know I do. I don’t have as many as Annie (she has 31,000 Twitter followers; I have 93), but I have some. The thing people seem to like about my books is how readable they are. That’s a backhanded compliment in a sense — fun read, slim in content. Now, with Decide, I’m proud to say that I can offer you the best of both worlds: a fun read that directly channels one of the great poker minds of our time, or even of all time. Check out the book and see if you don’t agree. In the end, all you have to do is decide — decide to play great poker. ♠

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.