Wednesday Poker Discussion Group's 100th Meeting

The Wednesday Poker Discussion Group (WPDG) recently had its 100th meeting in Las Vegas (plus about 20 near Atlantic City). I doubt that any similar group has met so often. In fact, there may not be another group like ours anywhere. The meetings are extremely enjoyable, and they have improved our play and enriched our lives. We may gain even more from friendships we never would have made. You often hear about networking; we do it every Wednesday.

We are recreational players, props, and professionals who play from low limits to $300-$600, both live and online, and there are quite a few writers. We also get visitors from all over the United States, Canada, England, and Sweden.

We meet almost every Wednesday afternoon for casual socializing, serious discussions about poker strategy, and varied presentations. We've had presentations from and question-and-answer sessions with (in alphabetical order): Jim Brier, Mike Caro, Roy Cooke, Nolan Dalla, Russ Hamilton, Linda Johnson, Rich Korbin, Lou Krieger and Art Reber, Mason Malmuth, Daniel Negreanu, Matt Savage, Mike Sexton, Barry Tanenbaum, Mark Tenner, and several others. These presentations have covered no-limit and limit hold'em, seven-card stud, seven-card stud eight-or-better, Omaha eight-or-better, tournament news and rules, selecting the best game, poker as a business, life on the tournament trail, the birth and growth of the World Poker Tour, the 2003 World Series of Poker, plus many other subjects.

Nearly every meeting includes thorough critiques of individual hands. People describe hands they've played and get a searching analysis of what they did right or wrong. It can be embarrassing, but it is always informative. Where else can you get face-to-face constructive criticism from several serious players? And the critics know your game so well that they can link a hand to your general style, strengths, and weaknesses. We get outstanding coaching for free.

I feel very privileged to belong to this group, and I urge you to visit us and to start your own discussion group. It will take a lot of work, but it's worth the effort.

He is the "glue" that holds us together. He chairs the meetings, keeps us on track, and always brings a few hands and questions to discuss. His e-mailed reports of our meetings now go to about 50 people, and many of them don't live in Las Vegas. They attend a meeting whenever they can. These e-mails have been expanded into a newsletter. We learn of each other's tournament victories, publications, and travels, and get news about poker, interesting posts on TwoPlusTwo.com, RGP, and PokerPages.com, plus a little gossip.

Several people comment on every e-mail, creating a small, private forum. Without Howard, we wouldn't be as tightly connected, nor would we have our own forum. You must have a Howard, but we won't let you have ours. You'll have to get your own.

The first few meetings are critically important. Most groups don't survive more than three or four sessions. To persist, you need three or four people who really want the group to succeed. In addition to attending nearly all meetings, they prepare for them by recording hands, finding interesting articles, or making notes about topics to discuss.

Once you've got it going, you have to expand to ensure survival. Anyone who has ever run a home game knows that you need at least 12 players to have a full table each week. A discussion group needs at least that many regulars to keep going. To get them, you have to invite anyone who might be interested. Most of them will politely turn you down, some will come to only one meeting, and a few will become regulars and will bring their friends.

The critical point for us was the arrival of Linda Johnson and Jan Fisher. Until then, we were a small group of low- and middle-limit players. They know everyone in poker, and they invited most of the notables mentioned earlier.

It's great to have famous players, but they won't come to many meetings. You should try for the mix we have: small-, medium-, and high-stakes players, recreational players to experts, men and women, young and old. You might think a more homogeneous group – such as only advanced players – is better, but the mix of ages, skill, and interest levels actually enriches the discussions. The experts provide advanced insights, and the recreational players – especially the relatively inexperienced ones – ask questions or make points that the more serious players would not even consider. This combination of sophisticated answers and "naive" questions makes the meetings more interesting and helps all of us – even the experts – to develop our games.

If the meetings are too social, some people will see them as a waste of time and stop coming. If they are too serious, they will seem like "work," and others will drift away. Not only casual players dislike overly serious meetings; some excellent players also want to "lighten up." Linda, a very successful high-limit professional, once said, "I don't come here to talk about poker strategy. I do it all the time. I'm here primarily to socialize."

We have slowly evolved a balanced pattern. From 2 p.m. until about 3 p.m., we eat lunch, socialize, and have small group discussions about just about anything. At about 3 p.m., Howard calls the meeting to order, and we spend an hour or two discussing serious issues. During that time we usually meet as one group. If a few people want to discuss something else, they move away so that they don't disrupt the meeting.

Barry is our "resident guru." We have several outstanding players, but he is our "go-to guy" for strategic advice. He attends almost every meeting, is always willing to answer questions (even "dumb" ones), and helps us to understand how experts think. You need someone like Barry to raise the level of discussion. Without him, our meetings would not be nearly as serious or valuable.

We have changed locations several times, partly because Las Vegas is a large area, and partly because we haven't found the ideal location. You need a place that lets you eat, because it's part of socializing. However, most restaurants are much too noisy for serious discussions. The ideal location would be a centrally located restaurant with private meeting rooms. It also should have a wide variety of food, because people get bored easily.

It's not easy to start a group and keep it going, but good things are rarely free or easy. If you put in the time and effort, you will find that you develop great friendships, have lots of fun, and greatly improve your game. Visit us when you come to Las Vegas, and start your own group.

If you would like to learn more about yourself and other players, you can order Dr. Schoonmaker's book, The Psychology of Poker.