Dating advice for guys who love poker…and women
WHO YOU’RE BLUFFING
It’s not the other person you have to bluff, it’s yourself. We like to think that other people decide on their own how to treat us, but they don’t. I remember talking with a friend of mine recently who told me how when he was in grade school people would spit on him.
“You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time…and those are pretty good odds!” Old Poker Adage
A bluff is a bet made with the worst hand with the intension of winning the pot. Most hands in poker don’t end up getting shown down, and as such it is possible to win the pot with worse cards than your opponent. Not only is bluffing a lot of fun, it is a critical component of winning poker. Were you to only play your strong hands, and fold the rest, you would be far too predictable, and never make any money.
Here’s how I win money at poker for a living. I only play when I have the best of it. Late position is having the best of it. I don’t play for the glory of outwitting my opponent, I play to win. If you stick to good position and good cards, winning is easy. If you start getting creative and try to mess around without an edge you’re destined to go home a loser. There’s nothing sexy or mysterious about winning poker play.
I remember one of my first conversations with a poker pro when I was still trying to learn the game after busting out of a tournament.
Me: How was I supposed to play Ace Jack off suit?
Pro: What position were you in?
Me: Early I think
Pro: You should have folded it
Me: Wait no I was in middle position
Pro: Then you should have raised
Me: Hold on, in one position I should fold, but in the other raise, that doesn’t make any sense….
I have a confession to make….I’m a terrible poker player. That is when I have to play from early position. When I’m in late and middle position I’m a champion. In poker there are three basic positions, early, middle and late. What separates a pro from a sucker, is a pro will only play when they have an edge.
In early position all of your opponents have an edge over you, so you can only play with very strong cards. In late position you have the edge and can use your better position to outplay your opponents.
To many, folding might seem like the weakest poker play of all, but it’s not. In poker the name of the game is winning money, and saving money you will probably lose is just as valuable as the money you win.
The number one way to burn up all your chips in poker is to become overly involved in a hand you had little chance of winning to begin with. The reason you are aggressive and make strong bets is so that it’s easier to fold if you meet with resistance. By showing aggression early on, your opponent has been forced to reveal the strength of their hand. If they now tell you, you have no chance of winning the hand, then the smartest thing you can do is fold.
Raising
The other day I was playing a cash game and I was dealt pocket kings, a monster hand. I made my standard raise and was called by another player in bad position. When the dreaded ace hit the flop I knew I could be in trouble. My opponent checked, and I decided to raise the pot to see where I was at. When my opponent re-raised “all in” I had an easy decision to make. I was beat. My bet and his re-raise told me all I needed to know. I quickly folded my hand. Had I just called throughout the hand I would have no idea where I was at. I might have thought my opponent was bluffing, and called him down losing a lot more money in the process. By raising, even though I lost, I lost the minimum. And not losing money is just as sweet as winning money when you’re playing poker.
Calling
Of all the actions you can take during a poker hand, calling is usually the worst one to make, and the one people most often choose. When you call you’re basically saying, “Hey I don’t want to rock the boat. I’ve got this hand I’m holding, and I sure hope it’s good, but I don’t want to piss anyone off by trying to bet at it.” By doing this, the guy only has one way of winning, showing down the best hand.
“FORTUNE FAVORS THE BOLD” Alexander The Great
The world belongs to those that have the balls to go after what they want. Book smarts alone will never get you where you want in life, you have to man up and take action.
At the poker table you see it all the time, guys who know all of the math, all the percentages, but lack the daring to dominate the table and bully the players around. They know all the right plays, but are too timid to pull them off. You also see guys who seem to be quite ignorant, who have no real concept of pot odds, or game theory, but they are daring, ruthless, fearless, and attack the table relentlessly.
There are basically only two types of people in life, winners and losers. This may sound harsh, but it is the absolute truth. Surprisingly it is all too easy to define and distinguish a winner from a looser. A winner is someone who spends the majority of his time, thoughts, and activities focused on what he wants, and a loser is a person who focuses their time, thoughts and energy on what they don’t want. As simple as that sounds, it’s really all there is to it.
