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Strength of the all-in

 How strong is the power of the “all-in?” I’ve been asking myself this question lately as someone who’s regularly been on both sides of the equation in recent weeks. It has the ability to just stop a game dead in its tracks like nothing else. You could have two people jabbering over an argument that sparked from a play 20 hands ago, but if someone at the table makes that infamous move, all falls silent…and then all hell breaks loose.

I love, absolutely love watching the all-in unfold in poker tournaments on television. It can happen one of a few ways.

1) The quick response: This is great, because it means either the reacting player was trapping the other players the entire time, or he’s acting rashly off pure emotion. Either way, it’s going to make for great television and reactions once the call is made. You know what I’m talking about. Player 1 makes a huge deal and production about going all-in, and then almost before he or she can finish pushing their chips into the middle, the next player calls. “Call.” Usually it’s in a nice, casual, soft tone, as if to say “You don’t scare me. Bring it on.” It’s at this moment, if you’re watching the player who made the original bet, that you can tell if the first all-in was a bluff or a weak bet to buy the pot. The bet is down, there’s nothing left to hide – all but the best of them will subconsciously let their guard down and give you a clue as to what they’re feeling. It’s a great time to learn about your opponents, whether you’re in the hand or not.

2) The long delay: This is painful for all parties involved except the one making the decision, who is experiencing a whole different type of pain. If it were any other bet, the long delay would give everything away well before the call or fold. You don’t hesitate that long, get up from the table, do whatever it is you do, with a made hand. We’re not talking 20-30 seconds here, we’re talking minutes. We’re talking enough time for someone to call the clock on you – right or wrong (that’s a discussion for a different article). Anyway, this is the guy who, when presented with an all-in, obviously wasn’t prepared to be faced with this decision. He throws his hands up, goes to the bathroom, walks around the casino, goes across the street to get a hot dog…etc… he just can’t commit to putting all his chips in the middle, but apparently has a strong enough hand that keeps pulling him back to the wager. Most of the time this plays out the same way, and you wonder why it took so long to come to the obvious conclusion. He’ll call, see a stronger hand flipped by his opponent, and then almost like clockwork come out with “I knew it. I knew it.” All the while shaking his head. This is a perfect example of when the draw to the idea of being a big winner can overcome your logic and common sense as a poker player. Statistics, situational betting, reading somebody..they all tend to go out the window when the emotions take over.

3.) The accusation: You’ll see Phil Hellmuth and other professionals do this from time to time, and their motives behind the actions will differ. Someone will go all-in, and they just hate having to be put to a decision. So instead of delaying forever, they’ll go on the attack – verbally. “Why are you going all-in? I know you don’t have this or that. Bad bet. Bad move.” Like he just knows for sure what the other player is holding in his hand. Oftentimes, including when Hellmuth does it, it’s to goat the player into giving something up, which is fine. I accept this as a tactic. But other times, it’s just someone unable to control their frustration, and it turns into an outward complaint, obviously misdirected and certainly ridiculous. You’re in a battle of the minds, the last thing you need is an infant throwing a tantrum because he wanted to limp in and catch something on the turn or the river. Tough luck, sucker. In or out?

In any three of these scenarios, there’s a common thread. And that’s the ability to draw the attention of anyone in the room, especially if you’re deep into a tournament, regardless of the size. In fact, the all-in could be between two people who are down to their last half-stack of chips, and it would still be interesting. The idea of someone betting everything they have left is just incredibly appealing. And it’s my favorite part of being a poker enthusiast.

Please, have some manners

 So much is made of unwritten rules in sports. In baseball, you better not upstage the pitcher after jacking a home run. Likewise, if you strike out a major slugger, don’t pump your fist too hard, especially in the NL, or you can expect to get one aimed right at your head next time you walk into the batters box. In the NFL or NBA, if you’re up by “enough,” leaving your starters in, throwing downfield or heaving up three-pointers is seen as an act of disrespect.

Whether you agree with these or not, they exist and are widely regarding as proper etiquette in sports. So, how does that translate to poker? Are there unwritten rules of poker, either in the casino or in online gaming rooms? You better believe it.

Professional players, or at least those who’ve played long enough to be considered regulars, won’t whine or cry at the mechanics of the game. They may shake their head at the decisions of another player, but crying “foul” on a flop, or just straight complaining that you’re not getting the cards isn’t what you want to be doing – at least not if you want to be taken seriously. Players there to make money and/or just have a good time will likely vacate the table if something like this continues too much.

You see this chatter more online than you do in an actual casino – the whining about betting, flops, dealing, anything and everything, you name it. And I think the reasoning behind this is pretty obvious. If you raise a racket in an actual casino, after a little while, some eventually will come by and ask you nicely to stop your bull or you’ll be asked (not so nicely) to find a game elsewhere.

It’s become somewhat of an unfortunate epidemic in online poker rooms. Whenever someone takes a sizable loss, half the time you can count on them moaning and groaning and blaming this person or that person for the loss. That’s not only poor etiquette, it’s flat our poor sportsmanship, and just shouldn’t be tolerated on any level.

One way to avoid this is to block the chat. However, this opens the door to something far worse than whining – cheating. If you block the only way to see if people are collaborating with each other, you unfortunately allow yourself to become a victim. Not by choice, of course, but it’s nonetheless every online player must be aware of.

You could report a whiner, but you’d almost end up sounding like a whiner yourself, and it’s certainly not something you want to waste time on when you’re trying to win money and/or improve your game.

So, you’re left to tolerate what you can or simply get up and try a different table or a different poker room. One can only wonder how much whining and complaining and poor manners there’d be if you could anonymously play basketball over the Internet. You’d never get a game finished because someone would call a damn foul every play.

One other area of manners I want to cover – trash-talking. Is it cool? I suppose in certain situations. I don’t particularly have a problem with it. That is, however, if it’s done for the right reason. If you’re doing it to try to elicit an emotional response out of your opponent to learn something from him or her, then by all means, have at it. If you’re just doing it to gloat, or worse, because you’re a jackass, then I have to roll my eyes and put you in the same camp as the whiners and criers.

Tournament joy

I want to talk about how great it feels to complete a poker tournament as the winner. It happened to me recently, and in all honesty, isn’t something that happens too often. So when I had the opportunity over the last few days to reflect on it, I came to the conclusion that it’s something special. And I’m not just talking about making a profit. That part, of course, is nice. The true feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment, for me, came from seeing the journey all the way through.

Yeah, that might sound a bit dramatic, but it’s the truth. Like any journey in life, a poker tournament for any one individual will have its ups and downs. How will you handle being dealt a crushing defeat? How do you react when you mathematically should’ve easily won a hand, only to see it slip away to a lucky draw on the river for your opponent? Likewise, if those strikes of fortune happened to you, do you keep your cool and maintain a calm pace focused on the long haul, or do you allow yourself to get high, only to inevitably plunge back to reality just a few short hands later.

Personally, I can’t see how professionals ride the emotional roller coaster of highs and lows without keeping level-headed throughout most of the action. Otherwise, you’ll be so exhausted after a few hours, you’ll become your own worst enemy. Fatigue is not something to discount as a non-factor during a tournament. So to avoid that, I work a steady diet of soda products and keeping an even keel during big victories and defeats. They’re great times for a bathroom break. Not showing too much emotion, also, will earn you some respect from your opponents (see Daniel Negreanu).

The satisfaction, I think really comes from knowing you put everything together. All those tricks, traits, practice, learning and mastering blend to work in unison toward the end result of a tournament win. I’m talking about patience, cunning, will power, smart calcuation, betting prowess, trusting your instinct and making bold moves when it makes sense. And, obviously, a little bit of luck. Managing the ride and staying sharp are the greatest challenges, and if you can look back on your session, even if you don’t emerge the victor, and can say you didn’t make a single stupid mistake, that’s something to be proud of.

Winning, however, is a great accomplishment. And the tournament doesn’t have to be the World Series of Poker or another of similar stature. You can be playing a small community tournament with a $1,000 grand prize. Like I said in the beginning of the article, I’m not talking about the financial gains associated with being the winner. And I think if you do ask any of the winners of the World Series of Poker, they’ll tell you without hesitation just having that bracelet is as sweet as the millions that come along with it.

Finally, I’ve come to understand that going through a difficult tournament that tests your resolve is nothing short of a character builder. You learn something about yourself as a person and as a poker player. Being able to see something like that through, and be the ultimate champion, is icing on the cake.

So my recommendation is find a tournament to play. Even if it’s a poker run to benefit some charitable organization, it’ll offer you an opportunity to go through the ultimate poker test and truly see what you’re made of.  If you’re lucky, you’ll get some kind of plaque, certificate or other form of recognition that you’re a winner.  I’d frame that baby in gold and put it up there right next to the deck of cards that provided me my first royal flush in a cash game.  Those are the memories worth saving.  The money comes and goes, but the stories are what define us as players.

Poker Home Games: Pot Luck

 Ready for a new home game to try? I am – or was – until this one was taught to me recently. It’s an incredible game, perhaps not for the poker skill involved, perhaps not for the betting technique it forces you to perform, and perhaps not for the patience-building skills it encourages you to develop. What it does offer, though, in spades (pardon the pun) is the ability to build the biggest pots this side of a half hour Continents session. That’s right folks, bored with small, dinky Hold ‘Em pots? Are you “over” follow the Queen because you’re only winning $2-$4 a hand? Fear not, this game will quickly come to your rescue.

Called Pot Luck (that’s my name for it, since it didn’t have one when it was taught to me – but I admit you could probably come up with something better), it’s a blend of Omaha, Hold ‘Em and, dare I say, blackjack? Well, it offers one element you’ll find it blackjack, at least. OK, here we go:

Basics – You can play with between 3-7 players ideally. No wild cards. And it’s a high/low game, so the massive pot might get distributed between a couple players unless you take the whole thing (which you planned to do anyway, right?)

Every player receives six cards.

Players then split their cards evenly into two different hands of three cards each. Players must use two cards (and only two – shades of Omaha here) from each hand respectively, which will combine – separately – with the community cards that are yet to come.

• Note – If you plan to play one hand, that’s fine. You can fold one of your hands whenever you like and continue on with the other hand. You cannot, however, keep both hands in and then only call or raise with one. If you raise or call, you must do so with both hands, which in turn costs that player double the contribution to the pot than that of the player only going in with one hand. Also, a player can’t bet against himself to increase the value of the pot (believe me, it’s going to get large enough as is). This means if you know you have a winning hand, you can’t bet with that hand and then re-raise with your second hand.

OK, moving on, after an initial round of betting, you get to see a typical Hold ‘Em flop (three cards).

Now, each player, regardless of how many hands he might be playing, must either discard one card from his hand or buy insurance on a card. Insurance will mean you can keep the card in your hand through the discard section. Insurance will be some fraction of the ante you determine before the game begins (and can be whatever the house wants).

So, if you have K, K, J for instance, you can buy insurance on them all, so you don’t miss out on the possibility of a Jack also improving your hand on the turn or the river. If two more jacks come up and no more kings, obviously you’ll want to use the Jack you saved to make trips instead of getting stuck selecting two kings and discarding your jack. Same situation with a flush draw or a straight draw.

After the insurance, there is a second round of betting.

There are no more insurance rounds after the flop bet. It’s simply turn card, then another round of betting, then river and another round of betting, similar to Texas Hold ‘Em.

Once the river round is complete, there is the declare (for high low, whatever works best for your house rules). Winner takes his half of the pot, or all of it if he wins both the high and the low.

I think this game has major potential for huge pots, but it might be contingent on how high you set the insurance. You can really make this a nasty burn ($5 to stay in the game, for example) and give anyone considering a flush or straight or a few high cards plenty to think about – similar to the match or fold rule if a 3 comes up late in the game of baseball.

Outlander!

 You ever get so mad at someone at the poker table that you literally wanted to hurt them? If you’ve played long enough, I can’t imagine there’s anyone out there immune to this emotion. It’s natural, it comes with the territory.

Now we, as poker players, pride ourselves on keeping our cool, maintaining self control when everything’s going to crap around you. There’s no denying, though, those times exist when you just want to throw caution to the wind and strangle the bastard who got under your skin.

What brings this up you ask? Anytime I watch some footage of Phil Hellmuth, it gets me going. I know the man has 11 World Series of Poker titles, and from knowing that, I think it’s worse the way he treats players, especially amateurs. Nobody is immune to getting beat. No expert, no superstar of the game is going to escape someone else making an “incorrect” play and still getting lucky on the other end. The way that man insults others at the table, though, is infuriating. So belittling, so elitist, it’s beyond spectacle of amusement, it’s downright ridiculous. It’s worse than watching Fox News or Nancy Grace.

I couldn’t care less if that’s his “schtick.” He should know better, and, being a widely recognized face and name, should represent his game in a more professional fashion. No excuses. This isn’t your high school buddy’s basement on a Saturday night. You’re a pro, act like it.

Anyway, enough with Hellmuth. The topic stirs emotions from me when I was, in fact, playing in my high school buddy’s basement, all those years ago. The situations were too numerous to count, but a few choice ones do pop into my head.

I’m sure you all know what it’s like to have that “one guy” in your regular poker group. Nobody really likes him. You were kinda friends from grade school because you were in classes together and you were one of the few that didn’t beat up on the guy. But he’s annoying and brings a stupid, unnecessary and stressful presence into what should’ve been an enjoyable experience. But, nobody hates him enough to ban him from the game, and he does usually dump a few bucks each week, so you keep coming back to the well. Who can blame you?

Well we definitely had this guy. One summer night in my parents’ backyard gazebo, we were all playing under the ceiling fan (yes, it had electricity) and some ice lemonade (yes, we didn’t have access to anything better this night). So, as luck would have it, an argument – as they sometimes do – over the result of a hand surfaced and pitted me, a small-framed chap pushing a puny 140 lbs, against the – we’ll just call him the outlander. Now a little history, arguments would never, never, go beyond some tense words and maybe someone tossing coins half-angrily into the middle. That night, though, chairs fell back and the Outlander rose to his feet, poised to attack. Since I’m not suicidal, I did not retaliate – I just told him to leave since it was my house.

He had gotten me so boiled up, so furious that I wouldn’t stop nitpicking his every move until it finally escalated to the scene that had unfolded. Anyway, 20-30 straight seconds of awkward, uncomfortable silence ensued before he walked out.

Five minutes later he returned with his tail between his legs when he realized he’d forgotten his wallet. Punk was lucky I didn’t deep-six it into the deep end of my parents pool.

That was the one and only time I’d almost gotten into a fight over poker, and even then I managed to keep myself in control. I can only imagine what would’ve happened if the Outlander had not.

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