21st Century Poker

I first took up no-limit hold’em poker in 1978, when I left my home in Michigan and went to Nevada for a month of gambling at poker every day. The game of no-limit hold’em changed a lot from that time to the end of the 20th century. Doyle Brunson came out with his Super-System book, and tournament poker caught on big time in the early eighties when the entries swelled from satellite tournaments. When California legalized hold’em for in 1987, the popularity of the game was given a huge boost. Many Las Vegas pros took up residence in the Golden State, and the game received an especially enthusiastic reception in the Asian community.

Yet all this was but a prelude to the immense explosion of no-limit hold’em throughout the world, the result of Internet poker and televised tournaments where you could see the player’s hole cards. When an amateur player, Chris Moneymaker, became our poker world champion in 2004, amateur players all over the planet competed in Internet satellite events for a chance at becoming multi-millionaires.

Internet poker extended the game of no-limit to a whole new group of players. They had not learned limit hold’em first like my generation, but went straight to the more challenging game of no-limit directly. So my generation first learned hand values, and the 21st century players first learned tricky moves and lots of aggression. Of course, the best players know both hand values and aggressive poker, but there were not so many of them to have that knowledge spread deeply to the huge number of new players attracted to the game.

In my opinion, the 21st century style of aggressive play does better in a tournament format, where you cannot sit back and wait for a big hand or the blinds will eat you up. More solid play still works well in cash games, where it is easier to use patience in entering pots.

The reason I am talking about the great changes in no-limit hold’em over the past 34 years is because I have finally finished my new book, No-Limit Holdem Poker. It is perfectly reasonable to ask questions like the one I received in a recent email. “The game has changed a great deal since your earlier books Bob. How are you addressing the changes?” Here are my comments concerning this line of thought.

First, I am well aware of the immense 21st century changes that have taken place. Even though I do not play as often now as when poker was my main source of income, I am far from retired. I talk about the game a lot with both poker friends and poker students. I have gone to the WSOP for a week or two in nearly every year since 2000. We have charity poker in Michigan, which I play in on occasion, though most of the games are for stakes that are lower than is my usual preference.

Second, I am the type of player who adjusts well to a new environment. For example, in 1988, I won two events at the Isle of Man in the European Poker Championships. In one of those events, we played Italian Draw, a game I had never played before in my life!

Third, all of the material used in the book has been reviewed in 2012 before being included. (Nearly all of it is from my 21st Century material anyway.) My book was put together using the utmost care to make sure it was fully applicable to no-limit poker as it is currently played.

Fifth, the style of poker I teach is quite aggressive. Even though I believe in the soundness of starting hands in a cash-game environment, once you enter combat, you need to fight hard for the money. (My friend Lee Wosk, an excellent no-limit player, once told me that he did not know of anyone who won a higher percentage of pots entered than I did.) One of the main points that I teach is betting a lot of flops. (“Don’t leave money out in the middle to rot,” was an expression I heard often from Bones Berland.) Betting big on the turn to blast opponents out of the pot or make them pay big time to stay in is an important tool in the style of play that I favor. A lot of people misjudge a player who plays few starting hands, mentally classifying such a person as a nut artist or wimp. That is far off the mark for both me and those who follow what I preach.

Last, and most important, even though poker has undergone a great transformation over the years, the basic principles of good play have not lost their efficacy. The changes have been mainly in the elements of good technique being more widely known and the game being played aggressively by many more of your opponents. These things hurt your bottom line, but they do not nullify the basic principles of good play. Are any of these things below that I teach suddenly no longer applicable to no-limit hold’em?

(1) Position is critical to understanding what your hand is worth. He who acts last, acts best. You must combine your actual cards with your position to properly evaluate your hand.

(2) When out of position, you should bet a little greater amount, because you are less interested in playing a pot to conclusion, and more inclined to be happy to simply lock up the pot.

(3) Good position is helpful to any hand, but a drawing hand profits even more from good position than does a made hand. Quite often, the pot odds price is not enough to keep you in on a draw, but the implied odds allow you to continue competing for the cash.

(4) If there is only one card to come, a draw wants to have money left to wager, so he can win when bluffing or get paid off when hitting.

These are only a few examples of strategy concepts that will not change unless the rules of no-limit hold’em itself are changed. There are actually scores of poker advice like these which are independent of the decade being discussed.

What are some things you need to do when playing in a 21st Century game? Because there are so many aggressive players these days, especially in tournaments with a large buy-in, you need to lower your values for reraising. Gone are the days when a player who reraised preflop in one of these tournaments was a heavy favorite to have aces or kings in the pocket.

You also need to run a slight risk by slow playing a hand that is considering a reraise, especially when you have position on a player who bets the flop. I am referring to a hand like A-K, especially when you have just called a preflop raise.
Your hand values may need to change a lot for the modern game, but most of the basic principles of good play remain intact. I think my book No-Limit Holdem Poker will work just fine for the players of the 21st century. ♠

Bob Ciaffone’s new poker book, No-Limit Holdem Poker, will be back from the printer by the end of October, 2012. This is Bob’s fifth book on poker strategy. It can be ordered from Bob for $25 by emailing him at [email protected]. Free shipping in the lower 48 states to Card Player readers. All books autographed. Bob Ciaffone is available for poker lessons.