Real Poker: Old School vs. New School

I’m 61 now and have played over 70,000 hours in 45 years, most of it live. Poker has been through a lot of changes. When I started playing in neighborhood cardrooms in Seattle, the only casino poker was in Nevada. Many new markets opened, most notably California.

In 1998, internet poker created a whole new set of game dynamics. Developments in computers and the access to massive databases radically advanced the knowledge of the game, making it much easier to learn. Poker range-finders and analytical programs created new game theories. The new information age technology raised the standards of play amongst those who seriously studied the game.

Internet players play many screens, full of data-mined statistics. They developed “game theories” based on computer simulations of the hand vs. given ranges. This information increased the general knowledge level of poker strategy. Money poured into the internet sites and those with the skillsets to exploit it, mostly a younger crowd, got rich. They were the “happy times.”

But on April 15, 2011, Black Friday closed down the internet poker industry to Americans. Many thousands of internet pros and internet regulars lost their poker outlet. And the internet sites lost the value of their American consumers. The internet players flooded into the live games, creating a short-lived boom for the casino poker industry.

But there was a problem. Similar to how text and social media tend to hinder live social skills, many internet players hadn’t developed the ability to read live players in any context that wasn’t technically available. Tells, feel, reading emotions, reading minds, and all the psychological aspects of the game that the best live players of the pre-internet era excelled in, weren’t as developed in internet players. Some adjusted quickly, and with their high-level strategic knowledge, were highly competitive. Others struggled to adapt and evaporated their bankrolls.

The talent level of the best players increased dramatically over those 15 years, as did the number of talented players. Many top players from the pre-internet era lacked the computer skills and technical education to utilize the advances in computers. They may have been brilliant in their day, but the game was played at a higher knowledge standard, and the game passed many by. Some who once beat $1,000-$2,000 games are now playing $8-$16.

With the advent of analytical software and the rise of greater statistical data and knowledge, the games are way tougher. If you want to play at a high level these days, you better know it. There are many training sites, books and videos that offer great information. But the feel/psychological aspects of the game still have great value, particularly against mid-low skilled opponents. And it’s a difficult skillset to learn from a book/video. Great “people” individuals can quickly pick up much of human aspect of the game, but many can’t.

To play at a high level today in any game from $2-$5 up, you need to develop both the feel/psychological aspects of the game and the range/analytics.

Developing feel takes effort. Non-emotional and non-empathetic individuals often have trouble getting into reading other people’s minds and feelings. Since they don’t feel or think those thoughts themselves, they have trouble accurately assigning those thought processes in others. The best books I’ve read on the subject are The Mental Game of Poker series by Jared Tendler and Alan Schoonmaker’s The Psychology of Poker, Your Worst Poker Enemy and Poker Winners Are Different.

Most of what these books preach is self-examination. That said, you will observe many of the described flaws in other people. Then you must determine how those flaws affect your opponents’ thought-process and play, and which countermeasures exploit their errors. Take the time between hands to think about how your opponents are thinking, feeling and reacting, and consider what plays are optimal against how they are presently playing. It’s not an easy task, but it’s one that will grow your game.

Against today’s players, and with today’s increased costs of playing, you need to play very well in order to make meaningful money. There is no single secret that will get you there; you need to develop all aspects of your game. It will be complicated and incorporate many components: math, ranges, analytics, people-reading skills, concentration, heart, composure, courage, and strategic knowledge.

And if you put all that together, you just may make it in the poker world. ♠

Roy Cooke played poker professionally for 16 years prior to becoming a successful Las Vegas Real Estate Broker/Salesman. Should you wish any information about Real Estate matters -including purchase, sale or mortgage, his office number is 702-376-1515 or Roy’s e-mail is [email protected]. His website is www.RoyCooke.com.