Memory

Most people don’t regard poker as a game that requires good memory skills. Gin? Yes. You must remember every card played and the sequence in which they were discarded. Bridge? Yes. You must not only remember every card, but also the bidding on the hand. And if that wasn’t enough, most top pairs use complicated bidding systems that require knowing pages of notes. Poker? Nope, everyone thinks you can just sit down and play. They are completely wrong. Poker, especially live poker, requires a tremendous memory.

Why does live poker require much more memory than online? Let’s begin with some basic starting requirements. You have probably seen charts that list starting requirement for each position. There may even be a variety of charts for any one position depending on whether there are antes, stack sizes or the nature of the game. If you’re playing online, you can glance at the appropriate entry and do what it suggests. If you’re playing live you have to have it all memorized or at least be able to approximate proper strategy quickly and accurately.

Online you can take notes about players and perhaps use a color code to highlight those you want to play against. You can purchase tracking software that provides valuable information about a player. A very weak player might play (voluntarily put money into the pot) with 40 percent of his hands, but only raise with 5 percent. Your software is telling you that this player has a weak limping and calling range, but a tight raising range. In a live game, you have to know and remember as much as you can about every player. When you walk into a big poker room, there will be more than one table at a stake you’re comfortable with. Which is better than the others? If your seat is at a different table, put your name on the list for a table change.

Notice that I’ve only described a fraction of the things you should be paying attention to and trying to remember for future reference. Other things include: Who plays well when winning, but falls apart when losing? Who talks with good hands and is silent with bluffs? Who does the reverse? In reality, the number of things you would like to observe, draw inferences from, and remember for future reference is virtually unlimited. If you regularly play with a small group of players (this is common in home games or small venues,) take notes. Bring along a few index cards or a little notebook, and jot things down during the session. When you get home, review your notes and add in anything more you can remember.

It my opinion, it is much tougher to play live poker well than it is to play well online. But I also think it is much tougher to win online. Online $5-$10 games are much tougher than live $5-$10 games. How can this be? There are two main reasons for this. The first, as has already been discussed, is it is easier to play well online so more players are playing well. The second is that the ratio of good players to fish becomes distorted online.

Let’s say there are 90 $5-$10 players in a casino. These 90 consist of 10 great players, 20 good players, 30 average, 20 bad, and 10 horrendous. A typical table will have exactly the same ratio-one great, two good, three average, two bad and one terrible. If these same 90 players showed up online, the mix would be completely different. The great players would be playing anywhere from six to 16 tables, and the good players might average four tables each. The bad would only play one or two, and the really terrible at just one. In the cash game there was one great player for every terrible one. There was one good player for every bad one. Online, with the better players all multi-tabling, there would be six or even eight great players to every terrible one. There would be three or four good players for each bad one. Since the vast majority of your profits come from the worst players, it is very difficult to survive at table that will frequently consist of seven tough spots, one average spot, and one weak player. The actual ratios may be a little different, but you get the idea.

Takeaway: If you want to play in the soft live games, you must try to broaden your focus and remember everything you learn. ♠

Steve ‘Zee’ Zolotow aka Zebra is a very successful gamesplayer. He has been a full-time gambler for over 40 years. With two WSOP bracelets, over 50 cashes, and a few million in tournament cashes, he is easing into retirement. He currently devotes most of his Vegas gaming time to poker, and can be found in cash games at Bellagio and at tournaments during the WSOP. When escaping from poker, he spends the spring and the fall in New York City where he hangs out at his bars: Doc Holliday’s, The Library and DBA.