The Poker Community and Improving Your Game

Downswings suck. They are totally unavoidable live, since we can’t put in the mad volume like an online pro can to equal out the variance. I’m in one right now and it’s so easy to blame variance. You remember the aces in that session that got cracked, or the straight draw/flush draw that missed.

It may well be just a few hands each session ruining your run good. It certainly wasn’t for me, which I only discovered after getting out of “auto pilot” mode and going back to the drawing board and analysing the fundamentals of my game.

There is only one thing we can do in a downswing and that is to be more determined and work harder than anyone else. Variance can potentially destroy anyone’s bankroll. But it isn’t getting mine without a fight.

This is where the poker community comes in. For some of the smartest people on the planet we surely do shoot ourselves in the foot sometimes. Not that I’m complaining about being able to ping a message over Facebook to some of the best players in the game and get a genuine, well thought out answer to my problem. Q: “Is this a mistake I’m making?” A: “Yup, sure is – try this instead” “That sounds good, I’ll give it a whirl!” This abbreviated conversation has happened a fair few times in the past few weeks as I strive to improve my game (thanks to all who have helped). This is followed by a genuine heartfelt “good luck at the tables”. I guess we just get excited to talk about the game, and genuinely want to see people who care about the game and who work hard at it succeed. It certainly makes for a friendlier community than the cut-throat business world. It’s like Burger King telling McDonalds how to make better burgers.

One interesting thing to note from getting the opinions of 4 different pros on the same topic, is that I got 4 different responses entirely. It’s part of the beauty of the game that multiple approaches can lead to profit, the big question I’m left with is which line is optimum and under what conditions? A lesson I took away from my teaching days when observing various teachers was to take away the positive aspects and leave behind the negative ones. Some teachers would have excellent subject knowledge but would lack creativity, while others would have great relationships with the kids but lack in other aspects of their teaching. If you can identify the positive’s and negatives of a situation and take away only what benefits you then you’ll have a major advantage over other players. One word of warning when adding improvements to your game is to not be discouraged if things go awry early in the experiment. It will take time and experience to perfect new strategies.

People who think poker is a dark dingy affair that ruins lives and breaks up families are living a very different life to mine. If anything my family is all the stronger for it. We’re all gamblers, and my dad taught me from a young age how to not let it become a problem and how to manage my money. If anything poker and gambling, when done right, is a life enhancer. I can’t help but think that gamblers who see this world as a negative must have a life leak that’s making them have this experience, possibly by getting involved with the tiny minority in our community who are out to shoot an angle to make a quick quid.

When this article comes onto the internet and into Card Player magazine I’ll be in Las Vegas chasing a bracelet and a definitive end to my downswing. I’m really looking forward to the WSOP especially given all the improvements to the structure that they have made this year. Hopefully the plugged leaks and the hard work will pay off and I can make a deep run to contest for one of this year’s bracelets. I’m intentionally missing over half of the WSOP this year however, as some things, family especially, are just more important than playing cards. I’ve got a friend’s wedding that I’m looking forward to and AC/DC are touring and there’s no way I’m missing out on me and my dad head banging our hearts out to Highway to Hell. We’ve also got the annual trip to York races, which has been a tradition in my family for 45 years now.