Cashman On Poker
“Where we have strong emotions, we're liable to fool ourselves.”
As a group, poker players are very intelligent people. But, we do some dumb stuff. We know that when we let your emotions run wild, we make expensive mistakes. But, we do it anyway.
Last weekend I was playing at a 1-2 NLH table. It was a full table and since it was out of town, I didn’t know anyone at the table. As I sat down I sized up the other players. Most of the players had a chip stack of around 125. There was one player that had 210 but the average was low. Since I wanted to take some time to get accustom to the table, I bought in for 100. I figured I could always add-on once I had a feel for the action.
The action was good but not wild. We were having a good game and since my chip stack was up to 195, I was about where I wanted to be. I was above average in chips and in a good position to have a good game.
Here is where the dumb stuff starts. The player across from me was in a hand with the player to my right. They were betting and raising like they had unbeatable hands. At the showdown, the player across from me showed pocket Aces. His hand had not improved from the flop to the river. The other player had pocket fours and had hit trips on the turn. There was a possible straight and flush but neither hit. The player with the cracked Aces went nuts.
Have you ever seen “On Tilt”? Well, this guy put on a show. He asked how the other player could have possibly played so bad. “I had him and he called a pre-flop bet with that hand”. Needless to say, he was pissed.
To show how good of a player he was and that he wasn’t going to be pushed around he wanted to buy back in for 1,000. He was going to show us. The table limit was 800 so that was all he could buy-in for. The average stack was still around 175 and the big stack was about 400.
He was fuming. He was mad. He wasn’t going to take this anymore. Nobody was going to draw out on him again. It was going to cost everyone now. No more free cards. That last one I didn’t understand since there hadn’t been any free cards in the last hand. But, oh well.
He played a few excessively aggressive hands. Over betting and winning the blinds. Betting 100 to win 3. He finally cooled off. One player just cashed out saying he wasn’t going to play a fool. Once he came to his senses, he realized he had goofed.
He asked if he could cash in some of his chips and get back down to around 300. The dealer called the Floor and the player was told that he could keep his chips on the table or cash out and come back in an hour with a new buy-in. That’s standard policy in most card rooms. He decided to continue playing but he kept a 500 chip to the side as if he wasn’t going to play it. It was still on the table and in play but he wasn’t going to use it to bully the table.
If you play poker and never expect you Aces to get cracked, you are delusional. Bad beats happen. Big losses happen. It’s all part of the game. Don’t let one bad hand kick you over the edge. Expect it and except it. Have a good game.
Good Game & Good Luck
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net.
- Hank Cashman
Where Have All the Stars Gone
Fred Allen (1894 - 1956)
Wow, it has been less than ten years since poker became a main stream sport. Poker has always been around. It was once a riverboat and saloon game. Then it became a casino game but it had to give way to the more profitable and mind numbing slot machines. Ten years ago, most casinos didn’t have poker rooms.
Poker was played in smoke filled back rooms. No respectable person would be caught seen at one of those games. They were for mobsters, gamblers and other low lives.
Then around the turn of the century main stream America was introduced to poker on-line and on TV. The poker pros became instant celebrities. The names like Brunson, Hellmuth, Negreanu, and Moneymaker became famous.
People sitting at home became familiar with the old guys like Ferguson, Chan and Reese. While watching TV they saw movie celebrities try their hand at poker on Celebrities Poker Showdown with Phil Gordon. Then came Poker After Dark. At one time there where a dozen shows on TV that had to do with poker.
At that time the “Young Guns” were players like Ivey, Hansen, Lindgren and Harman. That was when Phil was still the “Brat” and Daniel was “Kid Poker”. Now these are the old guys.
We still hear about them playing in the big tournaments and once in a while they will make it deep enough to be noteworthy. They just aren’t the stars of the game anymore.
Now we hear and watch players like Heinz, Duhamel, Cada and Eastgate take the limelight and bracelets. The winners of most tournaments these days are the new “Young Guns”. 30 is old in poker now.
Most of the new celebs are guys that played poker in college. Once they graduate with their degree in advanced mathematics or computer science they start playing poker for a living. Poker isn’t for the uneducated. On most final tables the average age is in the mid to low twenties and all are college grads.
I guess it’s just part of the passing of time. Just like watching the old actors fade away, so do the old poker pros. It’s time for the new breed to take over the game. But, they won’t go quietly. Freddy Deeb just won another circuit main event. The old guys can still play but the odds have turned on them.
It used to be that winning a WSOP bracelet took beating a field of hundreds. Now every tournament has a field of thousands. The day of winning back-to-back titles is over. The odds of winning multiple titles are against the players of today.
Doyle Brunson won back-to back WSOP Champian ships in ’77 & ’78. He defeated 22 players in ‘ 77 and 34 in ’78. When Stu Unger won back-to back titles in ’80 & ’81 he played a total beat a total of 148 players. That’s an average of only 74 players each year. In ’87 & ’88 Jackie Chan beat 152 and 167 players. Last year Heinz outlasted a field of 6,865. No wonder the world champion changes every year.
I miss the old names but am excited to watch the new guys. It’s just a shame that the new guys won’t be able to make the records that the old guys did.
Good Game & Good Luck
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net.
- Hank Cashman
Pardon The Interruption
I guess it all goes under the old adage that nice guys finish last or no good deed goes unpunished. Trying to accommodate everyone and trying to keep everybody happy just ain’t possible.
While dealing down in New Orleans I watched a Floor go over to a player and tell him he had to remove his headphones. The guy said that they were not plugged in to anything but he wore them to reduce the noise. The Floor was very adamant that the headphones could not be worn since the policy in LA is that there can be no electronic devices in the card room. In Louisiana they also allow no tobacco products in the room.
I was shocked last year when I saw players at the televised WSOP Main Event sitting at the table and texting. That just seemed so wrong. Not only is it bad to have a player texting but with today’s technology, even with a 15 minute delay, there can be some very vital information passed along to the players at the table. I don’t completely understand why the WSOP would allow phones at the table. The phones are only to be used when a player isn’t in a hand. Why not allow iPods as long as they don’t wear them while in a hand?
It is enough that there are so many distractions at the table. Servers are bringing drinks and food to the players. Then you have the smokers that are constantly leaving the table to take one puff between hands. Most card rooms have other sporting events on the tube. Last Mondays Ala. vs. LSU game drew a lot of attention away from the table.
There are always the players with the mp3s and Iphones keeping them distracted from the action. A loud mp3 with good noise reducing headphones will put a player in another world, not the game.
I’m not advocating the elimination of all tobacco and electronic devices like LA. I think that there is a place for iPods in the game. There are some nights I appreciate a little music to cover up the noise in the room. I can even tolerate a smoker or chewer, just keep your ashtray and spit cup away from me.
Don’t slow down the game. Post your blinds. Don’t make the dealer have to tell you every time it is your turn to act. Don’t ask what the bet is. When you say call, don’t be surprised that there was a raise ahead of you. Pay attention. Don’t try to make it everyone else job to babysit you because you want to do something besides play cards.
Good Game & Good Luck
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net.
- Hank Cashman
I’ve heard you can’t beat an all-in. I’ve heard you can’t beat a woman. But, the one that seems to be the most accurate is you can’t beat a drunk.
I have a friend that completely ignores the advice of not playing poker when you’re drunk. Now, I’m not talking about having a couple of drinks at the table. We all do that. It’s part of the poker environment to have a couple of drinks while you’re playing. What I’m referring to is just plain drunk.
A buzz isn’t good for driving but usually won’t hurt a lot at the table. Take a little edge of the game and you could actually play a little better. If you’ve had a couple you might be a little more aggressive and buy a couple of pots. That’s ok.
When you can’t keep up with the game because of the drinks you’ve had, that’s a problem. Where it makes it so hard on the other players is that they can’t get a read on a drunken player. He’ll play 3-6os just like Aces. This is where they get into trouble.
One of the most important parts of poker is being able to get a read on your opponent. You have to know if he is drawing or has a pat hand. You need to know if he is bluffing or drawing you in for the kill. When playing a drunk these distinctions are muddled. You can’t read him because he doesn’t know what he is doing. It’s akin to not being able to read a player that hasn’t looked at his cards. You can’t get a read until he knows what he has.
I was at one table with a drunk and another player waited till he had pocket queens to call him. That sounds like a good plan but the drunks 8-9 suited flushed on the river. You just can’t beat a drunk.
The end result of playing a drunk is a basic redistribution of wealth. It’s like what the government does with taxes but a lot more frustrating. Most of the time when a drunk is at the table players will adjust their game. In most hands they will tighten up. In some cases they will go ahead and play a hand just figuring they have a better than 50% chance to win.
What will usually happen is that the drunk will get lucky a few times and knock some players out. He will then take those chips he won and donk them off to the other players. In the end, the drunk will eventually lose all his chips. That is no consolation to the players he has knocked out but someone is going to win in the long run, if they can hold on.
Playing with a drunk is torturous. It ruins a good game, but it can still be profitable.
Good Game & Good Luck
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net.
- Hank Cashman
I’m After You, Goodbye
“In taking revenge, a man is but even with his enemy; but in passing it over, he is superior.”
Poker is an individual competition of one player, on his own, playing against nine other players. When you forget that it will cost you.
In a friendly home game, players have a tendency to be a “nice guy”. When it’s down to one-on –one in a hand they will check it down. This is nice and friendly but it isn’t wise. By doing this you are limiting your chances of adding chips to your stack. These are missed opportunities of adding chips that could be used later. In essence, it’s lost ammunition for the next hand.
Looking at it another way, it is a type of collusion. Any time you soft play one opponent and not the others you are playing favorites and leaning towards playing team poker. If you are playing aggressive against the other players and not your friend you stand a chance of alienating the rest of the players. This sets you up to become the target of the rest of the table. That is a terrible position to put yourself in. You should play every opponent to win.
Sometimes, it seems like there is one player at the table that you just can’t beat. Sometimes it’s true. Your opponent gets a good read on you and you don’t know how. Is it a blink, a sigh or a betting pattern? Whatever it is, don’t let your emotions get the best of you. When you and he are in a hand, don’t run from him and don’t go after him. Just play the hand to the best of your ability. Try to figure out whether it is his ability to play you or just the luck of the cards.
Poker is an individual sport of one player against the rest of the table and one player against each player at the table. Don’t slow play one player and then target another. If you do ether, it will cost you.
There are times when you have a player that gets under your skin. He is playing in a manner that you don’t like. Maybe, he is playing 6-3os and hitting a straight on the river. He should have never been in the hand but he beat you. Maybe, he is always getting “TV Time” and slowing down the game for no reason. Whatever the reason, let it go and play your game. Don’t let him become the focus of your game. It will only distract you from your main objective of building you chip stacks.
When you target another player for elimination, you are giving the other players the upper hand. While you are focused on the player to your right, the player on your left is stacking your chips. When you put your eyes on one target, you become the target of every other player. Stay focused on the game as a whole and your opponents individually.
I hope you have had a great Christmas weekend and that you will have a wonderful and safe New Year’s weekend.
Good Game & Good Luck
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net.
- Hank Cashman
When I started getting serious about poker, I began to study books and videos. I would watch the games on TV. I wanted to learn more than just by losing at the tables. It seemed logical tome that the more I played and studied the better I would play and win.
I have bought and read dozens of books. I’ve watched DVDs made by the pros to help me study and learn the game hopefully without having to lose a fortune doing it. I do believe that it has helped me be a better and more profitable player. But, there are some things that books and videos just can’t teach.
The first book I read was The Real Deal by Phil Gordon. Then I go the big book, Super System 2 by Doyle Brunson and friends. Both books gave me a short history on poker. They covered the basics like how many cards in the deck and hand rankings. These books told me the main rules of the most popular poker games and a little strategy. But, there was something missing.
In one of Hellmuth’s books and many others, they talk about the different types of players and how to play against them. I learned how to play the Rocks and Maniacs. This did help me understand the very different personalities that were around the table.
Then I got into Sklansky and that was tortious. Reading about odds, percentages, possibilities and probabilities is just boring. I suffered through. Now at least I know why a player’s beats me with a one outer.
Caro was fun to read about the tells and how to read an opponent. I have been able to really watch someone’s heat rate but is can read their body language. Most of what he wrote is true, even the experienced players have tells I can use.
Too many poker books written by the pros spend too much time writing about how they played a certain tournament. These are good for historical or entertaining purposes but that’s about it. I will never play the same hand they did. I will never be in the same situation as they were.
Books can tell you when to bet and when to fold. Some will try to tell you how to play different strategies against different types of players in different positions. But, there is still something missing.
All the books in the world, even mine, can’t tell you what is happening at your table. The part of the game that is about the most important, no book can give you.
They can’t tell you how the players at your table are playing. They can’t tell you whether or not if the player that just bluffed you will do it again in the next hand. They can’t tell you if the Maniac plays that way all the time or just in late position.
Many players make adjustments to their play based on whether they are playing tournament or cash. The Rock in a cash game can be a loose aggressive tournament player since he can’t lose any more money. Books have their limitations, even mine.
Just like books about any subject, buy them, read them and learn from them. Once you have, then go out there and put it to practice. The best teacher is experience. Books just help you avoid the pit falls everyone else had to go through.
I hope you and your families have a wonderful and safe Christmas. Always remember our troops and vets.
Good Game & Good Luck
The Poker Book is available on amazon.com and the kindle store.
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net.
- Hank Cashman
All-In, Oops!
“All-in works every time, but once. “
Old Poker Adage
All-in is the ultimate poker move. Your opponent can’t bet you off a hand and you can’t be bluffed. You also have no recourse if you are wrong in you play. It can be the best play to double-up or the worse play that sends you home.
In a tournament, you have increasing blinds that are not in a ring game. If your chip stack doesn’t keep up with the blinds, you can be forced to make an All-in play. This is a time in the game where desperation meets opportunity. This is when some players will fold because you wouldn’t go All-in without a made hand. Or, players will call you since you can’t raise them. Interesting position to be in. Whatever happens, you have made your move and no one can push you off. You are going to see the river.
Many players lose big cash or their place in a tournament because they over play the All-in. There are times that it is good to make a big bet or raise. Sometimes you have a hand and want to find out how committed your opponents are to theirs. It is important to know where you are in a hand. You need to know if you have the best hand or are holding second best.
Especially in tournaments I see players go All-in time after time. They feel that they have no recourse but to push all their chips. They don’t want to be raised off the hand and they want to force their opponents out. The problem is that they could have made the same play and gotten the same result without risking everything.
In most cases, a substantial bet or raise will have the same impact as an All-in. the players that would fold to and All-in will probably fold to the big bet. You have also kept open the possibility of another bet. The player that would call you has to look at the potential probability of having to call another bet. In many games this will make the called fold in fear of losing more chips.
The player that has the “Nuts” is going to call you in either case. Here is where you have saved your own neck by not going All-in. if you had gone All-in, you would be going home. But, since you only made a bet you have another chance to keep playing and win your chips back. You still have your proverbial chip, chair and prayer.
Don’t go nuts with the All-in. Don’t let desperation rule your game. Use it when it is to your advantage and part of a good game plan. All-in is part of your arsenal of weapons to use at the table. It isn’t your only shot at winning.
Good Game & Good Luck
The Poker Book is available on amazon.com and the kindle store.
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net.
- Hank Cashman
I Can’t Win Here
“It's never just a game when you're winning.”
There is something to be said for playing in the old familiar card room with your old familiar friends. It’s comfortable, predictable and you usually know if you are going to go home a winner or not. Isn’t that nice?
Sometimes we venture out to another room or casino we run into a problem, we lose. That isn’t any fun. We all want to win every time we play poker. It just isn’t always the case.
Even when you go to a nearby casino, you are usually sitting down at a group’s home game. There are three or four players that sit at that table every day. They know the dealers and their families. They know how each other play. They are comfortable in their environment.
These regular players will play aggressive to you but slow play each other. All ethics, sportsman and competition aside, this is just the way it is. They will check raise you but check-out a hand to their friends. Welcome to the table.
When you enter a new venue to play, take your time. If you can, watch the table before you sit down. Get to know the players and the table action. Is it a nice slow 5-10 game where layers can see the flop for 10 to 20? Is it a fast action table where the flop is going to cost you 100 to 200?
Will the table even allow straddles or will the force a player to quit trying to straddle a hand. I was in one casino table with about four regulars when a young gun came in and wanted to straddle. He would straddle for 20 and a player would raise it to 200. After a while the regular player just told him that that would happen every time he tried to straddle. Eventually the young gun got the message and stopped straddling.
You have to adjust to the table. You have to get a feel for the rhythm of the action. It is imposable to enter a table and win, fighting the table.
Take for example the player that enters a slow action, low betting table and tries to bump up the action. He can raise every hand and win a few pots. He can raise with nothing and buy a few pots. In a short time he will look like the master of the table. Once the players get a feel or read on him, it’s all over. I’ve seen it a hundred times. After winning a few rounds the table figures him out and turns on him. He can’t buy a pot. The weak players get out of his way and the strong players take their chips back.
Once you have studied the players you should be able to play your game and win. Then you will have another venue to play and win.
Good Game & Good Luck
The Poker Book is available on amazon.com and the kindle store.
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net.
- Hank Cashman
Poker Players Say The Darndest Things
“Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something.”
Being at poker tables at least 4 nights a week and playing with such a variety of personalities, I get to hear some of the strangest stuff. Some of it comes from frustration. Some comes from having too much to drink and some is just plain dumb stuff everyone says.
I’ve always liked the sayings like, “I knew you had that” or “That’s what I put you on”. These are said right after someone has called a huge bet and lost.
How about, “The flop is always red cards when I have black cards”. Not getting into the real math that there are only so many cards in the deck but it is really just a clouded perception. We seem to notice the thing that we are looking for. Just like the guy that says that every time a king hits a 3 will follow. Does he really believe that the cards are connected?
The cards are just pieces of plastic. They are not covered by any mystical force. They fall as they fall. If more black cards are dealt out, then most likely red cards are going to hit. That’s because there are more red cards left in the stub than black cards.
After a player hasn’t won a hand in a few minutes you hear, “I haven’t won a hand all night (or in 4 hours)”. Then you look over at his stack and he has tripled the chips he bought. He just hasn’t won the last hand or to and expects his streak to be continuous.
I was playing in a tournament a few days ago and heard a player say something that boggled my mind. I’m not sure if I can wrap my brain around this one. It is kind of like the conversation that Lewis Black over heard. He said that he heard a girl say, “That I couldn’t have finished collage if it wasn’t for my horse”. There is no way that that sentence makes any sense.
Now the best one I’ve heard lately was, “I was right. You didn’t have what I thought you had”. Now help me think through this. She said she thought the other player had a curtain hand. Ok. But, the player didn’t have the hand she thought they had. So, she was right when the other player didn’t have the hand, because she knew he wouldn’t have the hand she thought he did. Is that right?
Whatever you hear at the table, have fun with it. It may be important to the game or it may be nonsense. Either way, just have a good time.
Good Game & Good Luck
“The Poker Book” and “Cashman on Poker” are available at amazon.com, barnes & noble.com and on kindle.
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net.
- Hank Cashman
“The only factor becoming scarce in a world of abundance is human attention.”
Always get tickled when a new company or a new executive takes over another company or department. The first things they tell the new crews they are now in charge of are, nothing is going to change and we’re getting back to basics. Both are well meaning but what a joke. The first one means, they aren’t going to change things from their point of view but everything will change from the subordinates’ view. The second means that they should have never quit doing the basics.
One of the first rules or basics of poker is to pay attention. While at a table, a friend of mine said the game would be so much better, faster and easier if the players would simply pay attention to the game.
The dealer had to constantly ask for the blinds. Why the hell don’t the players put out the blinds? If the players just paid attention they would know where the button was and who should post the blinds. This just ate up time and was frustrating to the dealer.
One player was so busy talking to another player that he folded his big blind, with no raise. He was more interested in the football game than playing poker. He didn’t fold the cards because they weren’t good but he just wanted to sit and talk. I guess that’s ok but if he wanted to talk about the game. Why didn’t he just give up his seat and let someone else play?
Another player was just so excited with her hand that she wasn’t paying attention to the action. She would start to bet out of turn. This was a tell that she thinks she had a good hand. She would have won more if she had waited her turn to act. After seeing her try to bet, the other players would know how to play their hands. Some would fold when they would have called. Some bet higher to scare her off her hand or build a pot. Either way, the other players got edge on the hand.
On one show down a player said he had a boat. His opponent mucked his hand. The first player turned his hand over and showed two pair. The other player said he had mucked trips. Well paying attention would have helped. The board didn’t have a pair on it. There was no way the first player could have had a boat without a pair on the board. The second player mucked his hand when he should have known he had the winner.
In one hand, a player said raise. He put out 150 in chips. The dealer said that since there was a raise before him he had to put out a minimum of 650. He objected saying he didn’t know about the previous raise. The dealer told him that he had stated a raise and that he had to put out the 650.
Poker is a very easy game if players will just pay attention to the action on the table.
Good game and good luck.
“The Poker Book” and “Cashman on Poker” are available on amazon.com and kindle.
If you have any comments or suggestions please e-mail me at hankcashman@comcast.net
- Hank Cashman
Yak, Yak, Yak, You Lose
“The hare-brained chatter of irresponsible frivolity.”
I enjoy a nice game of poker with friends and opponents. I even get a kick out of an occasional emotional outburst. But, constant chatter just ruins a good game.
Last night I was in a game where two players thought that they had to comment on everything at the table and in the room. At the end of each hand they had to say what they had folded. When they lost a showdown, they had to say something about the loss.
They chose from just a few lines. They were; “That was what I put you on” or “That’s what I thought you had” or “I knew that card would hit the river” and my favorite “I knew you had me beat but I had to see it.” One question, if they knew they were beat, why would they put in more chips?
If they weren’t in a hand they had to tell the players that were in the showdown what they should have done. They should have raised earlier. They should have bet bigger. They always should have done something different to win the hand, even though they wouldn’t have played it any better.
In one hand the dealer was separating a side pot and one of them started trying to help. The dealer had to politely ask them to quit since he wasn’t in the hand and there were other players that could continue to bet. The player said he didn’t realize there was more action pending. Well he would have known if he paid more attention to the game and quit running his mouth.
In a show down there were two side pots. As usual the dealer asked to see the two hands that were involved in the last pot. The loud mouth turned over his hand and said he had a straight. One problem, he was only in the main pot. He had no influence on the side pots. One of the players in the first side pot had a boat. He won all three pots.
Well since these guys were losing and not involved in many hands they started flirting with the servers. Then they got into conversations about their hopeful escapades planned for after the game. It just got on the players nerves. A player and a dealer told them to straighten up or they may be asked to leave.
That may seem a little harsh but it was well deserved. They did get quiet but I’m not sure if was because they were asked or that they were running out of chips.
One thing that became apparently evident was that they were so involved with what they had to say that they couldn’t concentrate on the game. The more they talked the more they lost. Other players were getting great reads on these two. If they talked a lot, they had losers. If they slowed down or got quite, they had winners. All this constant chatter cost these two a lot of chips.
Oh well. Good for the rest of us.
Good Game & Good Luck
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net.
- Hank Cashman
Alone In A Crowd
“Politeness and consideration for others is like investing pennies and getting dollars back.”
There are eleven seats around a normal poker table. Ten seats are for the players and one for the dealer. Even though there are eleven seats that doesn’t mean that all seats are equal. The ten players’ seats are invisibly separated from the one in the box.
Dealers are there to efficiently run the game. They are there to deal cards and keep the game moving at a pleasant pace. Hopefully they can do this in a way that keeps the game moving without errors and not rush the players. The players need to be able to have time to think but not drag the game to a halt.
Players sit around the table, play poker, drink, eat, listen to their MP3, watch TV and converse with the other players. Most of the time they don’t want to include the dealer in these conversations. This isn’t meant to be rude but the dealer is separate from the players. It’s like the players are there to enjoy themselves and the dealer is there to serve them. Well that’s right.
The players are paying the bills and just want the dealer to do their job. They don’t want any extra input from the dealer. If two players are talking about the football game they really don’t care about the dealer’s opinion. Again, this isn’t to be rude but it is the hierarchy of the situation.
Dealers are to be seen but not heard. In the words of Paymar, Harris and Malmuth in “The Professional Poker Dealer’s Handbook, they “should always be polite and pleasant..non-talkative and extremely focused on the game.” In essence, the dealers, while they are at a table of eleven they are sitting alone in the box.
It’s a lonely place but it can be a rewarding place. To be a good dealer, he has do stay focused on the game and not let the players, the TVs or anything else distracting him from the game. The dealer can avoid many potential problems just by paying more attention to the game than the p[layers. The players are too busy enjoying the camaraderie and competition.
The attentive dealer will keep players from playing out of turn. He will also limit the number of times players miss previous action, i.e. a bet or raise. He can keep the action moving without being rude to a player.
A good dealer will deal as many hands as possible as quickly as possible and as error free as possible. Anything besides that becomes a nuisance. He should keep his head in the game and out of the table talk. He should be cordial and, pleasant but remember that he is a facilitator of the game not a participant.
Good Game & Good Luck
“The Poker Book” and “Cashman on Poker” are available at amazon.com, barnes & noble.com and on kindle.
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net.
- Hank Cashman
Tell Or Trap
“Players are either acting or they aren’t. if they are acting, then decide what they want you to do and disappoint them”
Mike Caro’s Great Law of Tells
Mike “The Mad Genius of Poker” Caro has for years been teaching poker players to watch out for tells in their opponents. This is great information to have but it can be misleading. Just like it is hard to bluff an inexperienced player it is hard to tell if a tell is real or a trap from and experienced player.
I want to go over a few good and easy tells. I’m not going to mention ones like checking someone’s heart rate or dilation of their pupils. Those are just too hard to really pick up on without staring them down.
Tells are usually more reliable when the player is unaware of being watched, otherwise off guard. A good time to look for tells are when the flop is being placed. Most players are looking at the board and unaware of you watching them. Most tells are 80-90% reliable with newer players and 50-60% on experienced players.
One thing to look for is the chip stacking. You do have to keep your chips in a stack makes it reasonably easy for a player to count. If a player takes the time to arrange the sides of the chips to match, he is usually a very tight, methodical player. He will rarely bluff. If he’s betting heavy he’s got a hand.
On the other hand, if a player is very messy with his chips and couldn’t care less about how they are stacked or even if they are, he usually is a very loose aggressive player. He’s an ATM. He’s going to call and bet anything and will play you off often.
Another tell with two sides is the loud player wanting attention versus the quiet almost invisible player. The loud attention getter is looking to gamble and doesn’t mind throwing the chips out to prove it. The quiet player is going to play tight and calculating.
Here is a slight variation on a tell. While playing, fourth street comes out and your opponent sits back in his chair seemingly uninterested in the pot. If he folds his arms, he probably has a strong hand. If his doesn’t fold his arms, he is uninterested because he thinks he has a loser.
Showing your hole cards can be a tell or maybe just a habit. In most cases when a player shows his cards it is ether to show he has a winner or to cry about his luck. There are some players that for some strange reason feel compelled to show their hands. I’ve even seen players in seat one that will try to show their hands to the dealer, like he cares. If it’s a once and a while act, be cautious. If it’s all the time, take him down.
To me the biggest ell is not the action it’s self but the change in action. If a loud player all of a sudden gets quiet. If a player that has been sitting back all of a sudden sits forward. This change in mannerisms is the most reliable tell. Pay attention to your opponents even if you aren’t in the hand and you will pick up on these changes for future hands.
Your better opponents will know these tells and use them. Make sure you are not the one being played.
Good Game & Good Luck
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net.
Check out “The Poker Book” on Amazon.com and the kindle store
- Hank Cashman
Trying To Find Luck With Your Ass
“Our patience will achieve more than our force. “
Sometimes the best words come from the unlikeliest places. I was at a game last week when a poker philosopher made the statement “trying to find luck with your ass”. I thought that was so astute that I decided to expound on his observation.
We were playing a nice easy game. It was very friendly with no real crazy players trying to win a fortune and ruining the game. Some players were doing well but some were having a rough night. They couldn’t catch a hand or steal a pot. It was extremely frustrating for the impatient.
When you aren’t hitting it can be tough. You sit for long periods of time between hands just hoping to have something to play. After a while the pressure gets to you and you start playing mediocre hands in bad position just to get to play. That only costs you chips and increases your desire to play. Frustration is fueled by impatience. It’s a snowball that can kill your game.
After a period of time of just fold after fold you feel like you have to try anything to change what is happening to you. I’ll try to cover a few of them.
First, finding luck with your ass. This is when you see a player doing well and cashing out. You ask to change to his seat so you can start catching his cards. The new player at the table takes your old seat. Then what happens? You continue to get crappie cards and the new player starts stacking chips. What the hell happened?
Sometimes it’s not the cards but the player. Some players will take a calculated risk in the right position against the right players. They don’t need good cards just good odds and probability. Changing seats doesn’t make you play like the other player.
Next thing you try is changing the deck. You’ve been getting crap so changing the deck will put new cards in a different order into play. This has to help. It very seldom does. The same players that were winning continue to win. One time a player said he was got 7-2os 3 hands in a row. He asked for a deck change and guess what his first hand was, 7-2os.
Cards run in a clockwise order. They will eventually come to you. It’s just the math of it. When you change decks you upset that order. The deck has missed you for 30 minutes and is about to turn your way. Then you change decks and turn the new deck to someone else.
Then there is the Straddle. I’ve never quite figured this one out but somehow the straddle is supposed to change your luck. It does give you last option in the pre-flop round. If enough players stay in, it will build a pot. But, it actually puts you playing what is usually and inferior hand for higher stakes. That doesn’t make sense. Why raise the bet knowing that you will probably be playing a weak hand? Some think that by straddling that it will help their odds by forcing the weaker players out. But that means that you are only going to play the better hands. Seems like a losing proposition to me.
Play poker. Don’t try to luck or trick your way to a better hand. If you feel you are getting antsy or frustrated go take a short walk. Go to the restroom. Stretch your legs and clear your head. Don’t let a slow period ruin the game for you. You may miss your chance to win.
Remember, “The Poker Book” is available at amazon.com, barnes &noble.com and now in a kindle version for half price.
Good Game & Good Luck
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net.
- Hank Cashman
The Poker Book Goes E-Book
Back in ’06 I contacted Dave Weinthal at the Enigma and suggested that the magazine needed a weekly article on poker. I sent him 6 sample articles and we started working together.
About a year later I ran into the Alabama Rounder Girls at an event in Tunica. I got in touch with the editor of the mag and they were getting ready to change the title to Rounder So, I started writing for them.
Some time in ’07 I got a call from the owner of predictem.com and he asked if I would write for his gambling web-site. Hey, I like to write a lot, so why not.
In ’09 I decided to put together a book. I was constantly being asked to write an article about something that I had already written. I took about 50 of what seemed to be my more popular articles and put them together in “Cashman on Poker”
I kept looking for one poker book that had everything I wanted in a book. I wanted the rules, some strategy, how to play an assortment of poker games and the language. I never could find that book. So, I decided to write it.
I worked with some of the best authorities on poker rules. I worked with Robert “The Coach” Ciaffone. He is the author of “Robert’s Rules of Poker” which is the basis for all poker rules used by the WSPO, WPT and all casinos in the world.
I worked with members of the TDA Board on all of the tournament rules. Jan Fisher and Matt Savage were a great help in putting together the info I needed for the book. Even though I knew there was a summit coming up in July’11, I published the book in ’10 with the plan to update in ’11, which I did in September.
The paperback versions of my books are available on amazon.com, barnes & noble.com, Gamblersbook club.com, denverpoker.com, and pokergoddess.com. On amazon and barnes & noble you have to search by author. On these sites “Cashman on Poker” is $14.95 and “The Poker book” is $17.95 to 19.95.
Now I have hit another step in my poker writing career. Both of my books are available for kindle users. Now you can get the books instantly without shipping charges. “Cashman on Poker” form the kindle store is only $8.95 and “The Poker Book” is only $9.99. Now if you want a copy of the books you can get them cheaper and faster.
There is always the option to e-mail me for an autographed copy at regular price without shipping charges. I’ll sign it and send it to your home.
Also, if there are any articles that you would like to read you can find them on predictem.com or, of course my favorite, enigmanonline.com.
Any way you look at it, I enjoy writing poker articles for you and I hope you get something out of them that will help you enjoy your game.
Good Game & Good Luck
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net.
- Hank Cashman
H.A.L.T.’D. Revisited
“Nobody likes a drunk. A winning drunk is even worse.”
“The Real Deal” by Phil Gordon
Way back in ’06 I wrote an article that I think is time to reiterate. It was about the acronym H.A.L.T. I still don’t know where I first heard of it but it is sound advice. It stands for four ways to never play poker. Don’t play when you are hungry, angry, lonely, or tired. I added the “D” for drunk.
Hungry. While you are at the table you should have something to drink. Have a coke or water, something. A beer or adult beverage is OK but very sparingly. Usually there are snacks in the room, eat’em. But, don’t get hungry while you are at the table. Hunger affects your mental ability and you blood sugars. It gets your mind off the game. You start thinking about food and not your opponents. It’s actually best to just take a break and get a good meal. This gives you time to re-energize and refresh. You’ll play better in the long run.
Angry. I’ve seen a lot of players lose it after a bad beat. They go on tilt and start playing to get revenge instead of playing to win. Don’t let your emotions rule your play. Poker is a game of odds, probability and making the right decisions. You can’t do that if you are intent on beating one player and not on winning. If you feel your temperature rising, stand up and take a walk to the restroom or smoke one. Do whatever you need to do to get your head back in the game and cool off.
Lonely. I don’t know much you can do about this one at the table. Loneliness is a state of mind. Playing depressed or emotionally impaired does affect how you play and the decisions you make. I know you can still be lonely in a full poker room. It has nothing to do with how many people are in a place but how you feel inside. Sometimes poker is a good escape but usually the problems of the world will sneak in on you. So, if you just had a bad break up, grab a beer, not your cards. The beer will be cheaper in the long run.
Tired. This one is one we all abuse. We all have stories of the 24 hour game or the marathon tournament. To avoid playing tired, you should set a time limit to your play. Take as many breaks from the table as you need to keep refreshed. If you are playing cash, set a time to stop. Break your day into short sessions instead of one long day. Actually, you will be able to play more short sessions than one long one. You will be more alert and play better. As Vince Lombardi said, “Fatigue makes cowards of us all.”
Drunk. I almost hate to give this advice because I love to take drunk player’s money. We are all adults and are responsible for our own decisions. If you get drunk at the table and continue to play don’t come crying to me about losing. A drunk player plays too lose, is too loud and makes a lot of bad decisions. They will rebuy until they are broke. I also wrote an article about being my brother’s keeper. Away from the table I’m your friend. At the table I’m your opponent. I had a friend that was drunk and playing. He lost everything he had on him. He got up from the table and was going home. So, I took is keys and got him a ride. It’s the least I could do.
Have a great game but play smart not hungry, angry, lonely, tired or especially drunk.
Good Game & Good Luck
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net.
- Hank Cashman
“It is never too late with us, so long as we are aware of our faults and bear them impatiently. “
Jacobi
This past week I ran into two different occurrences that reminded me who should be in charge of a poker game, the players. It should be the players that decide what games are played and for what stakes. It’s the players that make the game go quickly or at a snail’s pace. But, we need dealers and floor personnel because the players aren’t knowledgeable or not paying attention. I don’t want to turn the game into work for the players but things would go easier for everyone if the players knew what was going on.
I’ve always found it strange that people will sit down at a Blackjack table and know nothing about the game. If you ask most first time players what is the objective of the game they will say to make 21. That is why it is such a great house game. The players simply don’t know what they are doing. Playing Blackjack in ignorance is bad but playing poker in ignorance can break you.
I was at a game and the floor was called. The dealer had inadvertently mucked the cards of the player in seat 10. It’s a bad mistake but it happens. The player got irate. She wanted the Floor to retrieve the cards from the muck so she could play. The Floor explained that the hand was dead and he could only return her last bet to her. He told he that it was the players responsibility to protect their hand. She then told him that he should have told her the rules before the game.
Well, excuuuuuse me. It isn’t the poker room staff’s responsibility to train every player before they buy-in to a game. If she is going to put money in the game she should have enough since to know what she is getting in to. Being the nice guy I am, I offered to sell her a copy of my book and she could read pages 109 thru 186 so she would know the rules. She didn’t take me up on that.
In another game the dealer and a couple of players got into a conversation about what the dealer was required to say during a hand. It all started when a player made a call but it wasn’t enough to cover a previous raise. He said the dealer hadn’t told him there was a raise. The Floor was called over and tried to explain to the players that it was his responsibility to be aware of the action. He had said call and he must call the whole amount.
During the following conversation the dealer and some players said that the dealer was there to facilitate the game. It is up to the players to know what is going on. They must pay attention to the action on the table. The dealer in a home game might point at you when it is time to act. He may remind you that you are in the blind so you won’t fold your hand. These are courtesies in a home game. In a casino dealers will get chewed out for such action. The players will tell the dealer not to point at them or that they know what is going on.
If you are going to sit down at a poker table, know the rules and pay attention. Everything will go a lot smoother and faster. You might even win more.
Good Game & Good Luck
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net.
- Hank Cashman
“Fanatical enthusiasm was the mark of the real man.”
What a wonderful summer. After the tornadoes of the spring, summer was fairly clam but a little dry. So, we all planed a great get together and cookout for Labor Day. That didn’t happen. I hope your plans weren’t totally ruined by last Monday’s rain. All and all the entire week end was full of spectator and participant sports.
Some people went to football games. No matter what the weather, they love to tailgate. It can be 100 or 0 outside and these fans will fire up the grills and open their ice chests to have a party before they get into the stadium. Is it to avoid the high costs of stadium food or they just like to party a little before they get into the crowds? So times I think it’s an excuse to show off their new team logoed grill in the trunk. , Hot or cold, wet or dry, whatever the case they love to party.
Baseball fans don’t party in the parking lot so much as they gobble down the food and drink in the stands. They have the team shirt and hat. They have to buy the team blow-up bat for the kids. It’s always hot in regular season baseball games but that doesn’t deter the fans from showing up to have a good time. They usually only see half the game from walking around but they don’t miss much.
Inside, you can’t tell much difference in a baseball or football fan. They all are stuffing their face with chips, hotdogs, burgers and beer. They jump and yell at every play. They cuss the officials. Then when the game is over they say they’ll get’em next time.
Golfers are a strange lot. They will get out and play in hot, sunny, 100 degree days. Have a few beers before they go home to sit and quietly sit and watch golf on TV. Too much sweat and dull for me.
Soccer fans crowd the stands and are on their feet most of the game. They are jumping, yelling and are really into the game. They don’t drink as much beer but they do enjoy the picnics along the sidelines.
Rugby players and fans aren’t too much different from soccer players and fans. The things you will notice at a rugby match are the EMTs and ambulances. Rugby players play for fun and blood.
Crew regattas are totally different. There are hundreds of participants and fans milling around all day to watch their team row for 5 minutes. They have a lot of food and drink everywhere but it’s all healthy for you, yuk. It’s really a reason to hang out at the river and not get wet.
Then there are the poker players. If we can’t find a game we will start one. We are the few people that can play our game and watch one on TV at the same time. We don’t second guess the officials but we do wonder why a player didn’t fold an obvious loser. We only jump up and yell when we get beat on a suck-out.
We drink and have great food but instead of hotdogs and munchies we sometimes substitute steaks or country cooking. Most fans get to play or watch their sport for a couple of hours, may be longer if there is a double header. We get to play our game for, let’s say, all day and night. As a matter of fact, the game I was in lasted 19 hours and had 38 people involved. In circuit events, tournaments last a couple of days.
Most sport participants have to battle the weather. We just play till our hearts content in the air conditioning. We don’t care that there is a monsoon dropping 6” of rain as long as the hands hold up.
Enjoy your sport no matter what it is. Fan or participant, it’s all good fun.
Good Game & Good Luck
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net.
- Hank Cashman
“Variety is the soul of pleasure.”
What a rut we have gotten into. Back in the old days, you know before ’03, the style of poker that mostly people played was Stud or Draw. Players would play many variations of either. There was Baseball, Follow the Queen, Spit in the Ocean, & Jacks or Better.
Since the invention of on-line poker in ’99 and TV poker in ’03 Hold’em has been the overall most popular poker game. There is a new generation that thinks Hold’em is the only poker game. That’s sad. Many have discovered Omaha but think it is just a variation of Hold’em. Not quite true.
Many times when I travel to areas that have casinos, I will find my way to a poker room, go figure. Usually there is a Hold’em table or two. There might be a Omaha game. But, it is very hard to find a stud or draw game. In Tunica the only casino that I know of that has a standing stud game is the Horseshoe. The other casinos only have different games when they host a tournament.
Don’t get me wrong, I do like Hold’em and am glad for the increase in popularity. Poker has become more main stream and socially acceptable than in the past. That is a good thing for all of us that play the game.
Many players learn to play Hold’em and have a good time with it. Very few players venture past that one game. As long as they are happy with that, I’m glad to have them at my table. But there is so much more for them to do in playing poker. The more they learn the more they may want to play the other games.
There are a lot of times that I hear players who want to play Omaha, Stud, Draw or H.O.R.S.E. I’ve even had players say that they would bring the players for a Stud game if I would host it. They say they know plenty of players that want to play. Then, when the time comes for the game, no one shows.
There is a need for more players at these games. It would also benefit the players to learn these games. What players learn in Stud or Draw will help them be better players in Hold’em. A skill learned in one game improves the player when they play another game.
In most of the games the hand rankings are the same or reversed. So, if you know a flush bets a straight in Hold’em, it does in Draw also. When you draw for a gut-shot and miss in Omaha, you probably will in stud.
In some games there are some new things to learn. Stud makes you pay more attention to lots of up-cards not just the board. That is one reason it isn’t shown much on TV. There is too much information to display on that little screen. Playing stud will teach you to concentrate on multiple hands and variables. It isn’t a game for the mentally lazy.
All I’m asking is that players try to venture out of their one game duldrums. Try something new, or old in this case. Learn to play Stud, Draw, Guts maybe even Chinese. You may find something you really love.
Good Game & Good Luck
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net.
- Hank Cashman
Horace (65 BC - 8 BC)
Sometimes things aren’t what they seem. Take for instance, is a 5-10 game bigger and more expensive than a 1-2 game? Not necessarily.
I have been playing in a neighborhood 1-2 No Limit Hold’em game for years. Over time we have had many players come and go and the game has changed. When we first started, the game was just a small group of guys playing to have a reason to hang out together and have fun. As time went on, things got a little more serious.
What had started as a 1-2 game with maybe a raise or two became a 1-2 with a 20 dollar raise pre-flop. Then it was 1-2 with multiple raises every card. The action got better, bigger and faster. What was a 100 buy-in and you play all night became a 500 buy-in. I’m not complaining but the game did evolve.
A couple of the old guys said that they wanted to tone the game down just a little. One way to do that would be to change the game to a limit game. Once they said they wanted to change it to a 5-10 some said they couldn’t play for higher stakes. Now the education part came into play.
In a 1-2 NLH game it is exactly what the name implies, No-Limit. During the course of the game it could be a slow and easy 1-2 game. Or, it could be a fast and furious 1-2-20 game where every pot is over 500. It’s up to the players at the table to make the game the way they want. But, it only takes one player to change the game.
One player can come in and start playing like its 10-20 NLH. He can bet heavy, often and try to bully the table. Some players will take on the challenge and others will either sit and wait or cash out.
In a 5-10 LH game the blinds are higher than in 1-2 NLH but after that the game slows down. Since they can only bet 5 at a time, with 4 raises, the most a player can have in the first round of betting is 25. In the second round it’s the same. In the last two rounds it doubles to 50 a round. So, in a hand of 5-10 LH the most that can be wagered is 150 compared to 1-2 NLH it can be all you have.
I’ve seen a lot of players play 1-2 NLH for hours slowly building a chip stake only to lose it all in one hand. I’ve always said that in LH you can’t win as much but you can’t lose as much. That is why most pros usually paly LH.
Good Game & Good Luck
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net.
- Hank Cashman
Muck With Caution
“Though I am not naturally honest, I am so sometimes by chance.”
It’s funny how things can happen around you all of the time and you never notice. Then once you do notice you see it happening often. Such is the case with mucking good hands. This is usually by accident but it can also be done by manipulation and strategy.
I was in a game that had a lot of action. Good players playing very well and plenty of positioning and strategic play. In one hand the betting action had been furious. After the river one player bet and the other called. Without actually showing his hand, the player that called said he had trip Aces. The other player tossed his cards towards the dealer and the deal added them to the muck.
The player then showed his pair of Aces, which would have been a loser. The player that had mucked his hand complained but to no avail. What the player did by miscalled his hand was intentional and unethical. But, the player that mucked his hand should never have done that without seeing the other cards.
In another, similar instance, there was a bet on the river. The second player called the bet but it rolled away from the pot .the dealer brought in the bet to the pot. The second player held his cards up but didn’t show them and said, “You got me beat.” The first player had not seen the call and thinking he had won, he tossed his cards in face down. The second player then sowed his cards. The dealer mucked the first players cards and pushed the pot to the second player.
The first player said he had the winner and that was his pot. The dealer said he hadn’t sown his cards before he mucked them. The player then said he didn’t know that there was a call. Hate to say it, but it was too late.
On this last example I actually went back to the player and told him how good of a play he made. It was not your average players way to handle the play.
Again this always happens at the showdown. Player one made a bet. Player two called it. The players were sitting across the table from each other. They sowed each other their cards. The first player had a loser but tossed his cards face up on the board. The second player was about to toss his in face down but at the last minute turned them. The second player almost lost the pot.
The players had shown their cards to each other but they hadn’t shown them to the dealer. When the first player showed his cards, if the other had tossed his face down, his would have been mucked. It would have been a bad mistake but it would have been the player’s fault.
Accidents and mistakes happen. That is the human element of the game. The deliberate manipulation and unethical deceiving of your opponent in an effort to steal a hand should not be tolerated. This isn’t bluffing. It’s using tricks to win when you don’t have the skills to win.
Good Game & Good Luck
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net.
- Hank Cashman
Phil Knight, founder of Nike
Even though it may not always seem like it, there are official rules to poker. In some cards rooms the rules change every night. Sometimes, they change depending on who is in the game. But, for the serious card rooms there are rules to follow.
For cash games, “Robert’s Rules of Poker”, written by Robert “The Coach” Ciaffone, are the basis for all casino and card room rules. For tournament play, the TDA rules are king.
The Tournament Directors Association is comprised of poker dealers, players, tournament directors and about anyone that has a vested interest in poker. They talk, eat, sleep and breathe poker. During the year they keep in touch by e-mail and the TDA web site. They work together to make poker better for the players and officials.
Every other year the TDA has a summit in Vegas. It is usually around the end of June, during the WSOP summer events. This year was one of those years. On July the 30th the new rules were published. Last year there were 44 rules and now there are 55. Some are clarifications and some are new rules in general. Here are some of the updates.
Rule 1 is the same as before. It was moved up to #1 a few years ago, because the TDA believe it to be so important. It basically states that the Floor will make decisions in the best interest of the game.
Rule 2 is simple enough. Only English is to be spoken at the tables.
Rule 3 is a new one. Official terminology is to be used. If a player uses some other terms he may be misunderstood and be forced to make a play he didn’t intend to make. So, next time a player says he pushes he may be all-in when he meant to raise.
Rule 4 didn’t change. No phones at the tables.
Rule 5 says they random seating will be used. No change there but it goes into more detail about what to do if a player sits in the wrong seat.
Rule 6 is new. It states that the Floor will make accommodations for special needs players.
Rule 7 goes over how to break tables. No new news there.
Rule 8 talks about balancing tables. Again, no new news.
Rule 9 gives the number of players for a “final table”. This time they include instructions for stud games.
Rule 10 says cards speak regardless of verbal declarations.. it also mentions penalizing for miss-calling a hand.
Rule 11 is the “face up for all-ins” rule.
Rule 12 is new and I hate to say it was needed. It gives the showdown order for who has to show his cards first. It’s a shame that that has to be written but poker players aren’t always professional.
Rule 13 just states that you have to show cards if you want the chips ina contested hand.
Rule 14 again a showdown clarification for uncontested hands.
Rule 15 says that the right to see a hand is at the discretion of the Tournament Director.
Rule 16 was moved for #10 last year. Dealers can’t kill a wining hand.
Rule 17 goes over awarding odd chips in the case of a split pot. No changes.
Rule 18 just clarifies that pots & side pots are to be split separately.
Rule 19 is the same as #15 last year. Right to dispute a hand ends at the beginning of the next hand.
Rule 20 gives the set time for increasing levels and when a new hand officially starts.
Rule 21 was #16 last year and goes over how to have a “race off”.
Rule 22 again goes over something that is so sophomoric. It says that players must keep their chips visible and countable.
Rule 23 says players can’t get a deck change.
Rule 24 says a player can’t skip a hand before re-buying.
Rule 25 goes over the procedure for when the clock is called on a player.
Rule 26 disallows “rabbit hunting”.
Rule 27 says you have to be at your seat to play but that you will be dealt in even if you aren’t seated.
Rule 28 was #23 before and just says you have to stay at the table to have a live hand.
Rule 29 says the “dead button’ rule applies.
Rule 30 says players can’t dodge blinds.
Rule 31 give button position for heads-up play.
Rule 32 defines qualifications for misdeals.
Rule 33 defines substantial action.
Rule 34 goes over how to handle a four-card flop. I did this last night.
Rule 35 says verbal declarations in turn are binding.
Rule 36 I wish this one had been changed but it is still too gives lenient to out of turn play.
Rule37 tells how to raise and how to handle partial raises.
Rule 38 is more defining of rule 37
Rule 39 explains how to handle the oversize chip.
Rule 40 reviews the multiple chip betting.
Rule 41 says there is no limit to raises in no-limit but house rules apply to limit games.
Rule42 puts the responsibility of attentiveness and clear action on the player.
Rule 43 pot size is only counted by the dealer in pot-limit games.
Rule 44 explains string betting.
Rule 45 says the player must be clear about his actions or may have to make action he didn’t intend to make.
Rule 46 covers non-standard folds.
Rule 47 says that conditional statements may be binding.
Rule 48 explains that all chips must be visible even in transit.
Rule 49 warns to protect your hands. If fouled or mucked by the dealer, you lose.
Rule 50 if you pick up your up cards on a stud game your hand is dead.
Rule 51 reviews penalties and disqualifications.
Rule 52 warns to not talk about your hand even if you are no linger in the hand.
Rule 53 exposed cards do not necessarily means a dead hand.
Rule 54 warns against unethical play.
Rule 55 warns about proper etiquette.
That seems like a lot but this is the condensed version. If you would like a copy of the complete Poker Tournaments Directors Associations rules, please e-mail me at hankcashman@comcast.net and I’ll send you a copy. Follow the rules and have a great game.
Good Game & Good Luck
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net.
- Hank Cashman
Chuck Palahniuk
There are enough distractions while playing poker. There are monitors around the room so players can keep track of other sports. There are loud, drunk players who don’t pay attention to the game. There are other tables where the action may get wild. . The other players and cardroom employees walking around can be attention getters.
I know that I’m somewhat of a purest about poker. I want to play the game and have a good time. I don’t want to get involved with a bunch of other non-since. I hate wild card games. When I sit down to play 8 other players, I want everyone to be involved in the game.
At some games players get side action started. Sometimes it’s pinging. Sometimes players will make side bets on best hand between them or whether the flop is mostly red or black.
A ping is when a player wins a pot; he will give another player a percentage of the pot. For example, if a player drags a $100 pot, he will give the other player $10. When the other player wins, he will act in kind. In some ways this sets up an opportunity for collusion. The players will “check-out” a hand or slow play his ping partner. This isn’t fair play for the other players.
As far as the “black or red” bets, this is just a nuisance. The players will have a side bet and have to pay off after the flop. The chips crossing the table that have nothing to do with the game is just distracting.
When players have a “best hand’ bet, they will have to “fold & hold” to determine the winner. Let’s say, a player is going to fold, he will want to hold his cards so that he can show his hand to his opponent at the end. This keeps cards that aren’t in the hand on the table. This can be confusing and opens up the chance for deception.
Most of these side bets distract from the game. They keep cards out of normal action. They give the appearance of collusion. They may even try to remove chips from play.
If two players are having a “best hand” bet; one fold but the other stays in the hand, if a player goes all-in, the money from the side bet must be put back in action and out of the side bet pot. This may upset the side betters but the poker game table stakes take priority over any side action.
Try to keep these side action bets to a minimum and not let them interfere with the real game that the other players are playing. Poker is supposed to be enjoyably. Don’t let your side action make it a drudge.
Good Game & Good Luck
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net.
- Hank Cashman
Scott Westerfeld
I like playing live action more than on-line but on-line does have its place. When I only have an hour or less to play, I can sit down and knock out a few hands. When I want to try something new, I can play play-money first to see if it works. If I want to play a tournament but don’t feel like going out I can play on-line. On-line poker is still available to Americans but it isn’t the same.
I have mostly played on Full Tilt and PokerStars. I know there are plenty of other sites out there like, Cake, Carbon, Intertops and Juicy Stakes but I just liked the other two better.
Now that Full Tilt is not available I can’t play Matrix or Rush. When I’m playing live there are things to do to keep my mind busy. I can watch the other players to get information to use later. If I’m bored I can watch a game on TV. Or, if nothing else I can drink.
I just liked the pace of Rush and Matrix. When I played Rush it was constant action. Whenever I would fold a hand I was whisked away to another table with a new hand dealt. There was no waiting on some player who was only half way paying attention to act. Rush was fast placed. Everyone was under the gun and on the timer. It cut down on the amount of time you had to think but that can be a good thing. Remember, think long, think wrong.
The Matrix was kind of the same way. I would play with 8 other players on four different tables. On each table the players were in different seats and the button started in a different position. The action was fast since as soon as I played on one table it was my turn to act on another. As the number of players reduced the action was faster.
If I got to where I was still on all four tables and each was down to five or less players each, I had to react very quickly. It seemed like it was always my time to act on one table or another. Actually, this made me a better player since i constantly had to study the table and the other players. While playing Matrix poker, I was a consistent winner. At my worst, I broke even.
I’ve tried to play on the other sites but now they seem so slow. I remember back to when I first started playing on-line. There always seemed to be a player or two that got disconnected or their DSL was just slow. It didn’t bother me then but now I want to play faster and keep the action moving. If I got time to read a book, I might as well take a nap.
Good Game & Good Luck
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net.
- Hank Cashman
Ernest Hemingway
Well the WSOP main event is down to the November Nine. Soon we will have a new world champion. The WSOP events this summer have been great, with record setting attendance and prizes. The total prize pool this year was 192 million. That puts the total prize pool for the WSOPs 42 year history to 1.4 billion. Damn, that’s a lot of poker.
All of that is well and good. I do have one thing I would like your opinion on. What do you think of the live broadcasts of the main event?
Last week ESPN began live coverage of the WSOP Main Event. In my opinion, it was terrible. Now that they are down to the November Nine they are supposed to begin broadcasting edited shows, just like usual.
Last week I was at a game when the WSOP came on. While playing I kept an eye on the TV. The show was on a 30 minute delay but was unedited.
Since the show was live and unedited that meant that I got to watch as players took 8-10 minutes to decide to fold. At one point the commentators had to fill air time while the players were on a 15 minute break.
ESPN was only showing 2 tables. This was a feature table and a secondary table. Since the celebrities were all thru out the field, there was only one name player at each table and that was for only a half hour at a time. So, I could keep track of how Daniel was doing but didn’t get to watch Phil get knocked out.
It was like watching grass grow or paint dry. Last year Phil took 45 minutes to make a call. When it hit TV it was edited down to one minute. This year, while a player was getting in his TV time the other players were walking around because they were as bored as I was.
Now, I will say that the dealer’s pushes were fast and almost unnoticeable. In the edited broadcasts, I see a dealer deal a hand or two then they edit out the boring hands. In this live action, I saw every hand the dealer dealt.
The worst part of the show was that they didn’t show the hole cards unless there was a showdown with a call. I missed all of the fun of trying to play the hand along with the player at the table. I might as well be watching a tab le in a card room without getting in inside info.
Another thing that seemed strange was that they allowed the players to have and use their cell phones as long as they weren’t in a hand. I know that it was on a delay but even Daniel said he had people watching and texting him. There was another player at the table, that had folded, who was texting on his phone. I like the Louisiana rules that there are no electronic devices allowed at the table. The game goes a lot better without iPods and cell phones.
I know they must know what they are doing but I’ll take the taped and edited versions. I like the faster pace.
Good Game & Good Luck
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net.
- Hank Cashman
Henry James
The WSOP Main Event is now well on its way. I’m writing this early Monday morning so my update isn’t exactly up to date. Last week I said that the over and under was 6,000. Well that is about as close as you can get. There were four Day 1s. Each was set up for 3,000 players. Damn, were they off?
Day 1-A started with 897 entrants, Day 1-B had 978, Day 1-C had 2,181 and 1-D had 2,802. That totaled 6,865 for the four day ones. The remaining players are about 60% of the field.
Now I’ve never played in the Main Event but, if I start with 30,000 in chips, the blinds start at 25-50 and go to level 5 which is 200-400 with a 50 ante I think I can hold on for Day 2. That’s just my thinking. Actually, if you don’t play a hand, you can make it to the end of Day 2.
It is amazing to me the things that have changed the WSOP Summer Events. The WSOP started in 1970 with the election of Johnny Moss as the Champion by, who Jack Binion thought were, the seven best poker players. they voted once for the best poker player but they all voted for themselves. They then took a second vote for the second best player. Johnny won that one. Since then the fields, events and prizes have grown.
We all know what happened to make the biggest change. It was Moneymaker in ’03. After watching Chris win the 2.5 million prize, we all thought we could do it too. He entered a $40 on-line tourney and parlayed it into a Main Event Championship. He won in a field of 839 players. The on-line poker business was booming. The next year the Main Event drew 2,576 players.
The field grew to a record 8,773 in ’06 when Gold won. After that the rules were changed. In ’07 the on-line winners were no longer given WSOP seats but they could also take the cash. Many did take the cash so the attendance fell to 6,358 in ’07. In ’07,’08 & ’09 the field remained in the 6,000 range. In ’10 it jumped back up to over 7,000.
Another big factor in the drop in attendance in ’06 was the crackdown on on-line poker by the Congress. With the loss of many on-line poker sites doing business with Americans many sites that used to send players to the game just shut down.
Of course as the number of players grew, so did the prize. Starting in ’71 with a winner take all prize of 30,000. The record was set in ’06 when Jamie Gold won 12 million. This year’s first place prize will be 8.7 million, which is less than last year but still the 3rd highest on record.
With all of the changes in poker, the game is resilient. We are going to play poker no matter what. It is an American game and we should enjoy a little poker every once and a while.
I hope that the issues with on-line poker get resolved soon. But, no matter what we can still play in the den or in the casinos.
One other note, ESPN will begin broadcasting this year’s Main event today, Thursday the 14th.
Good Game & Good Luck
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net.
- Hank Cashman
Niels Bohr
I may be a student of poker but I sure as hell can’t tell the future. Take the Rave Theater, McKay’s and WSOP for examples.
A few years ago the theater, next to the Kmart in East Ridge, when out of business. So, what did they do? They built the new rave. I remember driving by on I-24 thinking “that will never survive.” Then a few years later McKay’s book store had out grown its building. They built and moved to a new location. It is at the end of Old Lee Highway next to Thunder Creek Harley-Davidson. If location matters, this was a big mistake. Again, I thought that it was going to be a failure.
OK, now you know that I was wrong on both counts. The Rave is the biggest and busiest theater in town. At McKay’s your lucky to find a parking space in their slow times. Shows what I know about business and locations. They both knew that the demand for their business would overcome the problem with location.
Well, I guess the same can be said for the WSOP. When I heard about the DOJ shut down of Full Tilt, Poker Stars and Absolute to American poker players I knew that it would devastate the summer WSOP calendar of events. Damn, was I ever wrong!
These websites no longer will be offering WSOP seats to American players. They do still offer them to overseas players. These sites also have dropped most of their sponsorships of American players.
The WSOP are still taping but as of today there are no plans to show the events until they get sponsors for the shows. This is limiting the number of companies that are willing to pay for the broadcasts.
There has been a very noticeable absence of Full Tilt pros like Ferguson, Lederer, Ivey and Gordon. Ivey is in a lawsuit against Full Tilt and the others seem to be avoiding the public and press. I understand that since they were the faces of Full Tilt but not the operators that caused the problems.
With the main event starting today, Thursday, 7/07, they have so far set new records for attendance. No Limit Hold’em is still the most popular game. Event # 8 had 4,178 players and Event # 54 had 4,576. Both were $1,000 buy-in NLH events. So far they have given away over 100 million in prize money, with 3 more events before the Main.
The over and under for the main is still low, around 6,000 but I will not be surprised to see it hit 8,000. With all the news came out about the web-sites; me and many pros were speculating that the Main would be under 5,000. With what I’ve seen so far, we may be very wrong.
I’ll keep studying and playing poker but my fortune telling days are over.
Good Game & Good Luck
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net.
- Hank Cashman
Bret Harte
It’s so easy to be top dog when all you do is play the same old players. If you really want to see how good you are you need to change your venue. Get out of your normal ring of players and challenge yourself.
It’s the same in poker as it is in any sport. The pool player that stays in his home pool club masters the table and thinks he is the best player around. The high school jock that manages to go all state just to find out that in college he’s a “B” team player.
Many players play in the some ol’ card room with the same ol’ players. They think they are great players and ready to turn pro. But, then they go out to another room and just can’t seem to win. What’s wrong?
They have gotten into a rut or routine. They know how each player plays and how to play them. It becomes so mundane that the game is so boring. Everyone plays the same and no one changes their game. So, predictable.
Players go to another room and say that they just can’t win there. They don’t have any good luck playing there. It isn’t that there is less or more luck in a different room, it’s the players.
Even though the game is the same, when you change rooms and opponents how the game is played changes. For example, you may play 5-10 NL Hold’em. In one room, the players like to see a flop before anyone bets. So, pre-flop there are just calls to the blinds. This leads to smaller pots and less action. These are tight, conservative and friendly players, playing for enjoyment.
In the next room there are pre-flop raises of 20-50. These players are playing a more aggressive style. The pots are bigger and players tend to make more money. But, it’s still a 5-10 game. Nothing has changed but the players.
One other thing to consider is when you go into a new room you are walking in one someone else’s home game. This may be in a casino but every casino has its regular players that play together every day just like the home games in your town.
These guys play each other and know how each other plays. They will soft play their friends but go after you with all they have. You have to know how to adjust to these players.
Just like when I was learning how to play chess. I played against my brother until I could beat him. Then, I played against older and better players. That was the only way I knew how to improve my game. I had to compete against better players.
If you think you are ready to move up to a higher level or want to turn pro, you need to find players that you’ve never played against and go play them. Stretch yourself. Be careful. Take your time and study the new players. Learn how to win against them before you get too aggressive.
Good Game & Good Luck
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net.
- Hank Cashman
Saskya Pandita
There is something to be said for just playing poker and being quite. I don’t mind a little conversation. Hell, I’ll even tolerate some singing but constant chatter irritates me and costs you money. Maybe I was just being too sensitive to the noise, but last Wed. night there was just too much chatter at the table.
Let’s see, first of all there was the rapper. He thought he was the greatest, up and coming rapper around. OK, rap isn’t my favorite form of so called music. I do enjoy some of about any type of music. But, this guy just wouldn’t shut up. The players to his side were about to go nuts with the relentless yacking. I couldn’t call it poetry, like most raps. This guy would throw together words that made no since what so ever but since the words at the end of a line almost rhymed he thought he was rapping.
At le end of each hand he would tell what he had folded. As if we cared. This was telling everyone one at the table how he played. They knew what he would fold. They knew how to get him to throw away a good hand and what would make him call with second best. He was hemorrhaging chips because he told everyone how to play him.
Across the table from him was another motor mouth. He was calling out the cards he needed. Every flop he would wish for cards to make his hand. When he didn’t hit he would have a face of total despair. To make it even worse he would tell his opponents what he had. Now, you can’t tell the truth in poker so he was always over stating the strength of his hand. It took about 15 minutes for everyone to figure this out. He was donating chips after that.
Oh, there was also a player that when he was heads up and facing a bet, he would ask if the other player wanted a call. This became comical. He would say he would call if they wanted one. Well, when he would ask they would quickly say yes. Then he would fold. Everyone knew that when he would ask the question, he was weak. Then the betters started showing the bluffs. That never stopped him. He still kept giving away chips.
Social conversation is an added element of poker. You can talk about almost anything while you are at the table. The cheapest conversations are about religion and politics. Just don’t ever talk about you hand or how you play. I don’t care if the hand is over, don’t talk about how you play or the bad or good fold. Any conversation about how you play ro the hand you missed will cost you money in the long run.
Good Game & Good Luck
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net.
- Hank Cashman
Sam Levenson
Sometimes it isn’t that we don’t know how to play that costs us a game but that we just don’t do what we know is right. Knowledge isn’t the issue. Playing the way we know how to play is the issue.
I was at a game last week and Bill, a friend of mine came in. We had a chance to talk a while before the game started. He was telling me how in the last few sessions he had gotten a good chip stack just to end up busted. I told him that he just needed to learn to leave when he is up.
He said that it sounds so simple but sometimes it is so hard. When you are still on the winning side you think you can get it back or that you can turn it back around. I agreed but more times than not I’ve seen the cards turn on a player and never turn again.
It’s important to look for things that change the action at a table. Something as simple as going from eight players to ten will change the game. Maybe a new player will change the cards. A more aggressive player can change the bets enough to make action different.
I’ve always used a rule of thumb that if I lose half of my winnings that I leave while I’m still a winner. Another player, Anthony, came up and joined in our conversation. He used the time method. He said that he plays for a set amount of time and leaves no matter how he stands. That keeps him from getting tired and making mistakes.
Just before we sat down we ran into another player, Eddy. He jumped in with his two cents worth that he knows he loses when he drinks too much so he quit drinking liquor while playing. Now he only drinks beer at the table.
We sat down and everything started off very slow & friendly. As the time went by the action changed and the game got more exciting. As expected, Bill got off to a good chip lead. Many players had to re-buy and a few left. The table stayed full and as we had talked before the action changed.
Eddy was right, he had stopped drinking liquor but when your drinking free beer as fast as you can it can still cost you. The more he lost the more he would re-buy. After a while he changed his play because he was behind. He thought that since he was behind a few hundred that if he bet more he could win it back. He was chasing lost money and that only leads to more lost money.
Bill and Eddy got into a hand. Eddy pushed hard on the river. Bill thought for a minute but made the call. Since he didn’t even have a pair, Eddy mucked his hand. That put Bill up a very substantial amount. He stayed for about another hour but stayed stagnate.
Anthony said his time was up and he was going to leave after one more round. Bill said he was also. After that round each got up and took half the chips off the table with them. Bill looked at me and said he had finally learned his lesson.
It wasn’t that he had learned anything different than what he already knew. It was just that he was thinking more about the game and not letting his emotions control him. He had won a lot and lost a little and left a winner.
As for Eddy, I figured that those free beers and his chasing lost money cost him about $150 a beer. I’ll buy mine away from the table. They’re cheaper at the 7-11.
Good Game & Good Luck
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net.
- Hank Cashman
Anonymous
No Limit Texas Hold’em is the most played poker game in the world. All-in seems to be the most over used action in the whole world. Maybe they need to pull this back just a little. I just seem to hear “All-in” so damn much, and so many times it’s a prelude to” re-buy”. Why do they do this?
All-in is somewhat of a power play. But, at the same time it relinquishes poker to their opponents. When they go all-in it does display strength in that they are willing to risk everything they have on this one hand. In a way, it also shows that they believe that they definitely have the winning hand. They think they are unbeatable and if their opponent wants to call, he will lose. This is a good move, if they can back it up.
It is even a stronger move when in early position. As in most hands, the earlier they are in action the stronger their move seems to be. Any bet in early position is assumed to be stronger than in late position. In early position they are representing a good hand. In late position, they are trying to buy the pot. The same is true of an all-in.
While all-in is a way to push and try to dominate the hand it also takes them out of power. Once they’ve gone all-in, they have nothing to do but hope. It’s their last hope of winning the hand. It’s one punch and hope they knock their opponent out. What if they are wrong? What do they do? They have no options. They have given all the power to your opponents.
All-in is a good move when they have a hand but too many players use it as a raise to push other players out of a hand. This is where they make a big mistake. When a player goes all-in without having the best hand it leaves them venerable. They are left defenseless.
I’ve seen players that have a good hand, go all-in after the flop hoping to push other players out of the hand just to thin the field. This is fine if it works but what if it doesn’t? Some players that know this move will stay for a draw because they feel like they have just as good of a chance to win. When a player goes all-in and is called he has no back up action. He is left with whatever the poker gods will give him.
Players can find out where they stand in a hand and have the power to control the hand if instead of going all-in they place a good size bet. Instead of risking everything on one hand, a pot size bet will remove the pot odds from their opponent and at the same time give them another play if they are called. This way, if they are called they can fire again to push their opponent off the hand.
My point is, unless they know they have the nuts, they should save a little for the knock-out punch.
Good Game & Good Luck
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net.
- Hank Cashman
- Aesop
A long time ago I was with some friends at a motocross event. We were all having a great time trying out new stunts. Jerry came up and started bragging about how great he was. “He was the master of his machine.” He could do any tricks that we ever thought of and he was only getting better. We all politely listened and laughed as he left.
We kept riding the hills, jumps and turns, having a great time. About an hour later Jerry came back. This time his handle bars were twisted, headlight busted, grass & dirt all over the bike and Jerry was bleeding. He had taken a corner a little too fast and had gone over a 50 ft. embankment. Parts of his short were missing or bloody. His jeans were the same and his foot peg had gone through his foot. He was riding home to get a ride to the doctor’s office.
We all felt bad for him but we knew it was going to happen. We had taken motorcycle safety courses and some of the things they drove into your brain were to have respect for your bike, watch out for the other guys, especially cars and trucks, and that every time you get on your bike it could be your last.
I see the same thing happen at the poker table. I’ve mentioned before about how there are so many “greatest poker players” at the tables. They are going to turn pro as soon as they can find a backer or get up so much money. The sad part is that they believe their own hype. This is why they self-destruct so easily.
I had one player tell me his was going pro as soon as he could get together 25k. I asked him how close he was and he said about 10k away. I asked him why, if he was that good why hasn’t he won that much? He said it was just bad luck and had nothing to do with his ability.
Then there is the player that proceeds to tell the table that he is the best player. That all sounds good, but it’s sometimes better to let the chips do the talking. It’s hard to convince players how good you are while they are stacking chips they just won off of you. Players seem to be able to evaluate who’s the best by how much they win.
If someone tells you that you played well, thank them. Let your reputation be your publicist. You never have to tell anyone how good you are, when you really are good.
That’s one thing I notice about the great poker players, with very few exceptions, the greats will tell you that no one can be called the greatest without clarification. On any given day anyone can win. You may win a Hold’em tournament but that doesn’t make you great. Many players win fortunes one year just to lose it next year. But, they are the same player.
Good Game & Good Luck
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net.
- Hank Cashman
“In a mad world only the mad are sane.”
I enjoy a nice relaxing evening of playing poker with my friends. I’m not out to get rich but I do want to win. Normally I’ll play 1-2 or 2-5 NL. If there isn’t a NL table available I’ll go to a Limit table for a while. Some cards and drinks with friends and that’s all I need.
Then there are some players that find the same enjoyment out of hitting hard and trying to become rich every time they play. Mad Mickey is one of them.
I was sitting at a 1-2 table with a very nice cordial group of players no one was getting rich but then again no one was losing their shirt either. Then Mickey sat down. We could tell that the table was about to change when he bought in for 500 in a 1-2 game. He planned on taking the table. That’s ok; we’ve played with maniacs before.
He started off with a straddle. Now I understand the concept of straddling and it’s a good play once in a while but not every hand. If you have the need to straddle every hand in a 1-2 game, why don’t you just go to a 2-5 game to start with? It’s just a way to screw up an otherwise good game.
The straddle worked as usual. He lost about 75% of the hands. That was ok with us. We like chips he bought better than the ones we paid for, anyway. But that didn’t stop him he thought that it was a great maneuver.
After he had lost his initial buy-in he bought back in for another 500. He figured that he had to be the chip leader so he could intimidate everyone else. Good plan except when his play could back up the terrifying image he wanted to project. That second buy-in didn’t last as long as the first. So, now he bought back in for 1,000. In a 1-2 game, why so much?
So now he was ready to rule the table. Now, every hand was 20 or more pre-flop. He was going to show us who the best player was. He bet or raised every card. He showed us who was boss. His next buy-in was for another 1,000. If your keeping track that is 3,000 in a 1-2 game.
At first it he was annoying. Then he became a profitable nuisance. He had messed up our game but he was paying us for it. Now it just got stupid. It was to the point that the rest of us only played a hand when we thought we could beat him. If we all had marginal hands, he won 3 chips.
His luck did finally kick in and he was able to get some of his money back. Before the night was over he was only down about 1,500. He was so proud. He had shown us how blind aggressive betting was the pros way to play. He even said he was thinking about turning pro and quitting his job.
We all wished him well on his new career. We will miss him. He may be a pain but he pays well.
Good Game & Good Luck
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net.
- Hank Cashman
The Smartest Player I Know
“When a quiet man is moved to passion, it seems the very earth will shake.”
Stephanie Barron
This is a simple tale. It’s all about a player I met about 2 weeks ago. It’s about how aggression and gambling can get a hold on you. How sometimes it’s the calm and cool player wins.
I was at a game and there were the usual characters. There were the players that came just to have a relaxing evening. Alongside of them were the players that were there to make a living. Then there were also the gamblers. You know the guys that will bet on anything even though they have no chance of winning. Then there was Jerry.
Jerry was an older fellow, probably in this late 60s. He has played poker for years. Like some of us, he grew up with draw and stud but over the years he learned to play hold’em just to be able to find more games.
It was a little 2-5 game. The average buy-in was 200 but some came in for more. Everything started off as usual. It was just a nice friendly game. As chip stacks rose and fell the game began to change. The aggressive players would loose and re-buy for more. They tried to keep up with the building stacks so they would buy back in for 500-1,000. I guess they were compensating for their lack of ability.
All along Jerry seemed to be almost unnoticed. He would fold most of the time. When he did play to the turn he would bet heavy to push the rest out before the river. He knew that many hands were lost on the river so he didn’t want them to have that opportunity.
Jerry built a good chip stack and said that he was going to play one more round and then leave. As the button went around Jerry called a few blinds but didn’t jeopardize many chips. He did play one hand and won it so on the last round he won a couple of hundred. Then he cashed out.
Jerry didn’t leave. He waited on a friend that was still playing. When there was a seat open some of the players would ask Jerry to get back in. He said that once he cashes out he doesn’t come back in. He was done for the night.
The other players stayed and played. Some played poker and some gambled. There were some that would raise every hand to build a pot or to try and steal one. The big gamblers bought in again and again just to lose again.
At the end of the night I took a quick look around the table. At first, it seemed that everyone had a good night. Some left busted but many cashed out. The big gamblers seemed happy to cash out for a few hundred.
I reviewed the night and after adding everything up I realized that there were only two real winners. Happy to say that I was one of them since I cashed out for triple what I bought in for and there was Jerry.
He never let the game get in his head. He stayed calm and cool. He bought in, played his game and cashed out a winner.
I talked to him later and he told me that it had been an expensive lesson to learn. He now plays for a set amount of time or till he has won four times his money. If the time runs out, win or lose, he cashes out. If he has won four times his buy-in, he cashes out. If he is ahead but starts to lose, he will cash out if he loses half his winnings.
That night he had won about 3.5 times his buy-in. He had started to be card dead and his time was about to run out so he cashed out.
I’ve played with Jerry four more time since then. He has cashed out a winner every time.
So, next time you’re at a table and there is an almost unnoticed quiet guy at the end of the table, be careful. It might be Jerry, he will take some of your chips, cash out, leave and you will never get them back. That’s the way to play.
Good Game & Good Luck
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net.
- Hank Cashman
Lois McMaster Bujold
I was playing in a casino last week and the Bad Beat pot was up to over 300,000. That’s a lot of money. Of course, playing in a casino, I was playing with a group of locals. It was just like being in someone’s home game. We got comfortable and quickly became friends. Well except for the fact we were trying to take each other’s chips.
One of the tourists made a comment about the Bad Beat pot and how big it was. That just lit the fuse on one of the locals. He began to tell this guy about who paid that bill and how it was mismanaged. He was complaining that he was paying the bill for the tourists to take and that he kept putting money in but the pot hadn’t gotten bigger in months.
First of all, the Bad Beat is collected $1 out of every pot. This is kept by the casino for the prize pool, in this case, if Quad 10s get beat. If a player, using both of his hole cards, has Quad 10s or better and they get beat by let’s say a straight flush, the pot is distributed. The player that got beat gets 50% of the pot. The winner of the hand gets 25% and the rest of the table gets the rest. That seems very simple and straight forward. But, there is more to it than that.
There is also a “Mini Bad Beat”. This is when a hand of Aces full of 10s gets beat. In this case the loser, winner and the table split 25% of the bad beat pot. So, if the pot is 300,000 the “Mini” pays out 75,000. OK, that still sounds pretty good.
Here is where the local first gets bent out of shape. When the poker room has a tournament and has a guaranteed prize and it isn’t met by the entry fees alone, the difference is made up out of the Bad Beat pot. That just keeps the Bad Beat pot that much lower. Also, if there is a tournament with something added like $10,000 that comes out of the Bad Beat pot. You can see where the poker room keeps collecting this money for Bad Beats but uses it for other things.
Now this one I kind of disagree with. The local says he plays every day and pays this bill. Well, it may be true that he puts in more money but that is only because he plays more hands. This also gives him more opportunities to win. He just hates to keep putting money in then some tourist comes in and wins the thing. That’s the chance you take.
Some poker rooms have a High Hand pot. This is where they take $1 a hand and give the pot to the player that has the highest hand for the hour, day or week. Usually poker rooms don’t do both of these since it takes too much money out of the pot. It’s not that much but if you have a 10% up to $4 rake plus $1 for the Bad Beat and then another $1 for a High Hand, that’s $6 out of the first $40. 15% out of the pot is a little steep. One good thing about the High Hand is that goes back to the players without anything taken out.
Both of these prize pots are funded by the players and go back to the players. Many players see these as being excessive and I really can’t disagree. But, the same players want these incentives and prizes but expect the house to fund them. Let me let you in on something, just like taxes and government, the house pays for nothing. All the money comes from the players. Don’t ever think that house money is a gift without costs.
Good Game & Good Luck
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net.
- Hank Cashman
Rafe Furst
The quote above is from “Tips from the pros”, Full Tilt poker and written by Rafe Furst . Among many other things, Furst is a part time professional poker player. That sounds funny, part time professional.
While on break, I was outside of a tournament talking with some of the players. One of them came out with an astonishing statement. He said that if someone would back him he could go pro. So, if someone would stake him he thinks he is good enough to make a living playing poker and pay back the investor. Some other times I’ve heard players say that they think that they could win the WSOP Main Event if someone else would only put up the money. Am I missing something here? If they can’t win a stake, what makes them think they’re good enough to win the big game?
First of all there is a lot of difference between being a pro and being a celebrity. Many people get these two things confused. There are thousands of pro players that no one even knows their names. Most poker pros make a living playing limit cash games and never enter a tournament. Most celebrities win a tournament or two and become household names overnight.
I’ve talked to a lot of pro players that lead less than glamorous lives. When they are winning, they eat well, stay in the best rooms, and they travel first class. But, there are also lean times when they sleep in their cars, share rooms with other pro friends and eat on reward points. Poker players traveling the circuit are in a casino for a few days playing cash and a few tournaments. This doesn’t build many reward points so the free rooms don’t cover all of the rooms need.
Many pros have two separate fund accounts. One is for real life expenses like houses, kids’ education and food. The other is the tools of their trade. This is the bankroll they use for tournaments and cash games. This is why in’04 when Nagreanu didn’t win one tournament you didn’t hear about him being broke. His bankroll may have dropped but his real life fund was still strong.
When you think it’s time to turn pro, ask yourself a few questions. Can you live off your winnings without adversely affecting your life style? Do you have enough money put back and/or invested that you can live if you don’t win?
When you are playing poker for fun, it’s recreational and entertaining. If you start doing it for a living it becomes a job. Just like any other endeavor, it’s more fun when it’s what you want to do instead of what you have to do. Standing out in the rain is miserable, unless you’re hunting or fishing.
When it’s time to turn pro, you’ll know. The game will still be fun and it will support you.
Good Game & Good Luck
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net.
- Hank Cashman
Poker Under Attack
“The mystery of government is not how Washington works but how to make it stop.”
This past week the U.S. Department of Justice (?) has stopped the top three online poker sites from doing business in the US. This is big news around the world but barely even a notice in the US.
Let’s go back to the beginning. Online poker started in ’99 with Planet Poker. In ’03 Party Poker was the world’s largest poker site and the online players flooded the tournaments like the WSOP & WPT. Moneymaker won the WSOP main event after qualifying online and the rush was on. Online poker grew by leaps and bounds, as well did TV poker and casino games. All was well with the poker world.
Then in ’06 the congress decided that they needed to get into the action. The house passed a bill that would stop cash transfers by financial institutions to online poker sites. They didn’t mention gambling sites, sports betting or other games people play that could be bet on, like backgammon or blackjack, just poker.
Then the senate knew that they couldn’t get their bill passed so, the republican senator from TN, Bill Frist, had it attached to a homeland port security bill. He knew it wouldn’t pass if voted on but a security bill had to be passed. The cowards in the senate snuck it in.
The online poker companies responded by either stopping business in the US or by trying to get the games regulated and taxed. The government wouldn’t do that. So, everyone went on their merry way until last week.
Now, you, as an American citizen, cannot play poker on line. You can bet on the ball game. You can buy lottery tickets. But, you can’t play a hundred and fifty year old American card game.
The overseas media reports that the online sites funds have been frozen, even for non-US players. This will affect the online poker community worldwide.
I honestly don’t think anyone is going to get all hot and bothered by this action, even though we should. I think the pro online players will find another place to play, like maybe the Bahamas. For the majority of the players that play a little, they will just sit back, take it and not say a word.
This will thin the field in the WSOP this year. With no more seats being won online I would expect the players to drop from over 8k to less than 6k. I hope I’m wrong on that one because I have a lot of friends that will be out of work this summer if that happens.
Is it time for the poker community to speak up or are we just going to sit silent again? Is this an important enough issue to speak out? Do we really care what the government will let us do? I’m not in any way suggesting that the laws of the land shouldn’t be upheld. All I’m suggesting is that if we care about our game, our rights, our freedom to choose and our government’s authority, it is time for us to be heard. Stay informed and if you feel the urge, speak up. Call or write your Senator, join the Poker Players Alliance or at least keep the issue alive by blog and e-mail.
Remember, if we let a little loss in freedom or miss-representation by our Senators continues it will continue to chip away at all aspects of our lives.
Good Game & Good Luck
If you have any comments or questions, contact me athankcashman@comcast.net.
- Hank Cashman
Robert G. Allen
One of my favorite sayings of all time is that there is good and bad in all things. We can be optimistic and always try to find the good, or we can be pessimistic and always look for the bad. Whichever we choose we will find what we are looking for. This is true even in poker.
In tournaments you get to play for hours for a set amount of money. This is magnified when you enter a deep-stack or re-buy tournament. These increase the chips on the table and theoretically increase the time you can play.
We all look for the games that suit us best. In tournaments we have a few options and there is good and bad in all of them. If we decide to play in a freeze-out tournament, we know that we will invest a set amount and no more. But, only 9% of the players will cash, so we have to win over 91% of the players just to break even. In a freeze-out the pot will only get so big, so we are playing for a limited amount.
Some players like re-buy tournaments over freeze-outs for good reasons. In a re-buy you are going to play for a larger pot. In most cases, a re-buy tournament’s pot will be 3-4 times larger than a freeze-out tournament with the same number of players. That’s simply because of the re-buys and add-ons. . In re-buys the odds of winning are about the same, 9%.
The down side is that you may bust-out a player 5-6 times and he keeps coming back. This will build the pot but it also increases the frustration factor. When a player does re-buy he is coming in at a disadvantage. He is buying in at a set amount which is smaller than the average chip stack.
It is humorous to me that a player that will not play a 500 freeze-out will re-buy 6-8 times in a 100 re-buy. They would rather invest 100 at a time even thou it costs them more over all. Also, p[layers that tend to re-buy a lot seem to bust-out quickly after the re-buy period stops. They don’t adjust their play and still bust-out but with no chance of re-entering.
Cash or ring games offer some better and worse elements to the game. Cash games are similar to re-buys in that when you bust-out you can re-buy and start over. Just like in tournaments, when you buy back in you are buying into a game where your opponents have more chips. Unlike the tournament, you can buy back in at a larger amount and be average or higher in chips.
To me, the best think about a ring game is that once you are up, you can cash out and leave. Realistically, half of the players can leave winners. In many cases, you can play for half the time of a tournament and win just as much.
Of course, in ring games blinds don’t go up and if you’re not at the table your chips aren’t in play like in tournaments. In tournaments you have to post blinds even if you’re not in your seat but in cash you just have to make up the missed blinds or wait your turn.
Good Game & Good Luck
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at :
hankcashman@comcast.net.
- Hank Cashman
Matt Groening
I’m writing this at about 5:30 AM. I used to work a nice 9 to 5 job. I would get up early, maybe about 6. After work, I would have dinner and go play some poker till about 11 or 12. Ten years ago, if anyone had told me that I would, in essence, be working, and playing, all night, I would not have believed them. I now live the life of a vampire.
I’m not a fan of all of the recent movies, books, and TV shows about vampires. I really don’t get the popularity of them. I grew up watching Dracula and he wasn’t much of a sex symbol or heartthrob. That does sound funny, a vampire being a heartthrob.
I was at a table last night when we started talking about how a poker player’s life is so different from what most people would call normal. We sleep till noon, and eat brunch at the Waffle House. Then we have the whole afternoon to do whatever we want. We go shopping or to the movies when there are no crowds. Then we go to play.
Like last night, we started playing about 7. We don’t have to buy dinner since it is provided by the host, we saved some money there. We start playing with just a few players but as the night goes on we get more players.
The tables fill up quickly. Some players are coming in from work. Others are just starting their regular routine of games. After a while some players start to drop off. Some have to leave so they can be ready for work in the morning. Some know of other games to go to that will run late. For whatever reason, the tables start to run thin. Once it gets down to five or six players the game breaks up.
Many players run into each other at the next game, the game for the players that don’t have to be at work at 8AM. These are the second shifters and the players that play for a living. These guys will play till everyone is exhausted. Here they have plenty of food and drink to keep them going till morning.
While the rest of the world is cozy in bed we are out playing all night. We play till dawn and then turn in for a day’s rest while everyone else is at work. We live our lives in exact opposite from the norm. we are most active at night and on weekends. That is where we find most of the casual players that we need to survive.
The casual players are the fish that we all feed off of. These are the ones that make it possible for us to keep our life style. Damn, I am starting to sound like a vampire.
As of now I still can get out into the sun and I do have an image in the mirror. I love garlic bread with my spaghetti. So there must be hope for me yet.
Good Game & Good Luck
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at:
hankcashman@comcast.net.
- Hank Cashman
Dr. Seuss
If you have read many of my articles or my books, you know that I’m somewhat of a poker purist. To be honest, sometime that’s dull. I want to play poker for fun and profit. I don’t like Jokers and wild cards. In The Poker Book I define Jokers as “an extra and useless card in the deck that can be used for any cards to complete a hand. (Author’s note: This is an abomination to the game of poker and should never be used.)” But, that’s just how I feel.
Well, there is a place for just having fun and not worrying about the competition. Sometimes you just want to have fun and laugh. This is the place for no-Peek and Showdowns.
I was at a game a few days ago and had a great time. We first played a freeze-out tournament. It was a good game with about 30 players. First place was about 10 times the entry fee, so that wasn’t bad. It was well run and a good time was had by all.
Then, most of the players stayed for the ring game. There were two full tables for a low blind Hold’em game. There was plenty of food and drink. The players were all having a great time.
As the night ran long, players fell off and we reduced down to one table. As it got later, some players left because they had to work the next morning and a few busted out. We finally got down to five players. A couple of the players were about to call it a night when the floor came over with
an idea.
He said that everyone had a good night and just for fun he wanted to have a Showdown hand and the House would fund in the pot. Everyone thought that was a great idea. One of the players then suggested that each player also add some to the pot. Now the pot went to 15 times the bet. We liked that.
A Showdown hand is very simple. It is played exactly like a regular Hold’em hand except that all cards are dealt face up and in most cases there is now additional betting, winner takes all. That one Showdown hand got us rejuvenated. Now, we wanted to play more.
One of the players suggested a No-peek game. This is played similar to Stud. The players are all dealt all of their cards face down and they cannot look at them. Again in most cases there is no additional betting.
The dealer turns over one card. The first to act turns over cards one at a time until his cards out rank the dealer’s card. Then the next player turns over cards, one at a time, until his cards out rank the pervious player’s cards. This continues until a winning hand is declared and winner takes all.
We ended up playing for another hour and having a great time. Both of these games take no skill and are just plain luck. At the end of a long night of competition and hard played poker, a little just plain luck is the right way to end the night.
Poker is competitive. Poker can be stressful. Poker can be profitable and can be costly. But, remember when you first started to play, poker was fun. Don’t let that part of the game get lost. We should all have a good time at the table. So, go have some fun and play some silly games once and a while.
Good Game & Good Luck
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at:
hankcashman@comcast.net.
- Hank Cashman
Phil Gordon
“Poker - The Real Deal”
Just like in real estate and business, it’s all about location, location, location. Where you sit at the game is usually more important that what you have. You can’t wait on pocket Aces to play. You have to make the best of whatever cards are dealt to you.
All things being equal, every player should be dealt the winning hand 10% of the time. That would mean that you should just sit and fold until that winning hand comes around to you and just play it. That isn’t how poker works. As competitors, we want to play more than one out of every ten hands. We also want to win more than we invested.
But, realistically there are more things to consider in the game besides just that one out of ten hands. There are bluffs, outs, odds of probability, pot odds, and a hundred more things that change the outcome of a hand. One of the most important is position.
The main reason that position is so important is information. If you are first to act in a betting round, you don’t know what the players behind you are going to do. If you are last to act you have a better understanding of your situation. You now know exactly what the other players did and you can make better decisions on how you should play your hand.
A lot of new players first become aware of position by looking at their relation to the button. They are told about being in early position in the blinds and late position when they are one seat before the button or on the button. This is a good place to start but it is only the beginning.
Position is actually where you are in the hand In relation to the other players in the hand. It isn’t where you are in relation to the button. We generally say that the first three players left of the button are in early position. The players in the three seats left of the button are in late position and the four players in between are in middle position. This all changes once the cards are dealt.
Let’s say for example that you are in the sixth seat and the button is in seat one. In the first betting round, pre-flop, you start off as the third player to act, middle position. If the first to act or fourth seat raises the blinds, player 5 and you call, players 7, 8 and 9 fold, players 10 and the button call, and the blinds fold, that leaves you still in the middle. You have player 4 & 5 in front of you and players 10 & 1 behind you.
After the flop, player 4 bets. Player 5 and you call, and the others fold. You have now been placed in late position. You get to watch what players 4 & 5 play their hands before you have to make your play. If the turn card is a brick, players 4 & 5 check and there is a possible flush, straight or boat on the board you are in position to make a bet and steal the pot. Go ahead, give it a try.
Learn what position is and how to play it. You will be well rewarded for it.
Good Game & Good Luck
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net.
- Hank Cashman
“Take your life in your own hands and what happens? A terrible thing: no one to blame.”
Erica Jong
I hate to see grown men yell, scream, throw things and cry. It’s as if they just can’t control themselves. After a loss they have to be mad at someone or something. Well who’s to blame for this terrible tragedy?
I was at a ring game not too long ago and a player won a hand with by hitting a gut-shot straight on the river. Of course he was delighted but it sent the other player over the edge. He was asking, “How can you play such crap?” He was noticeably upset. To some degree I don’t blame him. But, why act up so much?
If he had looked at the hand he would have noticed that the winning player had two pair, which would make a boat, a flush draw and a gut-shot draw. He had 17 outs which were about a 35% chance of making a winning hand. Now, 35% wasn’t great odds but it was better than just the 8% he actually hit. Truth to be told, the two pair would have won anyway. But the losing player was so upset he couldn’t take the time to examine the board. He just felt better blaming the winner for bad play.
In another instance, a player lost to a player that hit a boat draw on the river. He got furious at the dealer and threw his cards down and yelled, “You always give him the winner. Why do you do that?” Like the dealer plays favorites and something against him. How dumb can he be?
For the most part, dealers don’t care who wins. If it was up to them, every player would win every tenth hand. That’s one hand per round for each player. That way no one would lose chips and the game would go on forever. The few exceptions to this is dealers, like everyone else, like nice players and they like good tippers. Outside of that, they don’t care who wins.
Dealers want to deal, have a good game and do their job. They don’t manipulate the cards. I do know some dealers that can make the cards do whatever they want, but even they wouldn’t try to affect the game. Dealers have more character than that.
I don’t want to point fingers or blame someone but in this case I must. When faced with a loss remember who played the hand and put the chips at risk. Remember who decided to play the game. In a lot of cases you need to remember who had those drinks and played for too many hours. Remember who played with money they really shouldn’t have.
The blame falls squarely on the player. It isn’t anyone’s fault but their own. No one made them play and take the risks. Unless you have a royal flush, you can lose the hand. No matter how good you are at this game, there is always a small percentage of a chance that you will lose. Even a one-outer hits 2% of the time.
If you have to blame someone, blame the player in your seat and let everyone else have a good game.
Good Game & Good Luck
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net.
- Hank Cashman
Dwight D. Eisenhower
To ping or not to ping, that is the questions. Is it nobler to keep all the money I win or to share it with another player? That is the question about pinging. In most casinos it isn’t permitted. It is more of a home game phenomenon.
For you that don’t know what a “Ping” is, let me elaborate. Ping is a noun and a verb. It is the person that money is given to and the act of giving the money.
In some games, where it is allowed, two players may become ping partners. Basically that means that when one of them wins a hand, let’s say 100 pot, and then the winning player will give his ping partner 10% of the pot or $10. If the player made a bet that wasn’t called, that money doesn’t count as part of the pot. If the pot is below a pre-agreed upon amount, maybe 50, then there would be no ping. I’ve never heard of a ping being allowed in a tournament game, only ring games.
The good and bad about pings are that it can cause some collusion and it can keep a player in longer without having to rebuy. In some and probably most instances, pinging does encourage collusion or at the least one player slow-playing another.
While in a hand the last two players in the hand just happen to be the two ping partners. In most cases they will check it down just to be nice to the other player. In my opinion, this is the biggest problem with pings. I don’t care what type of arrangement you make; you should always play the hand to the best of your ability.
On the other side of the issue, if a player isn’t winning much then a nice ping every once and a while is nice. It helps to replenish a chip stack that is dwindling due to posting blinds. If you partner is wining and tossing you an extra 10-20 every couple of hands it may let you hold on until the cards turn your way.
I have to agree with the majority of players, pings actually mess up a good game. If there is no collusion players will still assume it is there. If a player can’t carry his own bankroll in a game maybe he needs to re-buy or quit. It’s just one more of those silly little twists to another wise good game.
Good Game & Good Luck
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net.
- Hank Cashman
Shunryu Suzuki
I was at a tournament this week and ran into an anomaly at the poker table, a beginner. I know we all started sometime, but playing with so many players in so many venues sometimes it’s hard to remember that there are still players, of all ages, just getting into poker.
One of the first things I noticed was that this guy didn’t know the lingo. He would say he was raising when he was going to bet. Then, he was very clumsy handling his chips. He would be looking at his chips when he was going to call or bet, just not quite knowing what to do.
In the beginning of the tournament some of the players at the table were not real sure about this guy. Some thought that it might be just a show. But, after a few rounds we all concluded that he was for real.
All of the players had a good time with him at the table. No one was mean to him or made fun of him. We all just kind of remembered how it was when we were the new guy.
To me, the funniest thing was that out of a field of 50 he left 26th. He may of not have known what he was doing but the out lasted about half the field. That is one thing about poker that is unnerving, how a novice can win.
If I play chess against a Master, I will lose. If I play golf against about anyone, I will lose. In poker, on any given night, even the newest, most inexperienced player can still win. That is so frustrating.
With all that said let’s get back to some advice for the newbies.
First of all, know how to manage your bankroll. This is fun money not bill money. Until you have become good enough to consistently win, only play with money that you can afford to lose. If you lose money that is intended for other things, you will get in a lot of trouble and cause you a lot of sleepless nights. So, start off with an amount of money you feel comfortable to play with. As you win, add to your bankroll.
To begin with, I recommend playing very tight and aggressive. This will seem too conservative to most experienced players. I believe that starting off tight and then, as you get more experience, loosening up will help you learn without losing your shirt in the process. Poker is supposed to be fun and it is more fun if you are winning.
If you don’t have two cards that are ten or higher, a pair, or suited connecters, don’t play the hand. Suited connecters are cards that are of the same suit and next to each other in rank. If there is a large bet in front of you, fold any pair below 7’s and the suited connecters below 9-10. If there is no raise before you should make a raise to triple the big blind. This will force the players that are drawing to fold. You should be left with only competitors that have higher hands. This will also give the blinds the opportunity to fold.
On the flop if you have four to the flush, four to an open ended straight, middle pair, top pair or trips make a bet three times the big blind or about half the pot. This will again force out the players that might be on a draw and thin down the opposition.
When you have a strong hand, bet it. If you have a weak hand, fold it. Basically, this will help you win bigger pots and avoid chasing cards that just cost you money.
As you get more experience you will learn positions and bluffs. But, I want you to last long enough to get to that point.
Good Game & Good Luck
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net.
- Hank Cashman
Mark Twain
Last week I wrote about some of the dumb things players do to show how poorly they play. This isn’t isolated to just actions. Sometimes players just feel the need to tell their opponents how to beat them.
It is poor poker etiquette to talk about your hand, even if you folded, while the hand is still in play. Does that stop them? Nooooo. They are too excited about folding a hand that they should folded, that they have to talk about it. Oh, it feels so great to fold a 6-3os. What the hell were they supposed to do? Do they want a pat on the back every time they get up in the morning?
They have little one-liners that they think they just have to tell the table. Like;
“I had the winner pre-flop” Big deal you have to play all five cards.
“I folded the winner” No you didn’t. You folded a possible winner. You have to play it out to be a winner and the best cards don’t always win.
“If the river had been different I would have won.” Don’t play “what if”. It will drive you nuts.
“I could have raised him off that hand.” Then why didn’t you?
Oh then there are the temper tantrum players. You know the ones. A third suited card hits the board and they throw the cards into the muck because a flush would beat them. No one has a flush but they just know they can’t win. Every time they get drawn out on they cuss and fuss. Maybe they need to adjust their attitude so their opponents can’t play them so well.
Every time they show their emotions they are giving their opponents ammunition to use against them later. If I know you can be sent on tilt when there are three spades on the board, I’m going to represent a flush just to watch you fold.
Talking during the hand does affect the players still in the hand. Keep your emotions to yourself. It’s bad manners and it may cost someone else a lot of money.
Talking after the hand gives information to your opponents that will cost you chips later. Quit giving away free info. Make your opponents have to dig it out of you.
Poker is hard enough when you play it exactly right. No matter how well you play, you can still lose. Why take away some of your chances to win by giving away how you play?
The best way to keep more of your chips is to keep your cool and keep your mouth shut. Don’t tell your opponents what you did or should have done. Make them try to figure you out.
Good Game & Good Luck
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net.
- Hank Cashman
Mark Twain
Is it an inherent trait in poker players that they want to show their shortcomings? I don’t understand why so many players feel the need to openly expose their weaknesses.
In some games, an exposed hand is considered dead. In most it is just considered bad etiquette and can incur a penalty. Either way, it isn’t smart poker. I know a player or two that have to always show their hand to someone.
First of all, I don’t understand what they get from of showing their hand. If the player to their right is out of the hand they will show the hand to them. If not, they will ask the player on their left if they are going to fold so they can shoe the hand before they fold. If they are sitting in seat one or ten they will try to show it to the dealer. Are these players on some kind of ego trip that they just have to show how good they are at folding?
I’ve watched players throw their cards face up when they are folding after a raise. Are they also trying to show how tight they are? If they fold and show their hand, they are either showing how well they can read their opponent or that he just played you so well. They have reaffirmed their opponents’ ability to him. He now knows how to play them.
All this does is give free info to their opponents, the dealer couldn’t care less. This free info will later be used against them in a hand. It does nothing but weaken their play. They become easy reads.
The next group of players is so very apologetic. When they win a hand with a uncontested final bet, they feel the need to show their hand to prove that they weren’t bluffing. They have some feeling of guilt if they think the other players think they bought the hand. So what? If you keep showing uncontested hands you are showing that you will only hold onto the nuts and you are an easy fold. Keep your feelings and cards to yourself. You aren’t responsible for the other players’ feelings.
The only time I do understand showing a hand that you don’t have to is when you win a bluff. This lets the other players that you are willing to gamble. This will also help you get more callers next time you have the nuts. They may think you are bluffing again and you will get paid off.
Showing a hand that isn’t called, most of the time, isn’t a smart play. you give out to much information and it will be used against you in the long run. Keep your cards to yourself. Make your opponents pay for information to beat you with. Remember, poker is a pay per view game.
Good Game & Good Luck
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net.
- Hank Cashman
Henry Miller
Sometimes it is so hard to stay focused. There are football games on TV. There are cute cocktail waitresses serving free drinks. There are other players wanting to tell you their bad beat story or what they had the last hand. There is just so much going on.
With today’s technology we can talk or text anyone in the world. We can watch videos and serf the web from our phones. Our iPods can play all the music we’ve ever heard. There is so much to take our attention away from the hand we are playing.
When the iPods came out, I thought they were a nuisance. That’s nothing compared to what is going on at the tables today.
In some poker rooms all electronic devices are banned. In most you can’t have a cell phone at the table. In some you can have an iPod and in some you can’t. I was dealing in one casino and the guy in seat one was watching a movie on his cell. Technology has come a long way. All of these devices serve a useful purpose but they can also screw up a good poker game.
In most poker rooms, they have monitors around the room to show the ball games and to advertise. This is good for the players that are interested in the other games. They can keep up with how their team is doing and still play poker. Otherwise they might have stayed in the bar and we would have fewer players. So keep the TVs.
Now with iPods we have another issue. Players are distracted and they don’t keep up with the action. If the dealer has to tell them every time to act or they say call and didn’t notice the raise, we have issues. I understand that a little music can help you stay focused and actually play better. If you are going to listen to music at the table you must pay attention to the action. If you make a miss cal,l like call or raise and you didn’t realize that the stakes were higher, that’s your fault and you pay the price.
Texting is another issue. In most poker rooms, use of a cell isn’t allowed, with good reason. But, if you are playing in a room where they are allowed, it doesn’t give you permission to screw up the game. Talking on the phone, or texting, while you are at the table is simple rude. If you can’t give the game the attention it deserves, get up. Now, I’m not saying you have to not answer important calls. All I’m saying is stay focused on the game so that when it is your time to act you will not slow the action.
Watch your movie, text to your friends, listen to your music, and call your girlfriend. I don’t care. Just don’t slow down or screw up my game. The video can wait; the text isn’t that important, your girlfriend is having a good time where she is. Try to stay focused on the moment at hand.
Keep the cards and chips flying.
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net
- Hank Cashman
Donald Trump
I hate to hear players say they are “hooked”. That usually means that they are losing. Now, I don’t mind it so much when I’m on the other side of the table but other than then, it’s a bad thing.
This is another type of hooked. Players start off with the chips they pay for. When they play well, they accumulate other chips from their opponents. That’s where they get OPM, Other Peoples Money. I can tell you first hand, there is nothing better than playing poker with OPM.
OPM frees you to play more relaxed. It doesn’t hurt so much if you lose money that was won instead of money worked for. Even though won chips are the same as worked for chips there is still a different feel to them.
Most of the time this difference in attitude towards won chips helps players play more aggressively and push harder when they think they are ahead. All this does is increase their ability to accumulate more chips. This is a good thing, if they pull it off.
The danger in playing with OPM is that while it increases their aggression it also gives them the feeling of invulnerability. They will mistake aggressive play with loose play. Controlled aggression can be a good thing but uncontrolled aggression is just a path to disaster.
If a player stays true to his style of play but becomes more aggressive he should win more. If he changes his style of play and becomes a looser player his ability to lose chips will be multiplied by his aggressive behavior. Once this path is set it is very hard to switch before he busts out.
The best players know how to use the new chips as tools to win more. If they begin to lose chips, they will adjust their play so that their chip stacks don’t dwindle. They know when to put the breaks on.
Where most players run into the most trouble is when they get new chips and start playing more aggressively but can’t stop when they begin to lose. They first begin to lose the chips they won and then, if they don’t solve the issue, they lose the chips that they bought in for. Instead of using OPM to acquire more it has changed the way they play from winning to losing. They just don’t see what has happened to them until it’s to late.
Check out my new book “The Poker Book, The Rules, The Games , The Lingo” on amazon.com. Search “Hank Cashman”. If you e-mail me, I’ll sell you an autographed copy and get it to you with no shipping charges. Only $20
Good Game & Good Luck
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net.
- Hank Cashman
Alfred Lord Tennyson
Players are always telling how they lose because of bad luck. They would have won that last hand but the other player sucked-out on them. They had it to the river. They can’t ever hit that flush they need. Sometimes I wonder who wins at poker. It seems like everyone is losing.
I believe more money is lost on poker by players making plays they know they shouldn’t make than by any other reason. Players have so many ways to play, that has nothing to do with the game, they end up playing cards they know they shouldn’t.
One thing that hurts players is that “favorite hand”. Where do these things come form? I’ve heard players say that Q-6os, K-3, 8-6, and 9-3 are some favorite hands. Why?
Well, treys always follow kings. No they don’t. These are 52 pieces of plastic. They don’t fall in any certain order. The cards don’t know. During a regular card game with a good shuffle between hands, all cards fall the same amount of times. No card follows any card. We see this type of behavior in the cards because we are looking for it. If we concentrate on K-3 we notice it but don’t notice Q-4 falls just as often.
Q-6os can be a favorite hand because a player won with it once. So what? For one reason or another we remember some hands better than others. If we win a big hand or a defining hand in a tournament, we remember it more.
Hell, do you think Doyle likes to play T-2os or do you think Hachem always plays 7-3os? Just because it was his winning hand in the ’05 WSOP doesn’t make it a good hand. They usually toss those cards. Just because they won once doesn’t mean they are great cards.
Don’t sit and cry about not hitting your straight or flush. Even if you are four-flushed on the flop the odds are still a 65% dog in that fight. Players are always saying that they don’t ever hit those flushes. That’s not true. They hit them 35% of the time if none of the cards they need have been in other players’ hands. 35% is their best chance. No wonder they think they always miss the flush, nut they still try for it. It’s always better to have additional options. Four-flushed with an open-ended straight draw now puts them at around 65% chance of hitting their card. But, even with that there is that 35% chance of not hitting plus the additional chance of hitting the hand and still losing.
If you add in the hands that players just feel that the card is coming or the hands like K-A that they just can’t fold, do you see why players lose so much? It isn’t the cards or the dealer. Sometimes it’s just us not playing basic poker like we know we should.
Check out my new book “The Poker Book, The Rules, The Games , The Lingo” on amazon.com. Search “Hank Cashman”. If you e-mail me, I’ll sell you an autographed copy and get it to you with no shipping charges. Only $20
Good Game & Good Luck
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net.
- Hank Cashman
Ann Radcliffe
Sometime it’s hard to get to know somebody. Sometimes you just have to take the time to find out more about them. Until then it’s best just to trust and believe them.
I have the reputation of being a very tight player. Now, that image is fairly accurate. That doesn’t mean that I only play “The nuts”. What it does mean is that if I’m betting, I have a good hand.
This type of reputation works very well for me when I bluff or semi-bluff. If there is a straight or flush possibility on the board and no one bets, I can usually by the pot with a small, half pot, bet. Then some one says that I must have hit the flush on the river and I always assure him he was right.
This has back fired on me a few times. Once I bet into a pot with what was obviously a flush on the river. I got called and had to give up the pot. One of the other players made the comment that he was surprised. He knew that I never bluffed before. He made reference to my very tight image. The player that had called me reminded him that he hadn’t played with me before so he was unaware of my image. So, he called me.
My tight image was a total waste on the new player. He was just playing his cards and thought that I had missed.
When you get to a new table, the best thing to do is except your opponents at face value. If they are betting in early position, you have to give them credit for having a good hand. If they are putting out a small bet in late position you have to assume that they are weak or trying to buy the pot. Either way, take them at face value until they give you more information. Don’t impose an image on them without solid information.
Starting off with no information, you have to watch and learn how each player plays his hand. Don’t assume he is bluffing if you haven’t caught him before. It may cost you a little to get this info but it is worth it in the long run. If he bets on the river and your odds are good, give him a call and make him show his hand. At least you will know if he had the hand that time.
I’ve seen many players get into a game and start winning, just to lose it all once the other players get a read on them. Once you know how someone plays, you know when and how much to bet to win a pot.
So, I’ll trust you until I get to know you. Then I will take you.
Check out my new book “The Poker Book” on amazon.com. Search “Hank Cashman”. If you e-mail me, I’ll sell you an autographed copy and get it to you with no shipping charges. Only $20
Good Game & Good Luck
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net.
- Hank Cashman
Marie Ebner von Eschenbach
I’m defiantly one of the lucky ones. I’ve played poker all of my life and my wife loves it just as much as I do. We play tournaments together. We play cash games together. Now we don’t play “team poker” we are both out to win. If we are in a casino, if I go play some Blackjack I know I can find her at a poker table and vise versa.
This is not always the case for most couples. I was at my favorite watering hole and had to go up front to see someone. As I was walking through the bar I ran into a friend of mine, Alex. I asked her where her partner was and she said he was at another game. We got to talking about the game and how sometimes it is just as hard on the partners as it is on the players.
Now I’m no Dr. Phil, thank goodness, but I began to see what she was talking about. She said that poker does take up a lot of time and can sometime affect a couple’s relationship. She told me about how when her partner has a bad night it is just like a bad day at work or any where else. He will come home in a bad mood after a bad night at the tables. Now the opposite is also true. A good night at the tables means a happy partner.
As a person that doesn’t play poker, she would sweat her partner. That means she would sit behind him and watch him play. This is good to be with him but it gets old after a while. She usually will go with him and find a place to sit and watch TV.
I have to say that I have seen worse examples of a couple’s relationship at the tables but I don’t believe the problem is poker. Sometimes a player will get a call while at the table. These calls are a disturbance to him and the game. First of all he should either not answer or fold and get away form the table. When he doesn’t do that but instead answers the phone at the table, it causes problems on both ends of the call.
A call while playing poker, disrupts the action and is inconsiderate of the other players. It is just as inconsiderate if his partner on the other end. The player will usually respond to questions in a short manner that comes across as rude. This will cause other problems later. If he says “I’m in a hand” the next question is “Why did you answer if you couldn’t talk?” In ether way he has mishandles the situation and it will cost him on the table and at home.
All I’m trying to say is, remember you partner while you are out playing poker. Take care of them when you win. Don’t carry a bad night at the tables home to them. If you can, teach them how to play so they can spend more time with you.
Poker should be enjoyable for the players and their partners.
Check out my new book “The Poker Book” on amazon.com. Search “Hank Cashman”. If you e-mail me, I’ll sell you an autographed copy and get it to you with no shipping charges. Only $20
Good Game & Good Luck
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net.
- Hank Cashman
Some Players Never Learn
What is it about some players that they seem to keep making the same mistakes? They play weak hands hoping to draw out. They have pocket Queens with an Ace and King on the board but they won’t fold. Why? Haven’t they been hit in the head enough? Do they still need to lose more chips to get the message through to their heads? What is it?
I watch as players continue to make the plays. As I’m sitting there, I can’t see their cards but I know they are beat. They can see their cards and they keep betting. Some times it is even painful to watch.
They get in the hole by trying to buy pots so they rebuy and try to buy bigger pots. This doesn’t discourage them it just makes them try harder. They keep making the same plays and expect the other players to change. The other players don’t change. They just keep raking in the chips. So what does the player do? He blames the dealer and all of the other lousy players.
We should all learn something every time we play poker. We should study our opponents. We should learn how they play and especially how they play against us. We should be watching for tells and anything that will help us win one more pot.
I hate to pick on the old guys but I think they have an additional problem. After years of playing poker, they think they don’t have to study any more. The young guys spend a lot of time learning and studying. That is why they seem to be getting the upper hand on us. They are in the mode of learning so they spend more effort into studying the game.
In the big tournaments, the age of the average player drops as the field drops. So, no matter what the average age is oat the beginning, the younger players seem to be lasting longer in the tournaments. The old guys are falling off quicker and getting less money.
Many players don’t buy books of videos. They don’t see the need. The younger players have spent a lot of time with books, videos, programs and tutorials to learn the game. Then they log hours of play on-line playing multiple tables at 100 hands an hour to get more experience in one week than most players used to get in a year.
We may have played for years but we can still learn. Unless you are winning so much you can’t count all your chips, you too need to be learning. You can learn from everyone. Don’t become stale. As I’ve often said, I’m always the student. I think it will help your game to.
Check out my new book “The Poker Book” on amazon.com. If you e-mail me, I’ll sell you an autographed copy and get it to you with no shipping charges. Only $20
Keep the cards and chips flying.
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net.
- Hank Cashman
Doyle Brunson
Since the turn of the century internet or on-line poker has exploded to over 500 poker sites, thousands of tables and millions of hands being played. There are a lot of great things about on-line poker and precautions that you need to be careful about.
Some of the good things about on-line poker are you can play for a minute or hours. If you have a spare minute and you want to play you just get on-line, play as little or as long as you want then sign off.
You can play for hundreds of dollars or pennies. The game levels run from cash or tournaments for cents or thousands. You choose at what level you want to play.
Normally there are sign-on bonuses. When you make your first deposit there are usually matching bonuses to get you to join. Free money is always good.
There are many freerolls. You can play for real money or for play money. Most sites will give you 2,000 in play money and you can play it in tournaments or ring games.
In a brick ‘n mortar casino with a live dealer, you will probably be dealt about thirty hands per hour. With on-line sites, with their continuous shuffle and instant dealing, you can be dealt up to or over 100 hands per hour, depending on the game and players.
There are a variety of games. In many poker rooms, the games are limited to Hold’em, Omaha and maybe Stud. In on-line rooms, there are many limits, levels and a larger choice of games including mixed games.
You can play multiple tables at once. Some players have been known to play over twenty tables at a time. This is the extreme. Usually players will play about four to six tables. This is a method of trying to increase your chances of winning by increasing the number of hands played.
Now for some of the things to look out for. One is collusion. It is possible that players will be playing on-line and talking to one another. In a live room this isn’t done very easily, but on-line players may be at the same table and showing each other their hands. They may be in different locations and be talking to each other on the phone. Either way, you could be playing against a team and not just single players.
Tells are diminished. In a live room you can watch for body language. Of course on-line there are no bodies to watch. You have to concentrate more on the tells in your opponents play. Watch for the speed they call or raise. If they react slowly it could be their connection, so be sure of what you see. Watch for betting patterns.
There have been rumors of insider cheating, but I believe that it is so rare and such a small percentage of the game that it is of little or no concern. I know of only two provable instances of insider cheating and there are millions of hands dealt every hour.
Before 2006, it was easier to deposit and withdraw your money from poker sites. Since the passing of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) as a rider on the Safe Port Act, transferring money has become more time consuming. It is still safe but just more bothersome.
Differences in strategy for on-line poker are slight. As I mentioned before, you have to depend on betting patterns and speed of play for your tell on your opponents.
As in live play, you need to take notes on your opponents. This is a lot easier while on-line. You can jot down notes on paper. But, that is a little old fashioned. You can keep notes on your opponents while at the table. Most on-line site give you a place to keep notes on your opponents and you can retrieve your notes when you play that player again.
Another great tool to get info on your opponent is web-sites that actually track players for you. Some sites and software are Sharkscope.com, Poker Tracker and theedgepoker.com. These tools will help you know all there is to know about your opponents.
I do recommend playing multiple tables. This gives you less down time between hands, less boredom. It also helps you make faster decisions. I believe that if you think too long it hurts your decision making.
As far as playing your cards, on-line is no different than live. The cards are the same. It’s just your opponents and venue that are different.
Check out my new book “The Poker Book” on amazon.com. If you e-mail me, I’ll sell you an autographed copy and get it to you with no shipping charges. Only $20
Keep the cards and chips flying.
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net.
- Hank Cashman
The Ladies of Tunica & The PokerBook
“I love being a writer. What I can't stand is the paperwork.”
There are two very good books that have just been released. I may be a little biased since I wrote one of them and the other started as an article of mine.
I had become friends with Dee Alessandra, a novelist from Charleston. Her fourth book was “Smart eyes of poker”. A very interesting story about the ethical dilemma of a guy how could read through the backs of cards. While playing blackjack or poker he knew what the next card would be.
Back a few years ago, I think in 2007, I wrote an article about women poker players. Dee called me and asked if she could take the articles premise and expand it to a short story. I said she could turn it into anything she wanted. She made the article into a short story that won a Writers’ Digest award.
When she called me with the good news she said she wanted to turn it into a novel. Well, why not? She had just finished her sixth novel, “Valeri Feder, Her Odyssey”. As soon as it was on the shelves she got started on the new book, “The Ladies of Tunica”.
Ladies of Tunica is about three ladies, Ronnie, Maggie, & Kat, which go to Tunica to play in a poker tournament. It is great about telling the background of how these ladies got into playing poker and how they honed their skills.
They run into some characters, like Greg, that try to stop them from playing with the big boys. Trying not to give away the whole story, but let’s just say you don’t want to piss off three women poker players because the can team up on you.
The next book I want you to get is my second book, “The Poker Book” (catchy title). I have read many poker books. If they are written by celebrity players they spend half of the time telling you how they played one hand in a tournament years ago. They spend a lot of time telling how good it was to play a hand with another celebrity. That’s all well and good but I play most of my hands with regular guys. If the book is written by an analyst, they smother you in numbers that just confuse.
I have been looking for a book that give you the rules of how to play every game of poker, the official rules for cash games, the official rules for tournaments, and strategies of how to play most of the games. I never found that book, so I wrote it.
In “The Poker Book” there are “Robert’s rules of poker” 11th edition. Robert Ciaffone is THE authority on poker rules. His rules are the basis for all poker rules in the world. I have also included the latest version of the Poker Tournament Directors Association, (TDA). Before every tournament I’ve ever dealt in casinos, they announce that they follow TDA rules. These are the rules followed by the WSOP and WPT. If you play a tournament in a casino, you will follow the TDA rules.
I then scoured the world, internet, and every place I could find to discover the rules for as many poker games as I could. I found about 100. Jan Fisher, a founding director of the TDA even said she didn’t know there were as many as I found. There are many versions of Hold’em and Omaha. I included Chinese, Badugi, Baduci, Guts, and mixed games.
What good is it to know the rules if you can’t play the game. You need to have a winning strategy. I went back to the advice of some of the best players. Not necessarily a one time bracelet winner but players that have had a long history of years of winning. I put together their advice in to a readable strategy section that will improve your game.
I’ve always consider myself a student of the game. I’m not trying to imply that I know more about poker then anyone else, I just took what I could find about the game and wrote it all down. I believe that The Poker Book is a great place to find answers to many questions about poker.
Both books, Ladies of Tunica and The Poker Book are available on amazon.com. Just go to amazon.com and search by authors’ name. They soon will be available on other sites.
I’ll make you a deal. If you would like an autographed copy, send me an email and I’ll send you one for list price and no shipping cost.
I hope you enjoy the books and have a great time at the tables.
Keep the cards and chips flying.
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net
- Hank Cashman
The More Serious Player
“My work is a game, a very serious game.”
There are a lot of circuit events going on all around the southeast. In December there is a WSOP event in New Orleans and a WPT event in Tunica. In early January there is another WPT event in Biloxi. Many players from our area are planning on going to one or more of these events. Some go for a specific tournament like the Seniors or the Ladies, but most go to play a few days and many games.
As I talk to some of them, one common statement seems to get repeated. They all say they will have to adjust their game. They believe that the play at the event games will be very different form the local Wednesday night home game.
The circuit events are a place where the area players can test their skills against players that travel from event to event. There are some pros and some area big players. There are some players that are testing their skills before trying to turn pro. Most of the players have a lot of experience winning not just playing.
They say that the casino players will be more aggressive, when they have a hand and less likely to try and buy pots, essentially, less bluffing and more serious poker. I guess these are traits that are more common when playing with more experienced players.
In the home games you have various levels of players. You have the experienced player, just having a good time, relaxing, playing the new player who is trying to learn the skills needed to win. The older player knows not to try and bluff the newbie because the newbie will continue to call with weak hands, just to suck out on the river. It’s not that the newbie isn’t scared; it’s that they don’t know enough to know when they are in danger.
In these tournaments are players that are extremely serious about their business. They aren’t just playing to have something to do or for entertainment. They have studied the game and play to win. Most will not drink at the table. Most are very attentive to the action. They don’t pay a lot of attention to the ball game on T.V. or other distractions. They are there to win.
In a lot of home games there are some dumb rules that are local house rules. Most of these were made because someone did something stupid and the house felt that they had to make a rule. In the event games the rule are limited. The reason for that is that they are dealing with players that are there to play, not to act up and show off. If one player does act up, they are taken care of and no new rules have to be made.
Go try one of these events and find out if you are good enough to make the next step n your game. it can be very educational.
Keep the cards and chips flying.
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net
- Hank Cashman
Poker is a game of skill, strategy and luck. To win you have to keep your head in the game and play to win. Some players get on tilt and forget this lesson until the table makes them re-learn it.
I was at a game last week and we were all having a great time. There was plenty of food, drink, and action for everyone. No one was really a run away winner and no one had lost a lot. All-in-all it was just a fun time for everyone.
Then, Rick took a bad beat and lost it. He was in a hand with Mac. Rick had pocket Aces and went all-in after the flop, which was Ah, Qd, & Ts. Mac called with about half his stack. The turn and river were bricks. Rick showed his trip Aces to see Mac had flopped a straight with pocket K, J. That is where Rick lost it.
Rick bought back in. His goal was no longer to win a hand but to get revenge on Mac. Every hand Mac was in Rick was in. If Mac bet, Rick raised. Rick was completely ignoring the other players. They would be in a hand and Mac would fold on the turn. Rick was stuck with two other players in the hand that would beat him.
Rick even got started telling Mac that he was out to get him. He was going to take all of Mac’s chips. We all knew this by his actions and lack of skill in the game. It was getting nasty. The other players began taking advantage of his attitude. Sitting there with a defeated mind set, he was defeated no mater what the cards were. He folded potential winners. If anyone besides Mac bet he would fold even good hands. He was just beat inside.
Rick managed to win enough to stay in the game for a while but he just couldn’t get ahead while he was trying to get even with Mac. He got down to about a quarter of his re-buy when he got his head screwed back on. He became refocused on the game. He added on to what he had and began to play poker again.
He started playing tighter. He ignored Mac as far as whether he was in a hand or not. He concentrated on the game. Slowly his chip stack started to grow. As his chips grew so did his confidence in his game. He began pushing back when he got raised. Other players had to fold to him. After a couple of bluffs he caught fire. He was back on his game. He no longer cared who was in the hand. He played his cards and position.
Revenge was about to take him under. It was only when he got back to playing poker that he started winning again. By the end of the night Rick had learned his lesson. He was lucky that it ended up not to be a very expensive one.
Keep the cards and chips flying.
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net
- Hank Cashman
Keep Your Head About You
“If they (Poker pros) aren’t well-rested and in the right frame of mind and physically rested they aren’t going to play their best poker”
Freddy Deeb
Sometimes I think I restate the obvious too much. It seems that nothing really changes. People are who they are. This has been brought home to me several times. No matter how other players act or how the game goes, it is to your advantage to keep cool and play the game.
I was at a ring game last week and the action got hot and heavy. It was a little 1-2 game full of friends and players that play just for fun. No one there was trying to make a living. They were just out for a night with friends. That was until Jackson showed up. Then all hell broke loose.
Jackson is a great guy to hang around with. Everywhere he goes you are guaranteed a great time. He is funny, talkative, and an action player. He turns any 1-2 game into a 1-2-20. He just likes to play and have fun. Some players don’t like it because it raises the stakes but it does make the game more fun to play for more chips.
As he began, the pots got bigger and the action became faster. There was no such thing as a “free card”. If you wanted to play, it was going to cost you. This eliminated the “suck outs” because, at first, no one would play anything but high cards. That was except Jackson. He was betting and raising with ant two cards. The worst part was he was winning.
I was watching a friend of mine, Neal, as this was taking place. He just sat there enjoying his cigar and drink. While everyone else was getting caught up in the action he just sat there and played very few hands. While others were re-buying, he was building a good size chip stack.
In one hand he made a bet and I was thinking the other two players should fold, but they didn’t. Neal hadn’t played a hand in almost an hour and now he’s betting. “Danger Will Robinson, Danger” went off in my head. I don’t care what you have, when a player only plays one hand an hour, you’re beat. After that hand I asked him if he had lost any showdowns. He said he did lose one.
While everyone else was trying to keep up with Jackson, Neal stayed true to the game. He didn’t get caught up in all the crazy over betting. He just sat there and played good basic poker. At the end of the night, Jackson went home a little up but Neal took the lions share with him.
In a tournament this week I watched something similar happen. It was a re-buy tourney and Tom went off the deep end. This is just the way he is. He loves to tell everyone how terrible of a player they are while he just tosses re-buy after re-buy away.
Tom was in a hand and he lost. Hey, it happens. He got all torn up and did a double re-buy. As soon as he got his chips he put them in middle of the table and said “all-in”. The action went around and he got one caller. Tom lost. So what did he do? Another double re-buy and all-in in the dark. He lost. Now we were at the “action hand”.
Jon was short stacked and wasn’t going to add-on. Mike was also short stacked and said he was going to add-on just to get Tom out of the game. They were riding together, so both added on. Revenge is no reason to play poker.
After the add-ons, Tom had to get at least second place to come out ahead. Anything less than that and he was a loser. Well, he did continue to play fast and loose. But, to me Mike made the biggest mistake. He began trying to beat Tom instead of playing poker. Mike did outlast Tom but he didn’t cash in the tourney. In his state of mind, he should have just gone home.
I will always say that you have to have your mind right to win at poker. Don’t let what other players do affect your state of mind. Play your best all of the time and you will come out ahead in the long run.
Keep the cards and chips flying.
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net
- Hank Cashman
Position, Position, Position
When you are in business, whether it is real estate, restaurants or most others, you have often heard that location is everything. That is very true in business and in poker.
I’ve heard players say that position doesn’t mean a thing, that the game is cards and luck. I have to respectfully disagree. Position is extremely important to the out come of the game. It is the difference between the novice depending on the cards and the pro winning hands.
When you first mention position to a poker player he thinks of late position. He thinks of the Button or one behind. These are considered the best positions on the table. When you are in late position you don’t have to act until everyone else has. This gives you a strategic advantage over the other players.
Your position isn’t where you are sitting at the table. It is where you are sitting compared to the other players still in the hand. If you are in seat 7 and the Button is on seat 1, you start off in middle position. If pre-flop players in seats 8, 9, and 10 fold, you are now in late position on the flop. You have become last to act.
Since you have seen the other players’ act you should know where you stand in the hand. You also don’t have to worry about the action behind you. This allows you to play a larger variety of hands.
When you are in early position you should play stronger hands since you don’t know what the other players might do. After the flop, if you have a middle pair you want to see how strong it is but you can’t invest too much when there are three players behind you. When you are in late position and the flop comes out, no one bets, you can assume that a middle pair could be a winner so you can bet.
Late position is strong but you also need to use each position to your advantage. When you are in early position you can still control the action on the table. The assumption is that if you bet in early position you must have a strong hand. So, when bet out in early position you are representing that image.
For example, if there is no action on the flop and the turn is a low card, you should make a bet to see where you stand. This looks like you either slow played a middle pair or draw. If your opponents don’t have better than middle pair they should fold. If they are on a draw, they will have to fold on the river when they miss.
In a limit game you can control the number of bets by not betting first. If you bet first then the other player can make it 2 bets. By checking first and letting the other player bet you keep the action lower until you are ready to take the pot. In this way you are controlling the action in early position.
When you bet in early position, you are representing that you have a hand fitting the position. You are putting the table on notice that you have a strong hand. In the same manner, if you bet in middle position you are representing a hand stronger than a late position hand.
No matter where you are on the table you can control the action and win pots. You just have to know how to use the position you are in. Don’t just sit and wait on cards.
Keep the cards and chips flying.
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net
- Hank Cashman
What Players Want
Henry George
Just like men keep trying to understand women; poker room directors try to find out what poker players really want. The hard part is that you just can’t please everyone. You have the high rollers that want big pots and big action. You have the low rollers that want to be able to play with just a couple of hundred. You have the tournament players and the cash players. Then to top it off you have the players that want small buy-ins with big pots. That just doesn’t compute.
In the October issue of Ante Up magazine, they tried to answer some of these questions and got some fairly good information. I think some of it is valid but again, poker players don’t always tell the truth.
First of all, players said that the most important factor in where they play is, Location, location, location. No dah. No one wants to drive a hundred miles when they can get as good of action right next door.
After location, everything else was a distant second. Things like tournaments, poker room staff, and variety of games were next/. It did surprise me that jackpots cam in dead last. Everyone talks about bad-beats and such but when it comes down to it players look at that last.
Tournaments seem to be the best way to get players to a card room. Most players want a good payout structure. They want pots worth winning and as many players in the money as possible.
Running a close second to payout is blind structure. Players want to play for a long time. They want their money’s worth. You won’t get a player to put up his money if he feels that he can only play for an hour.
A guaranteed prize pool is also attractive to players. I know it works for me. I love to get into a tournament with a good overlay. That means more money and fewer opponents. That usually doesn’t happen because the guarantee brings in the players.
The last thing players say that they consider is the rebuy/add-ons. On this one I disagree. Here is where the players say they want big pot freezeouts. That doe not compute. The only way to have a big payout in a freezeout is to have a huge field. If you want big pay- outs with only a few tables, you have to have rebuys and add-ons. Pick one, bigger pay-outs or freezeout. You can’t have both.
As far as promos are considered, the results were split almost three equal ways. Players said they want high-hand bonuses, then bad-beats and almost a third said they would rather keep the money. In other words, no jackpot rakes.
How about this category, the most annoying requests? There was no real runaway winner in this but “Can I see the mucked hand?” came in first: then came, wash the cards, change seats, new set-up, and finally deck change. I don’t think that any of these are that bad if asked once. It is when a player keeps trying to change his game by constantly asking.
I’ve seen players change seats as often as possible. I’ve seen players ask for a wash and deck changes every opportunity they feel like they can get away with. In 90% of the cases these things just don’t change the outcome. It may make the players feel better but most of the time a mentally defeated player will not improve his game by doing this.
Here is what you want to do to annoy your opponents. First and foremost, simply don’t pay attention. Watching the game on the monitors and talking to the servers slows down the game. After that comes the “smelly” player. Long hours at a table with too many drinks can do this. If you are too talkative you become a distraction that isn’t wanted at the table. Lastly, wearing iPods and sunglasses. I thought this was part of the garb but now it has become amateurish.
This next category I’ve been preaching for years. The next hot game is going to be PLO. Get used to it and get ready for it. It’s coming. Pot-limit Omaha is a great game. It is a more complex game and requires more taught. Since most poker players are very smart people they will be drawn to this game.
The next most popular games are mixed games like H.O.R.S.E. and an 8-game mix. Bringing up the rear, some players think that Bidugi and Chinese poker are coming up. I like both of those games but I don’t see them as becoming very wide spread and popular.
I would like to hear from you on want you look for in a game. Want is most important to you in a home game or casino game?
Keep the cards and chips flying.
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net
- Hank Cashman
“Machines take me by surprise with great frequency.”
I’m about to say some things I never thought I would. Ever since I heard of the new PokerPro video poker machines I have not been a fan. I still think of poker as a group of players, a deck of cards, chips and a dealer. I may have to adjust my thinking.
I was traveling through the Smokies last week and took a little turn to Cherokee. I’m a poker player and have never been much of a slots player. I know that slots players are the ones that pay the bills and I appreciate them. I just like poker better.
I had heard that Harrah’s had put in the PokerPro tables and decided to give them a try. They say that these are a hybrid of live tables and slots. I see them more of a joining of live and on-line poker. Well, I was surprised to find that they are very good. I went to the Floor, Danny, and got my instructions. He showed me where I had to open a PokerPro account at the window. Then I came back and using a touch screen, added my name to the waiting list.
There were three tables open and an interest list for a fourth. There were a 3-6 Limit and two 1-2 No-Limit tables open. I decided to play at the 3-6. Danny gave me a pager and in about 30 minutes it went off.
I sat in seat 10, inserted my player’s card and moved my money from the account to the table. Minimum buy-in was 30 and max was 100. Seems a little low to me, min buy-in only 10 big blinds and max buy-in only 30 big blinds but it works.
There is a screen in the middle of the table to simulate a live table. It includes players names and chip count. Now, that is handy. You always know the chip counts and the table is a little friendlier since you know everyone’s name.
In front of each player is a smaller screen where they make their choices when it’s their move. The cards on the individual screens are face down until you cover them like you would in live poker. Then the corners flip up so you can know your cards. In all of the play this is the most difficult part. After a few hands I got the hang of it.
When it’s your turn to act a light on the edge of you monitor comes on. You also see your options, Straddle, Call, Fold, or Raise. Unlike on-line sites, you can’t pre-fold or call. This keeps you from giving away a tell.
Some great similarities to on-line poker are found in the stats. You can pull up your stats for the session. In 4 hours there were 32 hands per hour with average pots of $71. I played 50% of the hands, won 14% and 82% of the hands that I won I played to the Showdown. Not too bad but I should fold early more often.
I was surprised that we averaged only 34 hands per hour. It just goes to show that the speed of the game is controlled by the players and not the shuffle. One more thing, the rake is 10% with a $5 max. That is fairly standard for any casino poker room.
I had the opportunity to talk with Ahinawake Littledave in Public Relations and Ron Hager, Director of Table Games. They filled me in on some info I couldn’t get on my own. They added these 10 tables in March ’09 and have run some Sit-N-Go’s along with the cash games.
Like in other casinos, the players play mostly Hold’em, Omaha, and some Stud. They have plans to run a few tournaments in November and possibly in May’11. Ron said that when the players are more accustom to the tables that they will deal around 40-45 hands per hour, which is great for the players and house.
I thought I was asking a touchy question when I asked about comps. In most casinos poker players are second class when it comes to comps. This isn’t the case in Cherokee. He told me that the poker players are comped the same as other players based on a 40 hand hour. That’s not too bad.
I have to give it to them. The machines don’t make mistakes and the games run smoothly.
I will still take a live dealer game, but these tables are a good second. So, I guess I’ll travel east more often and save the mileage to Mississippi.
Keep the cards and chips flying.
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net
- Hank Cashman
I’ve watched players sit down to play Blackjack thinking that the only knowledge they need is the ability to count to 21. I’ve also watched players sit at a poker table thinking that as long as they play their cards they will win. How wrong can they be?
If you play Chess, Checkers, Backgammon, Pool or a hundred other games you quickly learn that you have to stay ahead of the game. It isn’t your move that is important; it’s the next one that will get you. A good chess player plans many moves ahead. A good pool player has to set up his next shot. They have to plan, not for one move but for the next two or three.
Poker is no different. When you are facing calling a bet, you don’t need to worry about calling that bet but how big the next one will be. The same goes for making a bet.
Let’s say for example that you are in a hand and a player makes a min-bet. What is he trying to tell you? Is he trying to reel you in? Does he have a weak hand and is trying to buy the pot cheap? In any case you have to decide what you are going to do and what the resulting effect will be.
If you call the bet you get to see another card but get no more information about his hand. He will probably make a min-bet after the next card and you are no better off than you were.
If you min-raise, he will have to decide whether it is worth calling or not. If he calls your raise, you least know that he has a hand that he is comfortable with. You also have opened it up for him to go over you. Then what are you going to do?
If you go over him with a larger raise, you are forcing him to make a commitment to play it out. How will he react to your play and what will it cost you? If he calls the raise he thinks he has a hand. If he folds, good move.
Here is one I see a lot. A player is in late position, Button or one behind. One player in middle position limps in, everyone else folds. Here is a great opportunity to buy a pot. Do you call, min-raise or three bet? In most cases I would say min-raise. You can expect, in most hands, the Button and small blind will fold. Since it is only a min-raise, big blind and the limper will call in a 2-5 game, you now have 32 in the pot and you are in late position. After the flop, if they check you make a two-bet and the pot is usually yours. If the other players bet after the flop or your bet gets called, you have to evaluate your hand and position to continue.
The point is, know what you are doing, what the effect will be and how you plan to handle it. Know that your opponent may raise and what your response will be. Plan ahead and win more pots.
Keep the cards and chips flying.
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net
- Hank Cashman
Speculative Hands Are Risky Business
“First weigh the considerations, then take the risks.”
We all love to play poker for fun. Most of us play in the hopes of making money. Some of us are gamblers and some of us are poker players. I need to talk to the gambler in you.
I want to talk about speculative hands. These can be very profitable if you hit. Most of the time, and to most players, they are loosing propositions.
Let’s start with identifying what is a speculative hand. We love to see pocket Aces in our hand but that doesn’t happen often. We usually get something less. We may get a small pocket pair or suited connecters. These are speculative hands. That simply means that if you are going to play them you are theorizing or guessing that they can be a winner.
A lot has to happen for a spec hand to become a winner. First of all, you have to hit your hand. The next thing to happen is your opponent must miss his or at least hit a smaller hand than yours. That’s a lot to ask for.
Typically, you will miss these types of hands about 88% of the time. That doesn’t mean you will win 12% of the time. It’s just you will hit that many. You will still lose half of the time you hit. So, 88% of the time you will not hit and have to fold. Another 6% you will hit but still lose to another player that has a better hand. The final 6% is what you are shooting for. Then you will hit and win. 6% ain’t much so you have to be careful.
If you are playing a small pocket pair, you are hoping to hit a set on the flop. If you are playing suited connecters, you are trying to hit a straight or a flush. All of these combinations can become winners but you can hit and still lose.
To start off with, you have to make a pre-flop raise. Don’t bet anything too big. You need to just make the pot big enough to be worthwhile and to discourage others that may have hands that could beat you. Make a min raise pre-flop and cut the field down to just a few players.
If you are playing a small pocket pair you must hit the flop. Remember, if one player has a pocket pair, mathematically, someone else also has a pocket pair. I’ve never understood the math but it is true. This means that if you hit, let’s say your pocket treys, that another player may have hit his pocket eights. If you didn’t hit, you are probably beat. If someone bets, it’s time for you to fold.
When you are playing suited connecters, you must hit at least four to the flush or an open ended straight. Don’t you dare draw to a gut shot. The ideal flop is open ended and four-flushed. That almost never happens. When it does, make a bet after the flop and draw for the winner. If you are four to the flush on the flop, keep in mind that with a small flush with three on the board you can still lose. Beware the higher flush.
These hands are for gamblers that know when to get out. If you are going to play these hands be ready to make the play when you still have a chance to win.
Keep the cards and chips flying.
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net
- Hank Cashman
That’s How You Do It
My son and I were having a conversation about, guess what, Poker. He is a very good player but don’t play very often. I guess he hasn’t caught the bug yet. Any way, he was telling me about watching some friends play online and how they were confused about some of the out comes of their hands.
One guy was talking about how when he plays cash, how he can double or triple up in chips fairly quickly but then by the time he’s finished, be busted. My son tried to explain it to him but he couldn’t quite grasp the concept.
As this guy started out he would play somewhat tight and very aggressive. This way he was folding a lot of hands but when he had a winner he maximized his winnings. He played very few hands with big pots and kept stacking chips.
After he had a significant amount of chips he began to play more pots and take more risks. He tried to buy more pots and bluff more. All of these factors could have helped him win more but he didn’t know when to let go. He would make a bet to try and buy a pot but when someone when over him he wouldn’t fold. He was playing too loose and too aggressive. In a short amount of time he would bust out.
Another player was playing online in a 2-5 game and was buying pots every time he bet. He was invincible. As he got more chips the mightier he felt. This was great for a while but all good things must end.
He never changed the way he played but he began to lose. Players started to call his attempts to buy a pot. He started losing his bluffs. What was going wrong? T he other players were getting a read on him. It took them a while but they knew when to bet him. They started to push him around. Every time he would bet they would raise and push him off a hand.
The guys were trying to analyze what went wrong but didn’t want to admit that they were the problem. The first one said he should play more hands and push more when he had more chips. The other said he was a steady player and didn’t change. Well, there’s the problem.
The first player changed too much and went from winning very few but large pots to losing a lot of small to medium pots. He gave up on the style of play that got him the chips to a style that was a definite loser. If he stuck to his original style of play he should have continues to stack chips.
The second player stayed steady in his play even after he was found out. He took full advantage of his opponents not knowing how he played. But, when he was being played he didn’t adjust. He went from being the player to being played and could change.
My son told them that his best advice was to stick to the style of play that wins and when it stops winning adjust to your opponents and table. So, next time someone is wondering how to win and keep chips, that’s how you do it.
Keep the cards and chips flying.
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net
- Hank Cashman
All-in Is So Sophomoric
“First weigh the considerations, then take the risks.”
Why is it that so many players think so highly of the all-in move? Are they new to the game? Are they scared of their own ability to play well? Do they just not know how to win more chips with less risk? Let’s find out.
Texas Hold’em is the most popular form of poker. TV and internet have also made no-limit the most popular form of Hold’em. This has made the all-in move the most popular action in Hold’em.
Some players think that the all-in move is intimidating to their opponents. It can be, but usually only to the novice players. Most of the time, the all-in bet is made out of fear or an effort to scare off a caller. This can be very costly.
Let’s just look at a very common hand. Your in a hand with let’s say K-Tos. Pre-flop you bet a little as a feeler bet. Now you get down to just you and the big blind. On the Flop there are 8-3-2 rainbow. There’s nothing for you and nothing intimidating. The big blind checks. There is 500 in the pot and you have 1,500 in chips. You want to steal this pot so even though you didn’t hit you go all-in. There are two possible outcomes. If he did hit and he calls, taking all of your chips or he didn’t hit and he folds.
This was an extreme over bet. Your opponent should be able to see this and if he has a good hand or a drawable hand he should call. You can get the same outcome without risking all of your chips.
The better move is to make a ½ to ¾ pot size bet. In this case, a bet of 250-375. This shows that you have a good hand and are willing to play. The other player has pot odds of 3 to 1. So, if he doesn’t have a hand with a better than 33% chance of winning he still has to fold. If he does have a good hand he will call. If he calls, you have just found out where you stand and you also still have 1,250 in chips. As the hand plays out you can get out with chips on the table instead of reaching into your pocket for a re-buy.
Playing this way also increases your ability to make this same move more often. You can’t afford to make the all-in move often because if you lose once doing that, you will have to do it again 7 more times to break even. On the other hand, if you bet only ½ the pot and you do it one more time and win you are ahead by 250. It’s simple math. Would you rather risk 250 to win 250 or should you risk 1,750 to win 250?
Akin to the all-in is the extreme over bet. Many players over bet the pot without going all-in bet with the same results. An over bet usually means you are scared to have the hand play out because you are weak. This again is a high risk move and you have to win 80% or more of the time to make the move worthwhile.
Don’t play scared and don’t make high risk moves so often that they don’t pay off. It’s just not good poker.
Keep the cards and chips flying.
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net
- Hank Cashman
“My Karma ran over my dogma.”
Unknown
Is it just me but does bad play get rewarded too much? I know I’ve been lucky and hit a few cards when I need them but how do players hit the one outers over and over again? When a player has 3-6os, he isn’t supposed to win so many times. I just want to know.
I was watching a WPT event on TV and Freddy Deeb had a player all-in. The other guy had been short stacked going into the final table but had been winning all of the races. Any way, it was down to the River and he had a two-outer. He needed a King to win. He got it. They censored Freddy’s microphone but it was clear he was amazed and pissed. Freddy later went out third and the other player ended up wining the tournament.
I was at a game last weekend and one of the hands played out between tow players and it brought this point home to me again. The player in seat 3 and two others limped in pre-Flop. The Flop was Q-J-2 rainbow. After the Flop seat 3 bet about half the pot. One player folded and one called. An 8 hit the Turn, seat 3 bet again bet half the pot. This was a substantial bet and was called. The River was a King. Seat 3 bet again and was called. Seat 3 showed his two pair, Qs & Js. The other player show his two pair, 2s and Ks. He called all the way to the River with bottom pair to hit the King on the River. WTF.
He had bottom pair and 3 to the straight. That is a good folding hand not a good drawing hand. How do players play like that and get rewarded?
Now the best thing that comes form players like this is that if they continue to try and draw-out they will eventually leave broke. But, that just doesn’t seem to be the case. They seem to win too much. Why?
I guess I’m just too aware if this happening when it does because I know that the odds will play out eventually. These players may win like this for a while but it doesn’t hold up in the long run. The cards have to stay true to the percentages, as always.
I have faith that if I follow these players around and they play this way consistently that I will find they don’t hit these draws any more than anyone else. These players may win a hand or a tournament but they can’t consistently win playing this way.
Karma will eventually come back and bite them in the butt.
All I can say is stay true to the basics and don’t let these types of players affect your game. You will win out in the long run.
Keep the cards and chips flying.
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net.
- Hank Cashman
The Worst Hand In Poker (Revised)
“Fate rules the affairs of mankind with no recognizable order.”
A little over a year ago I wrote about the worst hand in poker. I was trying to make the argument that pocket Jacks are more dangerous and more costly than the typical 7-2os. Over the past year I have found many players that agree with me. Most players hate pocket Jacks for those very reasons.
It’s simple. Pocket 7-2os you will fold. Pocket Jacks you will play and even stay I when you know your beat. That is a costly error.
I have found one refuge for these princes of doom. Even though Jacks seem to lose about every time I see them played, there seems to be one place that they almost always win.
After I wrote my article on Jacks a friend of mine, Curtis, said he disagreed and he thinks Jacks win most of the time. He seemed to be right but how is that possible?
There is one poker room that he & I play a lot and Jacks seem to win. We have even been keeping track of the actual percentages and they win 80% of the time. This just isn’t feasible. In any other room I will bet that Jacks win only around 60%. I don’t know if it his positive attitude or the poker gods twisted way of joking around but he was right.
The odds are the odds. The cards are the cards. How can Jacks win more in one room than the other? Hell if I know but it’s true. We have been trying to figure this out and here is what we came up with. It’s the players.
It isn’t just the cards it is how they are played. We’ve said before that there are three ways to play Jacks and they are all wrong. Well there seems to be a fourth way. It is play them not like Aces or Junk but as Jacks.
We’ve noticed that the players will make a small raise pre-flop. This is to thin the field and try to eliminate hands that can draw out on them. If the flop has an over card and no one bets before the packet Jacks then they place a small continuation be to see where they stand. If no over card appears, then a larger bet is made to try and take the pot down. It’s better to win the pot then than to let someone draw out on you.
In either case, if there is a call you know where you stand. If there is a raise you know you are probably in trouble. You have to decide if you need to go to the Turn and River. This is where your read of the players and your position falls into play.
So, just for you, Curtis, I now say that 7-2os is the worst hand I poker. Unless you happen to play Jacks.
Keep the cards and chips flying?
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net.
- Hank Cashman
“I'm going to memorize your name and throw my head away.”
Poker players have a language all their own. You need to know what they are saying and these nicknames are part of that. If a player says his Bullets got cracked by Dolly Parton you should understand what happened.
These are the nicknames for pocket cards. I have put them in the most common order. Then I’ve listed some names for other combinations.
If you know any others e-mail them to me.
Pocket cards
AA; Pocket Rockets, Bullets, Alan Alda, Albert Anastasia, Batteries, Snake Eyes, Eyes, Eyes of Texas, Flying Nazis, Needles, Rocky Mountains, Sharp Tops, Squirrel, Sticks, Teepees, Two Pips.
A♥A♦; American Airlines, Visine
A♠A♣; Joe Lewis, Banditerna
AK; Big Slick, Anna Kournikova, Barry, Kalashnikov, King Arthur, Korean Airlines, Salt lake Pair, Santa Barbara, Walking Back to Houston, Big Slick in a suit (suited)
A♦K♦; Greenstein, Mike Haven
A♠K♠; Exxon Valdez
AQ; Big Chick, Little Slick, Anthony & Cleopatra, Big Slut, Mrs. Slick, Doyle Brunson
AJ; Ajax, Blackjack, Jackass, Armani Jeans, Apple Jacks, Foamy, Cleanser, Hijack, Trapasso, Rockette
AT; Bookends, Johnny Moss
A9; Rounder’s Hand, Jesus
A♣9♣; McDerment
A8; Dead Man’s Hand, Asterix & Obelix
A7; Slapshot, Avenged Sevenfold, The Sonnert
A6; Mile High Club, TN. Ernie Ford
A5; High Five
A4; Stu Unger, Transvestite, Plane Crash, Tranny, The Kepple
A3; Baskin-Robbins, Ashtray, Thrace
A2; Acey-Deucy, Hunting Season, Arizona, Little Slick
KK; Cowboys, Ace Magnets, Brokeback, Knights, King Kong, Kangaroos, Krispy Kreme, Butchers of Baghdad, Elvis Presley, Gorillas, Gorillas in the Mist, Kinkerbells.
KQ; Royal Couple, King of Queens, Ferdinand & Isabella, Lucy & Ricky, Divorce (suited), Marriage (suited), Mixed Marriage (off suit), Othello (off suit).
K♥Q♥; Valentine’s day, Royal Suicide
KJ; Kojak, King John, Harry Potter, Just Kidding, Jackie Kennedy, Joking, Jordy Kooistra, Starsky & Hutch, Tucson Monster, Bachelor’s Hand (off suit), Bill Fillmaff (off suit)
KT; Big Al, Katie, Ken, Ike Turner, Woodcutter (off suit)
K9; Canine, Dogs, Fido, Rin Tin Tin, Bow Wow, J-Mill, Sawmill, Unit, Pedigree (suited) Mongrel (off suit), Mutt ( off suit)
K8; Kate, Feast, Kokomo
K7; Kevin, Columbia River
K6; Kicks
K5; Knives, Seattle Special
K4; Fork, Core, Forking Idiot, Loving the Queen, Soprano Hand, Forking Off (Off suit)
K3; King Crab, Alaska Hand, Commander Crab, Sizzler
K2; Donald, The Zepik, Big Fritz (Suited)
QQ; Ladies, Hilton Sisters, Bitches, Divas, Mop Squeezers, Calamity Jane,
Canadian Aces, Canadian Rockets, P-CO, Four Tits, Jailhouse Rock, Pair of Wire Cutters, San Francisco Wedding, Snowshoes, Siegfried & Roy, Flower Girls
Q♣Q♠; Pocket Tubmans
QJ; Maverick, Quack, Hawaii, Oedipus, JQuery, OJ
Q♠J♦; Pinachle
QT; Tina Turner, Tarantino, Q-Tip, Cutie, Goolsby, Quint, Robert Varkonyi, Chattanooga Nuts
Q9; Quinine
Q8; Fat Ally, Face Sitter, Kuwait
Q7; Computer hand
Q6; Arnold Palmer’s ex-wife
Q5; Granny Mae
Q4; Housework, Loving the King
Q3; Gay Waiter, San Francisco Busboy, Windsor Waiter
Q2; Daisy, Queen Liz
JJ; Brothers, Fishhooks, Jaybirds, Two Jakes, Devils, Jokers, John Juanda, Rentboys, Colostomy Bag, Kid Dyno-o-mite
J♠J♥; One Eyed Jacks
JT; Justin Timberlake, T. J. Hooker
J9; Braggars
J♣9♣; T. J. Cloutier
J8; Jacket, Jeffrey Dahmer
J7; Jack Daniels
J6; Railroad
J5; Jackson Five, Motown
J4; Flat Tire, The New Motown, Austin Squatty, Kid Grenade
J3; Lunberjack, J Lo
J2; Heckle & Jeckle, Jack Shit, Jericho
TT; Dimes, TNT, Dynamite, Audi, Binary, Bo Derek, Tension
T9; Countdown, Mobile Hand
T8; Tetris, Golden Dan
T7; Split, Bowling Hand, Daniel Negreanu (Suited)
T6; Sweet Sixteen
T5; Woolworths, Dime Store, Five & Dime, Walmart, Superstore, Homosexual, Merfs
T4; Good Buddy, Over & Out, Convoy, CB Hand, Broderick Crawford, Roger That, Truckers’ Hand, The Trucker, Truckers’ Special, Executive Trucker (Suited)
T3; Fast Connection
T2; Doyle Brunson, Texas Dolly, Drive Time, Terminator 2, Whirlygig
99; Barbara Feldon, Wayne Getzky, German Virgins, Popeyes, Pothooks, Balloons, Meat Hooks, Phil Hellmuth (Suited)
98; Oldsmobile
97; Persian Carpet Ride
96; Big Lick, Happy Meal, Good Lover, The Dirty, Breakfast of Champions, Dinner For Two, Joe Bernstein, Jaka Subic, Percy (Off Suit), Prom Night (Suited)
95; Dolly Parton, Nine To Five, Hard Working Man, NJ Turnpike, Betty Hutton
94; Joe Montana, San Francisco, Lost World Series, Gold Rush
93; Jack Benny
92; Twiggy, Montana Banana, Short Bus
88; Snowmen, Pretzels, Racetracks, Double Infinity, Two Fat Ladies, Lacey, Wurlitzer, Dawg Balls, Piano Keys, Little Oldsmobile, Two Links in A Chain, Octopuses
87; RPM, Tahoe
86; Maxwell Smart, Pooch, Eubie, Henry Bowen, Pacheco Nuts (Off Suit)
85; The Hamilton, Chad
84; Big Brother, Orwell
83; Raquel Welch, Sven, Saturday Night Special, Most Feared Hand in Poker
82; Tadpole
77; Walking Sticks, Candy Canes, Hockey Sticks, Axes, Mullets, Saturn, Sunset Strip
76; Union Oil, Trombones, The Big Parade
75; Heinz, Chevy, Pickle man, Vietnamese Slick
7♠5♠; 007
74; Double Down, Ghost Dog, CambodiaSlick (Off Suit)
73; Joe Hachem, Dutch Waiter, Swedish Busboy
72; Jeremy Beadle, Beer Hand, The Hammer, Bloody Scheidi (Off Suit), Worst Hand in Poker (Off Suit)
66; Route 66, Kicks, Cherries, Boots
65; Bus Pass, Ken Warren
64; Arlo, Gilchrist, Billion Dollar Hand, Rabbit
63; Blocky, Jimmy Summerfield (Off Suit)
62; Aimsworth
55; Nickels, Speed Limit, Presto, Snakes
54; Colt 45, Jesse James, Moneymaker, Jane Russell
53; Bully Johnson, Juggernaut
52; Quarter, Two Bits, Bomber, Pick-up, Safai
44; Magnum, Sailboats, Midlife Crisis, Star Wars, Diana Dors, Pocket Draws, Windowpanes, Canadian Presto
4♠4♣; The Dark Side, Darth Vader
4♥4♦; Luke Skywalker
43; Waltz, Books
42; Jack Bauer, Lumberman’s Hand, The Answer
33; Treys, Crabs, City Park, Geese, Pere Ghaf
32; Michael Jordan, Can of Corn, Little Pete, Ice, Polish Big Slick, Mississippi Slick, Hooter Hand (Suited)
22; Ducks, Quack Quack, Swans, Desmond, Richard Nixon
Other Combinations
AAAA; Full Metal Jacket
AAA; Beatles Reunion, Auto Club
AKQJT; Broadway
AK47; Machine Gun, Assault Rifle
AK27; Alex Kovalev
A2345; First Street, Little Minnie, Little Wheel, Pup, Puppy, Spoke, Bicycle, Steel Wheel (Suited)
A23; ABC
AA88Q; Dead Man’s Hand
AA222; Marksman
AA23; Princess Leia
AA9; Emergency
2357J; All The Primes
KKKK; Four Horseman
KKQQ; Mommas and Poppas, Double Date
KKK; Alabama Knight Riders, Three wise Men, Christmas Special, Ku Klux Klan
KKQ; Menage A Trois
KQJT9; Off- Broadway
KQJ; Paint Store
QQQQ; Village People
QQQ; Six Tits
QQ33; San Francisco Waiters
JJJ; Hart, Schaffner & Marx, Three Musketeers, Three Sons
JJ55; Rock “n” Roll, Motown
JJ33; Hookers with Crabs
TTTT; Larry Fortensky
TTT; Thirty miles of Bad Road,
T8642; Rizlo, Scotch Straight
9988; Oldsmobile
9966; Dinner for Four
777; 21, 21 Miles of Rough Road, Jackpot, Slot Machine
77744; Sailing Rednecks
75432; Kansas City
666; The Devil, Lucifer, The Beast, Devil’s Area Code, Kotch, Satan
65432; Rabbit
555; Pork Chop Sandwiches, Washington Monument
444; Grand Jury
365; Drievijfenzestig
3333; Forest, Four Trees
33222; Mites & Lice, Nits & Lice
3322; Socks & Shoes, Mits & Mites, Mites & Lice, Nits & Lice
2222; Mighty Ducks
222; Huey, Dewey & Louie, Room 222, M-16
Keep the cards and chips flying.
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net
- Hank Cashman
Changing Chip Values
“It is not so important to know everything as to know the exact value of everything”
Hannah More
Back a few years ago I wrote about how much difference it made in your play depending on where your money came from. Everything has value and an objects value can change. Your first car that you bought with your own money had more value to you that the one you bought just to drive to work. The watch your Granddad gave you has more value than the Timex you bought at Wal-Mart. This also applies to other manners in the ways you acquire chips.
First of all, we all know the reason we play with chips instead of real cash. It is a method of disassociating money from the game. This way, players don’t think of the 1,000 bet as money but just chips. It’s also easier to throw a 1,000 chip than ten Benjamin’s out there.
Every 100 chip is not worth the same. Sometimes it depends on how you acquired it and how many you have. A chip you bought has more value than a chip you won. If you buy in for 100 and now have 1,000, it doesn’t hurt too much to lose 100. But, if it was the chip you bought, and it is the only one you have, it hurts more. Why? Isn’t 100 still 100?
One time I wrote about playing with OPM, Others People’s Money, how playing with OPM changes your mindset. On my first trip to Vegas to play a circuit event, I was sent with OPM and it helped me play better. I think it made the trip more profitable than it would have been if I had been playing with my money.
This is one of the reasons that pros that have the money to buy into a $10,000 tournament will have backers. The little change in a person’s way of playing can make the difference in winning and losing.
One way chips seem to lose value is when a player is having a losing session. If a player has lost a fair bit of money he may hit a threshold of pain. This is when he has lost so much that any more losses don’t matter to him. He’s lost $1,000, what’s another 1,000. The first thousand hurt, now he’s numb to the pain of any more losses. The chips have almost no value so he just tosses them in with any hand.
I watch players often play tight hen they are playing with their money then become more aggressive when they have won a few chips. It isn’t just the fact than they have more; it is that if they lose they are still ahead.
Some players will play loose with borrowed money. This one I can’t quite get a grasp on. I will see them lose the money they have on hand and a friend will give them some more to continue playing. They will toss those chips in as if they were worthless. Borrowed chips seem to have less value than bought or won chips. Why?
No matter how you get your chips remember they are just part of the game and should always be valued.
Keep the cards and chips flying.
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net.
- Hank Cashman
“Knowing that there is worse pain doesn't make present pain hurt any less.”
I was sitting with a few friends at a small game and the guy next to me just kept complaining. He wasn’t getting any good hands.
I told him it could be worse.
He said it couldn’t get any worse.
Then I told him to never challenge “worse” because as soon as you do it does get worse.
He asked what could be worse?
Second best is worse that 7-2. 7-2 you’ll fold, second best you lose.
Players sit and forget that sometime the best play in poker is to fold. We should be doing it about 70% of the hands but we don’t.
For example, I see players often play J-9. It is a terrible hand. It is a low face card with a middle card. There are too many hands that beat it. But let’s talk about the less obvious ones.
Any of these hands can be played in late position if there is no raise. They also need to be folded if you don’t hit four to a flush of straight.
You may question this one but K-Qos can be a trouble hand. It can still be beat by 5 other hole card combinations; A-A, K-K, Q-Q, A-K & A-Q. You have to play this hand very carefully, if you are in middle position or there has been a raise.
Some other hands that look good pre-flop but can get you caught are;
K-J, again it can be beat by 7 other hands.
K-T, looks so good but is beatable by 9 hands
K-9, in many cases this hand is borderline even payable
A-Jos, remember that the J is not a high card. Don’t treat it any better than you would a T.
A-T, still has a long shot at a straight but if you hit your Ace your Ten is probably beat.
A-9, is worse than the A-T since there is no chance at a straight.
Q-J, now we’re getting into the Beautiful & Deadly cards. This can be beat by almost any hand that was worth a raise before you.
Q-T & J-T both have some straight potential but any Ace or King beats you along with probably any pair on the board.
There are many hands that players will hold onto just because they have an Ace. Like A-8 or less. These are simple potential losers.
Another fascinating phenomenon is the attraction players have with face cards. They will hold on to K-9, Q-9 J-9 or even lower just to try and hit that paint. Chasing the face card will only get you beat and cost you chips. Toss that junk
Don’t get mesmerized by an Ace or paint. Play them cautiously but be willing to let them go.
Keep the cards and chips flying.
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net
- Hank Cashman
“In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities. In the expert's mind there are few.”
Way back in ’07 I wrote about some friends of mine. I had met Dusty and Heather who had dealt their first WSOP in Vegas. Well now there are three Chattanooga dealers that have dealt the Series.
I’ve known Kevin for a few years. We have dealt together and have played against each other. This year he decided to try the Series. He decided not to go to one of the dealer’s schools. He had some experience in dealing and felt that he could pass the audition and get hired with a little help from his friends.
Kevin asked Dusty and Heather to teach him the things he need to pass the audition. They showed him some of the games he would have to know. They also worked with him on his dealing technique and table control.
Well, after a few weeks of training he felt he was ready. He got his audition appointment and was off to Vegas. Without going into a lot of details let’s just say he Aced it and got the job.
Kevin went out to the Series in late May and was ready for his two month stint in the Nevada desert. He told me he has seen enough desert to last him a while. The trip to Vegas was long but fast. Driving out with the Ohlhams was a fast trip. They drove out and back in 36 hours each way. I’m not sure if they even stopped for gas.
At the series there were a lot of breakout dealers. Some were straight out of dealer’s school and had never dealt a live game. I know this can be nerve racking because I’ve been there. After a few days the dealers were dropping like flies. Some were leaving because they just couldn’t take the pressure. Some were fired for making too many mistakes.
After a few days the dealers that were still there, Kevin included, were working long hours with long pushes which translate into very few breaks. What was started as a 40 hour a week job became 7 days at 10-12 hours a day. Tough conditions but good money. Any way, Kevin prevailed and made it a long two months in the desert.
The best story of his trip happened about three days into the Series. He was dealing a live PLO 100/200 game. One of the players there was Sammy Farha was at his table. During one hand Sammy asked Kevin for the pot amount. Kevin quickly gave him the answer. Then Sammy asked if that was the pot of what could be raised. Again, Kevin answered. Sammy won the hand and the $25K pot. Sammy tossed Kevin three “redbirds”, a $15 toke.
Some players would say that a $15 tip on a $25K pot was too light. Most dealers would agree until they heard it was from Sammy. He has a reputation for not tipping well. So, a $15 tip from him was like gold.
Later, when it was time for Kevin to get pushed Sammy called for the Floor. He requested for Kevin to stay at the table. The Floor said he could stay for one more down, 30 minutes. This may not sound like a big deal but there are hundreds of dealers that would have been very nervous in this situation. There are hundreds more that would like to be treated that well form Sammy.
I asked Kevin what he thought of the other pros he met. He said most are just like you see them on TV. The celebrity players use the back hallways to get around faster and avoid the crowds. Kevin was in the back near the EDR when Phil Ivey walked by. Phil started up a conversation with him and then went on to the tournament. Phil Ivey was friendly and Hellmuth was a jerk, big surprise.
He said he met a lot of new friends in the dealer pool and he was very glad that he was able to make the trip. It wasn’t a once in a lifetime experience since he plans on doing it again next year. After his experience in Vegas, he plans to work some other events. We may see him dealing at the tables in Reno, Biloxi, Tunica or Tahoe.
Wherever he goes I know he will do well. Who knows maybe we’ll see him on TV someday.
Keep the cards and chips flying.
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net.
- Hank Cashman
“Vegas action Southern style”
Boyd Gaming
I travel a lot and have seen too many casino poker rooms. I don’t think I have ever promoted one over any other but today I’m going to make a small exception.
In Tunica there are a lot of casinos. Most of them are very nice and do a good job. We all look for something different in what we like in a casino and I’m no different. Of the casinos in Tunica I do have two favorite casinos that I choose to stay and play the most.
I usually stay in Sam’s Town or the GoldStrike. A couple of the reasons are that the hotel is attached to the casino so I don’t have to go outside just to go to my room. The card rooms are run extremely well and they treat poker players better than most of the other casinos. For now, I want to talk about Sam’s Town.
This year I’ve been busy traveling and working on another book so I haven’t been doing too much travel just for fun. This past week I had the chance to get away with nothing to do so I decided to go to Tunica for a few days. I called Sam’s poker room to see if there were any rooms available. Paul answered and even though I hadn’t been there in over a year he immediately remembered who I was and said he would take care of it. The one thing that got to me was that the first question he asked was if my wife was coming. I guess he knows who the real poker player is.
Any way, we go to Sam’s just in time for the 11AM tourney. It was a $20 re-buy with $1,500 guaranteed. There was a good crowd and it was a good game. OK, I didn’t do well in it. In the 7PM $60 Freezeout with $1,000 guarantee I won. So, that day was a good day.
One thing I like about Sam’s is that the atmosphere and the players seem to be very conducive for a good poker game. The players are like in most rooms. There are the twenty and thirty-somethings that are there for a good time. There are the tourists that want to try their hand at the game. There are also the local regulars that play to win money off of the twenty and thirty-somethings and the tourists.
The one thing that seems to be missing at Sam’s is the stumbling, bumbling drunk players that can give you money but really ruin the game. I think this is because Sam’s doesn’t try to be the “cool” place. They try to run a very good casino and are very successful at it.
If you are looking for Hooters style waitresses, they’re not there. They have very nice attractive cocktail waitresses that take good care of you. If you want music in the lounge that is louder than the action on the gaming floor, it’s not there. They do have music in the lounge but it stays in the lounge.
As you know poker players are sometimes second class players to most casinos. I’ve been in some card rooms that don’t even take your player card. Sam’s comps the poker players better than most places. You get a couple of bucks an hour for live play.
At Sam’s, the food is great. The Snack N’ Stuff is open all the time. It has sandwiches, salads and snacks. I will put their Great Buffet featuring Corky’s BBQ up against anyone’s in Tunica. Smokey Joe’s Café is their casual southern cuisine dining restaurant and they do a great job. But, I have to say my favorite is Twain’s. Once you step into Twain’s you are no longer in a loud, busy casino. You step into a quite, opulent diner house. The Steak Diane and Veal Oscar are the finest anywhere. You have to try it at least once and you will be back again.
Sam’s has been named first in Cashback, Promotions” and Video Slots. They are second in Player’s Club, Slot Tournaments and Table game Tournaments. They have all the bases covered.
Back to poker, Linda, Paul and their staff do a great job in their live games and they run very professional tourneys. For example, they have daily tourneys, $60 freezeouts and $20 re-buys. Every one has a guarantee of $1,000 to $2,500. The best one is coming up this weekend.
If at all possible you need to plan on going to Sam’s Town’s $190 tournament with $25,000 guaranteed. It is going to be at 11AM on Saturday the 14th. You will get 10,000 in chips and the blinds will be 30 minutes. They will pay 16 places. This is going to be a great tournament.
I hope to see you there and you’ll see why I think Sam would be proud.
Keep the cards and chips flying.
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net.
- Hank Cashman
Small Adjustments Can Win Big Pots
“Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.”
Sometimes it’s the simple things that make life better. We all want to do better and we should constantly try to improve our game. We need to adjust to the different games and different players. No two games are ever the same.
Here are a few areas that I think we can all look to improve our game. Watch for these opportunities to win a few more pots.
When a player advertises the strength of his hand, always stay in tune to what players are trying (or not trying) to tell you. Pay attention to players even if you are out of the hand. This will help give you information to use when you play against them. Get to know how they play when they have the nuts and when they don’t.
Watch for the player that under-bets a pot. These players are either on a draw or simply playing a weak hand. They are making the pot odds so inviting. Play along with them. If you get your hand punish them for letting you draw out. Make sure they know that slow playing a hand will always cost them.
Scared players will pay you off. Watch them tighten up when they are weak or drawing. In the middle stages of a tournament they will hesitate to enter a hand. When they get near the Bubble they will wait for the Nuts and try to coast into the money. When you see this put pressure on them. Force them to either play or fold. Don’t let them draw out. As in most situations, when you are playing a tighter player, loosen up a little to buy more pots.
Another tight player to watch is the one that simply waits for the premium hands to play. These players seldom bluff. They want to play only when they have a good chance to win. When they bet they usually have a good hand. If you don’t have a better than two pair hand, let them have it. When they just check or call, it’s time to push them. Bet them out of the pot. Keep the pressure on them and keep it off you.
Look for the player that loves Paint and Pairs. These are the ones that thing that a face card or a top pair is golden. They will go to the River if they have either one of these because they think they are good or will pair the face card. When you find one of these maximize your winnings by betting them enough to keep them calling. Don’t scare them off. Keep the pot odds low enough to make it worth them staying in.
A little looser player is the ATM or Calling Station. This guy will call anything on a draw. This is another player you want to keep betting with but not too much. Keep the bets low enough to get him to call. Keep it comfortable.
These are some small opportunities that will help you keep stacking chips if you pay attention to them.
Keep the cards and chips flying.
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net.
- Hank Cashman
Sometimes it’s the little things that cost us so much. I’ve been discussing some of them with some friends and thought that it might be worthwhile mentioning them to you.
The first on is so simple I find it hard to comprehend that anyone ever misses it. Every player, no matter what seat they are in needs to protect their cards. If you have a nice card protector, use it. If not just keep a chip on them. I know, why am I even mentioning this? Because cards still get accidently get mucked or fouled everyday.
Last year in the WSOP a lady had gone all-in with pocket Aces and the dealer accidently mucked them. It happens. The floor was called and they told her it was her responsibility to protect her cards. They gave back her last bet but she lost everything else that she had in the pot. All of this, because she didn’t have a chip on her cards.
Hell, I’ve done it. I am right handed but pitch left. When I push into a table I usually warn the player in seat one to protect his cards so that I don’t muck them. Once I was dealing and looked at the first player and realized I had mucked his cards. All I could do was to apologize and continue the hand. He would have had the winning hand with Kings full of treys. I haven’t seen him play an unprotected hand since.
This also goes for on-line play. Be extremely careful where you keep the cursor. This is even more important when you are playing multiple tables. Keep the cursor in an area where if you accidently click the mouse it doesn’t call, fold or bet when you don’t want to. This happens a lot. A player will be ready to check and about time for him to click his move the screen changes and he raises a hand he would have folded.
When you are playing multiple tables, cascade the tables so that the action buttons for each table is in a different location than the others. This way if the screen changes and you click the mouse it won’t force you to make a bad move.
The next simple step is a little more time consuming but extremely worthwhile. Keep track of where and when you play. Keep a record of how much you play, how long you play and what your results are. This will almost become as important to you as how well you play.
Do you play better in large tournaments or small 1-2 ring games? Do you win more playing on-line Sit-N-Goes or 100 player tournaments? How would you know if you don’t keep records?
A few years ago I was looking over my records. I was winning often at a small four table tournament. I was also playing a larger tournament with a larger buy-in. even thou I was winning more often in the small tournament I was actually winning more in the larger one just not as often.
Many times I’ve heard players talk about the big win they made but never actually know if they are winning players. If you don’t keep records you will never know.
Keep records and find your best venue to win the most.
Keep the cards and chips flying.
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net
- Hank Cashman
“There’s a certain pride you take from knowing that you’ve taken on the best and come out on top.”
Doyle Brunson
It’s that time of year again. We have been watching reruns of the ’09 WSOP on ESPN for the past year. The WSOP started in late may and has finally gotten to the Final table of the Main Event.
All of the smaller events have finished. All of the bracelets but one have been awarded. Now we have to wait until November to find out who will win the most prestigious bracelet in poker.
As it has been for the past 8 years, the final table is a collection of amateurs with one pro. Last year all the hopes were for Phil Ivey to win. This year the pros are cheering for Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi.
The Final Table consists of one Italian, two Canadians and six Americans. All are young guns all of the players are in their twenties. Except for Mizrachi, none of the players have any titles to their name. Most have never played in a major tournament. Once again it is the year of the amateurs.
The final players are:
Jonathan Duhamel of Quebec, Canada with the chip lead with almost 66 million in chips.
John Dolan from Florida is in second place with over 46 million chips.
Joseph Choeng, originally from South Korea but lives in CA now has 23.5 million chips.
John Racener, the second most experienced player at the table, of Florida has 19 million in chips.
Matthew Jarvis from British Columbia has 16.7 million in chips.
Filippo Candio is the Italian with 16.4 million
Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi form Miami has 14.4 million n chips. He has also a new WSOP bracelet from the Poker Players Championship this year.
Soi Nguyan originally from Vietnam but now lives in CA has 9.65 million in chips
Jason Senti of Minnesota has 7.6 million in chips.
If you add all of their WSOP winnings prior to the Main Event together it is $2.6 million of which Mizrachi has almost 2.3 of it. The other eight players’ winnings amount to only $358,379.
Each player will have four months to get ready for November. With the $800,000 already paid to each of them, they can do what ever they want. Some are going to get more training. Some have planed to do like Eastgate and Demidov did in ’08 and go to play in the WSOP Europe. Some are just going to go back home and enjoy the time off.
How ever it plays out, these nine players have had a long eight days of poker. They will now have four months of training, relaxation and notoriety. To some, their lives have now been changed forever. For a few, it’s just another step in their career as a poker pro.
Keep the cards and chips flying.
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net.
- Hank Cashman
Jennifer Harman
Things have changed a lot over the past 10 years. When I was learning to play poker I was given very expensive lessons from “friends”. Once I learned my lessons I passed on the same favor to others. Since playing poker wasn’t exactly “mainstream”, I could play maybe three nights a week and with only a select group of players.
Today poker playing isn’t seen as a cardinal sin played only behind locked doors. It’s played more openly in almost every place you can get more than 5 people together. It has become the largest participant sport in the country and a huge spectator sport.
Most players are now starting on-line. Since Planet Poker started in ’98 there has been an explosion in the number of players and sites where players can start leaning to play poker using play money.
Now players play multiple tables and games at one time. Where when I was beginning I could play about 25 hands an hour now players are playing five tables at a time. With on-line dealers they are playing maybe 150 hands per hour. The learning curve is diminished 6 fold.
Then in ’03 came the “Moneymaker” phenomenon, when the accountant from Nashville turned a $40 satellite buy-in into a WSOP Championship. Then we all believed we could do it.
Beginning poker players start by playing their cards. They either wait for the premium hands or they fall in love with any face cards. If they only play the best hands they play tight but also get tired of just folding. If they play any face card they get to play a lot of hands but lose most of them. Along the way they must find a balance between these two ways to play.
The next thing to learn after how to play your cards is how to play your position. This is one of the most important aspects of poker. In early position you need to have a stronger hand than you do in late position. Every seat away from the button increases the information you have before you play. This gives your hand more value and reduces your risk in the hand.
This extra information and better position gives you additional power in the hand. Where you might not play Ace-9os in early position you can win a pot by playing it in late position.
After players learn to play cards and position then comes playing the player. This is when experience begins to teach a player how to read tells and betting patterns. A lot of this ability seems to come subconsciously. Over time it’s like watching a movie over again. Players keep picking up the little things that make his opponents tick. This is useful when they start learning when and how to bluff.
Players can then send their opponents on tilt just for fun. This will mean more pots won. Any time you can get your opponent off their game it means more money for you.
When each player starts out he plays a card game with people. As he evolves he begins to play a game of people with cards. It becomes more and more about how to play situations, conditions and personalities.
Keep the cards and chips flying.
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net.
- Hank Cashman
Three Stages of a Tournament
“Achievement is largely the product of steadily raising one's levels of aspiration and expectation.”
Jack Nicklaus
I have always felt that the Tight/Aggressive approach to poker is the best. But, when it comes to tournament play, I’m only 1/3rd right. Tournament play is so different from cash but it is still what most players play.
The simplest way to categorize types of play is along two lines, Tight to Loose and Passive to Aggressive. The extremes are Tight/Passive and Loose/Aggressive. Both of these are losing ways to play. The T/P way just sits waiting on “the nuts” to play a hand. The L/A players tosses in chips at every hand and leaves early.
When a tournament starts the chip stacks are equal and the blinds are low. If you try to steal a pot you usually don’t get enough to make it worth the risk. Any chip stolen is still a chip but pots and blinds are low so if you do this often you will lose more than you win.
In the early part of a game you should play very tight but aggressive when you have a hand. Play only premium hands and be patient. Let the other players play loose and leave you need to keep the final table in your sights. Remember, a tournament isn’t a sprint, it’s a marathon.
As players fall out, chip stacks increase and so do the blinds. Now is the time to take a few more risks and become a little more aggressive. Widen your playable hand selection. Start to push a little harder.
This will be more affective since you have created a tight table image. Players are more willing to fold to you since you have played so tight in the beginning. Now, a few bluffs can win you pots that if you had a loose image you couldn’t pulled off. Start taking advantage of un-raised pots and steal a little more.
As players fall out and tables are condensed, the stacks get higher and the blinds keep climbing. Every chip you get is more valuable than they were in the beginning. You need every chip you can get your hands on. But, you must also make it to that final table.
You started as a mild-mannered player now it’s time to bring on Superman. This is what we see when we watch TV poker. Players that have fought for days and are ready to take control. This is why on TV you never see a flop without a substantial raise. You now take control of the table at every opportunity. Don’t let anyone see a free card.
In this stage of the game, you have to eliminate of every player you can. Every time a player leaves the table it means more prize money for you. Again this is a change in table image that wins pots. Mister nice guy has left the building and in his place is this aggressive maniac.
If you let these three players play your game in a tournament you are more likely to bring home the money a lot more often. Don’t be a one stage player. Adjust to every stage of the game.
Keep the cards and chips flying.
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net.
- Hank Cashman
“Poetry is the record of the best and happiest moments of the happiest and best minds.”
Percy Bysshe Sheeley
Poker players have our own language. We use terms like “Big Slick”, “Pocket Rockets”, and “Snapped Off”. We’re not talking out of this world. We’re just talking in our world. Some of us are even poets. Here are a few.
I think Winner, winner chicken dinner really came form blackjack but we love to use it when we win. We have to careful how we say it. If you toss your cards and say it load enough it could start a fight.
Frankie gave me these; you can’t win if you ain’t in. This is usually heard right after someone else said he would have won if he hadn’t folded. That’s OK, Frankie appreciates the chips.
Another one of his is, get in like Gunga Din. I don’t think Kipling was thinking about poker when he wrote Gunga Din but it does rhyme. Here again you can’t win by folding, you have to stay in.
Not all of our sayings have to rhyme. They just have to get you to play into someone and lose chips to them.
That dog will bite is usually after you just got Rivered. You either checked them into a hand or just fell on the bad end of the odds. Either way that dog bit your ass.
What about Ronnie’s put your floaties on and go to the River. He’s just trying to get you to stay in so he can get your chips. His hand is made and you just need a little encouragement to call. If you can’t swim, stay out of the River.
Come on in the water’s fine. You can’t fool me. The player saying this either has a made hand or is bluffing acting strong hoping you’ll fold. You have to decide which is true. Good luck.
Even an old hen can learn from a young rooster. I think this one had some sexual connotations but also applies to poker. The young guns hate to keep learning expensive lessons from us old guys. So, when they win a hand they have to gloat a little. That’s OK, let them have their victories. We still have a few lessons to teach them.
I had a dangler. Some things we just don’t want to know. This is just a useless card in an Omaha hand.
I need to fix a leak. Don’t call the plumber. This is just a player needing to tighten up his game so he quits loosing.
We may talk a little odd but it not any worse than Screwballs in baseball or Check in lacrosse.
Just keep listening and playing every word gives you information you can use to win. Just for fun use a couple of these to send someone on tilt.
Keep the cards and chips flying.
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net.
More Opportunities
Ellen Metcalf
A few months ago, 19 to be exact, I wrote about “Missed Opportunities”. Mostly they are betting opportunities that give you a chance to pick up chips that you probably wouldn’t win if you just waited for the River. I want to bring a few more opportunities to your attention.
When you are playing a tournament the blinds increase every 15-30 minutes. Every time they go up, it gives you a chance to buy a pot. If the blinds were 100-200 and just went up to 200-400, there’s an opportunity. In the first hand that the blinds are up make a small raise. Some of the players are used to the blinds being 200 and you just raised to 800. That’s a big raise to them. They don’t consider that it is a min-raise. They look at it as four times the last hands big blind. Some will fold. You just got some free chips.
Basically, you should be looking for times that players are not paying attention. In many tournaments you have players that aren’t really trying to win. That may sound strange but a lot of players enter tournaments thinking that they have no chance to win. They play just for the fun of it. These are the players that will give you chips if you play them right.
There is also a group of players that once they are down in chips they just give up. They decide early in a tournament that they are going to lose. They then play with losing in mind. They will give you chips since they are going to lose anyway.
Another chance to get a few chips is early in a tournament. Before your opponents have gotten to know you, be a little more aggressive than usual. Since they don’t know how you play, they may back off to you until they learn more about you. You may get a few chips early that you can use later.
As the tournament continues the Tournament Director as to condense tables. Some time during the game you will have to be moved. This could give you another chance to get a few chips. If you enter a table where the players are unfamiliar with you, take advantage of this. Again, they don’t know how you play so you can use this to pick up a pot.
When you try to take advantage of players not knowing how to play against you, you have to keep in mind that you don’t know them either. You have to be more attentive than they are. Don’t go into this half hearted. Go in ready to do battle but don’t get trapped.
Watch for every chance to get more chips and you will have ammunition when you need it.
Keep the cards and chips flying.
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net.
- Hank Cashman
“Under certain circumstances, profanity provides a relief denied even to prayer”
Mark Twain
I have never been one to believe in “a chip and a chair”. Lately I’ve started to believe in it a little more.
A few years ago I was in a tournament at the MGM Grand in Vegas. After a while my wife walked by the table and I held up three chips and said I would join her in a few minutes. After a hell of a roller coaster ride I went to the final table as chip leader. When we got down to eight players we chopped the prize money. After that I have believed in three and a chair but not a chip and a chair.
Over the past week I’ve watched three players actually make it from one chip to winning a tournament. There seems to be a trend here.
Mack, the first guy, was in a freeze-out tournament and just folding hand after hand. He was getting frustrated and desperate to win a hand. He kept saying that he wasn’t getting any cards.
I told him not to worry. The real game doesn’t start till after the break. He said he might not make it to the break. The break was after an hour and a half of play and he was being blinded out. He called a few blinds just to be raised out of the hand.
About three hands before the break Mack bet big into a pot. Everyone assumed he must have a big hand so they all folded. He turned over pocket Kings. The next hand he played a little slower but his pocket Aces held up.
This was the beginning of a non-stop winning streak. He went to the final table as chip leader and ended up taking first place.
Pat was playing in a re-buy tournament. The re-buys lasted for the first hour. Pat was playing a few hands but couldn’t get very many chips. He barely stayed above his original 2,500 chips. After the action hand the buy-in period would be over. He was low and decided not to re-buy. He said he was having a bad night and just didn’t feel it changing.
He made it to the final table with enough chips to make the blinds of 1,000 & 2,000. He posted his big blind and looked at 7-4os. There was a raise and he folded. In his small blind, he didn’t even look. There were two side pots. The first two players turned their card to see who won the first side pot. It was Jacks. One on the board and one in this hand. The second player mucked his hand to give away the second side pot. Pat turned his hand to show Jacks up and take a quadruple up. He was unstoppable after that. He won his way to first prize.
Steve was playing in a re-buy tournament and was having a good night. He won a few pots and at the break was a little above average. He did do an add-on just to keep up with the other players. He lasted to get to the final table but was bleeding chips.
He wasn’t playing aggressive, just calling when he had a playable hand but then folding after the Flop or Turn. This just kept hacking at his chip stack until he was down to his last chip.
He folded until he was two in front of the blinds and was dealt pocket Jacks. He didn’t feel that it would get any better than that for the next few hands. So, he went All-in. his Jacks held up and he had tripled up. From then on it was winner after winner.
My point is don’t worry if the cards aren’t falling for you; they will turn if you hold on. Don’t give up.
Keep the cards and chips flying.
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net
- Hank Cashman
“Weakness in attitude becomes weakness in character”
Albert Einstein
Poker can become a mean and ugly game. It doesn’t have to be. We can still be friends. Can’t we?
Most of the time spent playing poker is spent with friends. We play in casinos and card rooms but most of our time logged at a poker table is on familiar tables with players we play with week after week.
Poker is supposed to be a civilized game. I know we are there to compete and win but we don’t have to beat down the person to take his chips.
The best players keep their cool while playing. The lesser players lose it. I’ve seen players curse, throw cards and chairs. I heard players call each other stupid and worse. Why?
It’s a game, a competition. Every player buys his own chips and can play them any way they want. Some will play tight to win. Some will play risky to gamble. That’s ok.
I was at a table and two friends were in a hand and one played what the other thought was a weak hand and had won. The first one started making comments about how could they play that and they shouldn’t have been in the hand. But while the other was dragging chips they said they felt they would win.
The little quips just kept going back a forth. As each got more upset at the other they both started losing chips to the rest of the table. Their emotions were costing them money. They took their minds off the game.
This is a worse extension of going on tilt. When you go on tilt you keep it to yourself. You can take a few seconds, gather your thoughts and come back to the game. After you start mouthing off to each other the cool down time gets extended. It becomes harder and harder to get yourself and your friend back in tune to the game. Instead of you losing your cool for a few seconds you both lose it for minutes or longer.
Emotions have no place at the poker table. If you can upset an opponent while you keep your cool, that’s a way to take some chips. But, if both of you are getting angry it ruins your friendship and a good poker game for the rest of the players. They don’t want to hear that stuff at a table. They are there to have a good time, not hear you both cry over one hand.
Loosen up. Take the draw outs and bad beats for what they are, poker. If, in your opinion, someone plays poorly catch them on the next hand. Tell them good hand while they drag the pot and remember how they played.
We make so many acquaintances and friends at the table. Let’s not run them off.
Keep the cards and chips flying.
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net
- Hank Cashman
Donald Trump
I’ve talked about how to manage a bankroll but it’s just as important to add to your money. I’ve seen too many players just keep tossing away money like they have some need to get rid of it.
Many of you will disagree with my way of looking at this. I do admit than it is a very conservative point of view. This is one area that the gambler in me takes back seat to the accountant.
I’ve watched as some players will sit down with a good buy-in then lose a little. When it just doesn’t seem to be their night they will play till the money is gone. They will even announce to their opponents that they are going to leave as soon as they lose the rest of their chips. Thanks for the heads up. Now their opponents know that their intent isn’t to win but they are getting ready to lose and leave. This is just a way of letting the other players know that there is free money on the table.
How many times have you watched a player triple or quadruple his chips and go home busted? Why do they do that? It’s fun to watch. While they are winning they are the best players in the world. When they start to lose the dealer sucks. They are wrong on both counts.
When they are winning they are getting good hands and playing them well. When they begin to lose they aren’t getting good hands but continue to play like they are. Rushes don’t last long so ride them while you can but know when they stop and get off.
I believe that more players would enjoy the game more if they took money home more often, even if it was their money to begin with.
Go to a game with a limit of how much you are going to invest. If you have a terrible night, what is the maximum you are willing to invest? Don’t go over that amount for any reason. Don’t let your emotions dictate your losses. If this isn’t your night, take your licks and come back tomorrow.
When a player buys into a game he should buy-in with enough to play the game well. Measure the amount that is on the table. Buy-in for more than the average chip stack. You don’t have to buy-in to match the chip leader but you need enough to compete with the majority of the players.
Here’s the hard part, quit before you’re busted. I’ve watched players have a great run and just blow it. Let’s say you started with a hundred and ran it up to six. That’s good. You’ve made five, that’s good. Now let’s say the cards turn on you. You begin to lose. What are you going to settle for? Do you want to go home a winner, braking even or a loser? Two of those choices are good. Only one is bad.
Before the cards turn on you decide how you are going to leave the table. I suggest leaving a winner. If you’ve made five and it works its way down to half of that, cash out. Take some of that money home. I know this isn’t gambling. But, winning is more fun that gambling.
If you want to go home even, then do so. Don’t go home a loser. Quit while you have chips to cash out.
Remember you can always cash out.
Keep the cards and chips flying.
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net
- Hank Cashman
Neither a borrower nor a lender be;
For loan oft loses both itself and friend,
And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.
William Shakespeare
We all play poker for entertainment purposes. We enjoy playing the game for many reasons. We also like to leave the table a winner. That means getting up with more money than we sat down with.
I hate to see friends leave a table after losing all their chips. But, it is a lot worse to see friends leave a table after losing all of their money or even in debt. So, let’s go over some simple rules about handling a bankroll.
First and foremost NEVER play poker with “bill money”. I heard a player once ask where there were some cash games. He said he had to make some money in the next week to make his truck payment. Everyone at the table told him to quit playing right then.
There should be a difference between the money you pay your bills with and the money you play poker with. Bill money is what you need to live on. Poker bankrolls are what you use for entertainment. Your bankroll is made up of funds that if you lost it all you could still make your living expenses. Losing a bankroll should be disappointing but not devastating. Money should flow one way from bankroll to bill money. Not the other way.
Now that we agree on what the bankroll is let’s work on how to use it. If you are buying into a tournament, the buy-in should not be more than 10% of your bankroll. Assuming you are a good player and you are playing at your level you should at least cash enough to replenish your funds. If you can’t cash in 10% of the tournaments you are playing you need to adjust. Either play for lower stakes tournaments or fix your play.
If you are going to play a cash game the same rules apply. Don’t play over your head. Stay at a level where you can reasonably expect to play with no more than 10% of your money and come out ahead.
I know my Shark friends won’t like this advice but don’t borrow money to play poker. If you didn’t bring enough funds for the game but your bankroll can cover it, if someone will loan you what you need, you must be able to pay them back when the game is over. No one wants to loan a poker player money for a long term.
If you want a backer for a tournament, make the agreement clear. If you win you split the winnings. If you lose, that’s the way it goes. They are buying a piece of your action not your future.
It’s really quite simple. Poker should be fun and rewarding. It should never become a burden. If you are losing more playing poker than you would for a good night of entertainment you need to make some changes. Drop down to a lower level or play less often until you can start winning again.
Keep the cards and chips flying.
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net
- Hank Cashman
“It’s easier to feel unlucky than to actually be unlucky”
Mike Caro
I have always been a believer in the power of positive thinking. I know that it can make a huge difference in the results of sales and business. If a salesman things that the customer will not buy his product, he doesn’t even try and the sale is missed. If business owners take a defeatist attitude then the business suffers. How can a negative mind set affect poker?
Sometimes we can be our own worst enemy. A “po’po me” attitude can be the forerunner to a terrible night.
I was playing in seat eight at a table. I had a good view of the other players. On the other end of the table was a player that was bound and determined to be the unluckiest player at the table. He was telling the player next to him how bad of a run he had been having. He was bending his ear with all the bad beat stories from the past month.
While we were playing, every time this guy folded he would show the player next to him his cards. He would add something like “this is the crap I’ve been getting all month”. If the other player wasn’t looking he would show the cards to the player on his other side. Both of the players next to him would just nod their heads and roll their eyes. They really didn’t care to hear this player’s problems. They were also getting some bad hands but they knew that they should be folding about 70% of the time. It’s just cards.
Then he escalated the issue to when he did play and lost he said “I knew he was going to draw out on me”. He would say this even though the other player had him beat from the start. Then it was “I knew the dealer was going to give him that” and “The dealer keeps giving him anything he needs”. He just kept compounding the po’po me image of himself.
In some respects it was sad to watch. He ruined his night by being so negative. He also ruined the night for the players next to him. But, there is a bright side. He gave the rest of us a lot of chips.
Being so negative doesn’t change the cards. Just like in roulette, they say “The ball doesn’t know”. In poker the cards don’t know. If you smile or curse the cards are the cards. They don’t change. But, you do.
This guy’s attitude changed how he played his cards and how the other players played him. He was drawing to the low side of the odds and losing. Surprise! Players were raising him when he would call a bet and have a defeated look on his face. They were playing him like “scared money”. They pushed him around and he just got worse. This just solidified his bad luck.
Every word he said and every card he showed gave information on how he was playing and how to play him. No one wanted to hear all this sad story stuff and what they did hear was just used against him. The best thing he could have done was just shut up, stop showing cards and just play poker.
To quote Mike Caro, “If you’re getting ready to seek sympathy by explaining your bad luck, real or imagined, dummy up. Keep it to yourself. In all likelihood, nobody cares. And if someone does care, it could be in ways that will harm you.”
Go put on your “happy face” and win some.
Keep the cards and chips flying.
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net
- Hank Cashman
Poker is many things to many people. To some it is a friendly competition. It is a mental game to challenge one player against others. Then, it can be a means to make a living. By in large it is a game for the individual to spend time, make money and have a feeling of accomplishment.
Most of the time I will say that poker can be a blood thirsty sport. Very seldom is blood shed but it can be ruthless. After all, none of us play to lose. As Stu Unger said “Think about what it’s like sitting at a poker table with people whose only goal is to cut your throat, take your money, and leave you out back talking to yourself about what went wrong.” We have all been one of those players he is referring to.
There is another side of poker, the social side. We get together with friends and play for the entertainment and sport of the game. What’s better than spending an evening with friends with good food, drink and poker?
There is a fine line between the cut throat aspect and the fun side of poker. Where do we draw the line?
There is a new TV show debuting this week called “What would you do?” The premise is if you saw a young lady that drank too much beginning to possibly be taken advantage of would you step in? With that in mind, if you saw a friend at a table being taken advantage of what would you do?
We are all adults. We all play poker by choice. We all put our chips in with our own two hands. We all also use those hands to drink.
What if you had a friend that had had too much to drink that was sitting at a table just throwing his money away. What would you do? Would you try to get him to stop playing? Would you let the other players at the table take all of his chips? Would you loan him money to by more chips knowing that he is going to lose?
It’s sometimes hard to know when you are doing a friend a favor by cutting him off and sending him home. After all, it’s not your fault he’s calling every hand with no pair. He’s going to be pissed at you tomorrow because he knows he could have got that money back.
I’ve watched those players start off playing well then drink too much and just turn into ATMs. Sometimes there isn’t drinking involved. Sometimes it is just the chase for lost money that turns them into the fish at the table.
In times like these, I don’t want to interfere with the game but I also don’t want to see someone be taken undue advantage of. In cases like this where do we know how long to let it go or it’s time to step in?
I’m going out on a limb here. I think it’s akin to driving. If you wouldn’t let them drive because they are too drunk, try to get them to stop playing. If they argue with you let them go. At least they won’t hurt anyone bet themselves.
If it is a chasing bad money issue, mention it once and let them go.
I’m not trying to be a Good Samaritan I just want to keep my friends playing and I want to out play you not take advantage of the weak.
Keep the cards and chips flying.
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net
- Hank Casshman
“Our minds are like stomachs: they are whetted by the change of their food, and variety supplies both with fresh appetites.”
Quintilian
As some of you know, last November my first book, Cashman on Poker, hit the shelves. OK, maybe “hit” isn’t the right word. How about softly landed? It isn’t going to be a New York best seller but it is still a good poker book.
In January I started on my second book, which for now I simply call it “The Poker Book”. Catchy title, yah?
Anyway the first was a small collection, 45, of some of my articles from the Enigma, Rounder’s and predictem.com. It took a while to select the ones I wanted to include but it was a fun project.
This new book is much more complicated. First of all I want to write a book that can be used as a reference book on poker. I am including Robert’s Rules of Poker and the Poker Tournaments Director Associations rules for tournaments.
I’m including a section on the basic ways to play every poker game I can find. This is turning out to be the biggest part of the book. As a dealer for the WSOP and WPT I have to know 16 basic games plus their variations. I used to think that was a lot. I was wrong. As of today I have found another 100 ways to play poker. Damn! That’s a lot.
Many of them are unique ways to play more popular games. I’ve often heard players say that if it wasn’t for the river Hold’em would be a different game. Well, I’ve found No River Hold’em. Each player gets three hole cards and there are only four community cards. So, there now you have the game you asked for.
How about Bingo or Tic-Tac-Toe where you can use three of the nine community cards as long as they are in a row? It may be a little more of a “Kitchen” game than a casino game but it is still poker.
Or maybe you would like Baduci, not be confused with simple Badugi. Badugi as a triple draw game where the winning hand is four cards of separate suits. Baduci is a split game where half of the pot goes to the player with the best Badugi and the other half goes to the player with the best Deuce-to-Seven hand. Both are lowball games but one is four cards and the other is five cards. One looks for four suits ant the other looks for simply low cards. Sounds like fun to me.
Here is another one for you, Chowaha. I don’t where the name comes from I just find them. This game is like Hold’em but the board has three, yes three, Flops, then two Turns and a River. Each player can use any of the three Flops and either of the two Turns to make their hand. Oh, did I mention this is usually played as a split game. Now that sounds challenging.
Any way, after I finish the 100+ kinds of poker I’m going to add a brief section on basic strategy for the main types of poker. I hope to keep this thing down below 400 pages.
I’ll let you know when it’s ready for the shelves. Hopefully it will make a bigger bang than the last one.
Keep the cards and chips flying.
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net
- Hank Cashman
“Let us be thankful for the fools. But for them the rest of us could not succeed.”
Mark Twain
A Donkey is a player that plays any two cards. He may call a large bet with nothing. He may stick with you to the River just to see if he can hit that one-outer or because he has a King.
The thing that ticks the rest of us off isn’t that Donkeys play this way it’s that sometimes they win. That just frustrates the hell out of us. The most common phrase a Donkey hears is “Just keep sitting there.”
An Ass on the other hand doesn’t necessarily play bad. He may be a good player. He just has an attitude that makes him unbearable.
He gloats when he wins because he is such a great poker player. He blames the dealer when he loses. He blasts another player for playing his cards well and beating his bluff. You’ve heard him. “How could you call me with that? Didn’t you see the Flush?”
Asses hate Donkeys.
Then there are the players that go on Full Tilt and have to be categorized as a Donkey’s Ass. This is when the Donkey gets beat and just starts steaming. So, he re-buys and tosses all of his chips in dark. Or, he puts his chips out and says “I’m all-in till they’re gone.”
All of these players have a tendency to ruin an otherwise good game. They keep the other players from playing regular poker. The other players would like to play poker but now they have to play this jerk.
Since the Donkey/Ass has raised the level the other players just fold their low or drawable hands and wait for the premium hands. That’s good except when this nut case draws out and he thinks he’s a genius. So, he continues.
Finally someone will take him down. He leaves cursing and the game can continue.
These players make for a fun yet disturbing ride. If you can hold on for the ride you should make some good money. That’s another thing about these guys; they seem to be willing to lose hundreds for no reason.
They get some kind of joy out of showing how much money they can lose. Hey, any fool can lose money.
You basically have two choices when these players show up at the table. You can take your chips and go home or to another table. That’s a good idea. Or, you can sit there and try to take their chips. This can be a little riskier but also more profitable.
If you choose to stay, buckle up and enjoy the ride. I don’t want to hear you crying after the ride starts. Be prepared to lose a few hands that you know you shouldn’t. It’s just the price of the ride. If you can hold on long enough you will come out a winner.
There will always be Donkeys and Asses. If it weren’t for them we would have to get our money from pros and that is more difficult.
Keep the cards and chips flying.
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net
- Hank Cashman
“Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence.”
Calvin Coolidge
I have never considered myself as a “comeback kid”. If I have a bad night I will get up and just say it wasn’t my night. I know there are some players that can lose and lose then come back to end the night a winner. It’s just not me.
I will re-buy a few times in a tournament or cash game. If I get a bad beat or just over play a hand I know that I can change my play and rebound. A few set backs don’t ruin my play for the night. I still have a chance to get back on top.
I was at a game a few nights ago and watched a player do something I just don’t understand. In a tournament the blinds were 3,000-6,000. He had 10,000 and was in the big blind. He put all of his chips out and went all-in dark. The tournament director clarified that all-in was his intent. The player said that he was going all-in since he was short stacked. He lost and went home.
In the same tournament I had also gotten down to just the blinds and survived. The blinds were 3,000 -6,000 and I had 9,000. Just enough to make the blinds. I stayed and played each hand he best I could. In the end I placed third which was good for how low I had gotten. But, I never gave up.
In another tournament I had re-bought twice. At the break I was down to 1,500 in chips. An add-on was offered but since it had been such a bad night, I didn’t take it. The blinds were 500-1,000. I didn’t play the first hand after the break. In the next two hands I had increased my stack to 16,000.
After that everything fell my way. I went to the final table above average in chips. When it got down to four players I was tied for the chip lead. When we were heads up I was the chip lead and ended up winning the tournament.
I just hate to see players give up in a game where they still have a chance. I will never give away a chip. If you take one of my chips you will know that either you had the better hand or out played me. I’ll never just toss in chips because I’m short stacked.
I have a hard time with the old “chip and a chair” theory. I have won some tournaments with “three chips and a chair”. I have come back from the brink of disaster.
I guess this also comes form not getting over confident when I have the chip lead because I know that that can be lost. I don’t get excited when I have the lead and I don’t give up when I’m short stacked. Either way I’m going to play my best to win.
So, don’t give up as long as you have a chip. Don’t give away your chance to win.
Keep the cards and chips flying.
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net
- Hank Cashman
“I want to grow. I want to be better. You grow. We all grow. We’re made to grow. You either evolve or you disappear.”
Tupac Shakur
I’m going to follow one player’s journey through his poker development. This isn’t how it goes for everyone but it is how many of us evolve into better players. Maybe you will see someone you know here.
It all started on a Halloween night back when he was a kid. He came home from a night of trick o’ treating. After his sisters arrived home all the candy was dumped on the floor. His older sister went to the den and got the cards. The candy was divided by size to give them different values; three Sweetarts equaled a full size Milky Way.
The three of them started the game, Draw poker for candy. By bedtime his older sister had wiped out her younger sister. He had survived with a small win witch he gave to his little sister so she wouldn’t leave empty handed. So, it begins.
He started playing at some bar games, freerolls and tournaments for certificates. He was winning some but he only knew how to play his cards. He evaluated his chance of winning by what he had in his hand and took the pot only when he had the best hand.
Then came the revelation that chip stacks can make a difference. He found that once he had a good stack that he could strike fear in the opponents. Forcing them to call a big bet can make them fold. It was a hard lesson learned by being on the other end of the hand too many times.
He started playing on-line. He learned the importance of position. How it was important to have a stronger hand to play in an early position and that a weaker hand in late position can be just as good. This saved him a lot now that he didn’t play so many losing hands.
A friend invited him to a home game. It was a 1-2 game with a $20 buy-in. He was now playing for real money. Here the lessons were a little more expensive. This is where he learned about value betting and slow playing.
The home game was also where he discovered that playing his cards wasn’t the only way to play. He began reading his opponents and learning to play their cards. He started to win more and he enjoyed that.
He heard about a ring game in the back of a bar. It was also a 1-2 game but the buy-in was $100. He felt ready. One of his buddies went with him. It didn’t seem that much different. But, after a couple of losing sessions he figured out what bluffing was all about. He also found out how to read a bluffer and that saved him a lot of money.
He was playing well and wining some. He noticed that on a table of six or more he did OK but when it got smaller than that he struggled. If he got to heads-up he just couldn’t make it work.
A friend explained to him the change in the value of hands wasn’t only caused by position but also table size. Hands increase in value as the number of opponents decreases.
He started studying the change and found that when it got short handed his cards no longer mattered. Heads-up, 6-2os can be played to beat better hands more easily than they can with a full table.
Now he plays more often and wins more often. He enjoys the game a lot more. Maybe some day he will try one of those big tournaments but for now he will just have a good time with friends he meets at the table.
He started playing his hand. Then he learned to play his opponents hand. He learned that there are many elements to the game besides the cards. Finally he found that it isn’t what he has or what his opponent has, it’s what he can make his opponent think he has that matters.
We are all students of the game and learn something every time we play. Or, we just continue to lose. Class is in session.
Keep the cards and chips flying.
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net
- Hank Cashman
“Life is like a game of cards. The hand that is dealt you is determinism: the way you play it is free will.”
Jawaharlal Nehru
Way back 1997 planetpoker started the first on-line poker site. Since then there have become thousands of sites offering every game you would want to play. You can play for play money or cash. It’s all in good fun and easy.
Here is why I like and dislike on-line poker. When I’m working on my computer, I can take a short, hour, break and play a quick tournament or a cash game. I can play with players from around the world and don’t have to listen to the chatter. I can play a little while I eat breakfast and again in the afternoon without having to go outside in the bad weather.
For new players, on-line free poker is a great way to get started. They can play with play money but against real players. It is where new players should start before they come out into the real cardrooms.
On-line I can play any size of table. If I want a 10 table tournament it’s available. If I want to play heads-up I can do that too. Actually it is a great place to get heads-up practice since in cardrooms it doesn’t come up that often.
I really enjoy playing multiple tables, I like four or less. Any more than that and it gets too busy. At four tables the action is continuous. I don’t have time to read a book like I do at a live table.
In a cardroom with real live dealers, the shuffle takes some time even with a card shuffler. On-line, the cards are immediately ready and dealt fast. Also, there is never a miss deal. They say that the on-line shuffle is completely random. I find it hard to believe that a computer can be programmed to be random. I have been told that the shuffle is continuous and that is what makes it random.
In a live room a good dealer can only deal about 30 hands an hour because the players take so much time to act. With the pre-act buttons the action is faster and there are as many as 100 hands dealt per hour. More hands equal more action.
I like that there is a constant clock on the players. If they take too long the clock runs and they are folded. I need one of them on my live table.
One of the best things I do to improve my game on-line is to take notes on my opponents. The good thing about it is that I may not play the same player for months but when I do my notes are there. I may not remember that he slow plays a lot but my notes will remind me.
I can curse at my computer without getting thrown out of the room. Along with not worrying too much about tells, like smiling or laughing, I can talk and yell at my opponents without giving away my hand.
If I want to try something new on-line is a great place to try it. I can use play money and adjust my play to see how a new play will work. If I see a good change them I’ll try it again with real money games.
Some people say they don’t get tells on players on-line. I think that the tells are there just not the physical ones. I look for tells in betting patterns. I have to be careful of watching how long it takes someone to bet because that can be a connection issue and not a real tell.
The only negatives I see in on-line poker are that when I leave the table I don’t get to take my money with me. I also miss the interaction with real players. After all half of the reason to play poker is social.
Be caucus, there are some players that are playing in teams or colluding. Don’t be scared of them just be aware of them.
Have a good time on-line but don’t forget the best poker is played in live cardrooms. So, get dressed and come out and play.
Keep the cards and chips flying.
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net
- Hank Cashman
“Joker n. Any hidden, unsuspected difficulty.”
Websters
When I was a little kid I played card games like Old Maid and Go Fish. Then I moved up to Rummy, Gin and Spades. All of these were very straight forward games. Simple rules and easy to play.
When I grew up and started playing poker it was the same. Learn the game and follow the rules to win.
In all the games I learned to play there was never a wild card until I played poker in someone’s den. Where the hell did that thing come from?
Before the Joker made it’s way into the poker deck it‘s image was in Tarot cards. It was the Fool card that seemed to mess up everything. Then it became the Jester in the Royal court cards, Jack Queen, King and Joker.
I personally think of it as an abomination of poker. I never have played with wild cards. Deuces wild, one-eyed jacks and suicide kings just seem to mess up the whole game. Jokers are just an extension of the same thinking.
I was reviewing some rules for poker and found the reference to Five-of –a –kind. There is no such thing. Then I noticed that it was Four-of-a kind plus a Joker. It placed the Five-of –a-kind above the Royal Flush in ranking. That just ain’t right.
Then I discovered a game that has standard wild cards, 4-4-4. It’s a Stud game where each player gets four down cards, four up cards and fours are wild. This must be a real hoot to play.
So then I went on a search for other such games. I found Baseball were 3s and 9s are wild. There is Midnight Baseball where 2s and 7s are wild. Good, Bad and Ugly has the first rolled card and all like it wild. I bet that does get ugly.
Kings is a Stud game where, you guessed it, the Kings are wild cards. If Kings isn’t bad enough there is Queens where the Queens and the card that follows it are wild. That changes if another queen is dealt. Then the card following the second Queen is wild.
How about Harem where the Kings and Jacks are wild unless a Queen is dealt then their not wild. I’m getting confused.
In Sequence, if a Deuce is dealt up then Deuces are wild. Unless, a Trey follows the Deuce then the Treys are wild not the Deuces. Then if a Four kits the Fours are wild and not the Treys. This continues up the ranks up to possibly the Aces.
I found Kings and Little Ones made all Kings and the lowest card in each player’s hand. So every player had at least one wild card.
In Threes all Treys are wild. There is a game called Psycho with no wild cards. If any games needs wide cards it should be Psycho.
In Lame Brain Pete the lowest community card is wild.
So far I’ve not seen any of these games being dealt in casinos or circuit events. Thank goodness.
For me, I‘ll stick to real poker and no wild cards. I’ll continue to use Jokers as book markers and replacement cards.
Keep the cards and chips flying.
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net
- Hank Cashman
“Limit Hold’em is all about pound, pound, pound. No fear.”
Jennifer Harman
When I was growing up I had not even hear of Texas Hold’em or Omaha. As for most of us are concerned these games didn’t exist. We played Draw and Stud poker. It wasn’t until about 2003 that Hold’em got so popular.
After 2003 everything fell together to make poker, especially Hold’em, so popular. We had the implementation of the “lip stick cam. That made it possible to see the hole cards.
Before then watching poker without seeing the holecards was kind of dull.
Then we had a WSOP winner named Moneymaker that made us believe that even the average Joe can win a World Series Championship. Once that was watched on millions of TVs networks found they could make money broadcasting poker shows. That started an avalanche of poker productions like WPT, High Stakes Poker, Poker After Dark, Celebrity Poker etc.
Almost all of the shows are about No-Limit Hold’em. That’s because it is easy to understand and easier to show on TV. It would be almost impossible to clearly follow a Stud or Draw game on TV.
Since it is the most televised style of poker, No-Limit has become the most popular form of Hold’em. Actually Limit Hold’em is the bigger game. Most pro players play more and earn more playing Limit poker than No-Limit. Surprised? Here’s why.
In Limit poker, Hold’em, Omaha, Stud, whatever, you are limited to the amount you can bet or raise on any given round or hand. This does limit the amount you can win but it also limits the amount your can loose. In this style of poker you aren’t going to loose in one hand what it has taken hours for you to accumulate.
In Limit you can still play for hundreds or thousands but you set the level of money you are will to play for. In a 1-2 No-Limit game someone can still bet enough to put you all-in. Then a small game becomes playing for everything you have.
In a 5-10 Limit game you know that you can only wager 25 on the first two betting rounds and 50 on the second two rounds. So in the 1-2 game you can win or loose thousands in the 5-10 you can win a lot but only loose 150 per hand. So once you have stacked up your winnings you should be able to hold on to them longer.
There is one major difference in Limit and No-Limit. That is the “draw-out” factor. In No-Limit you can try to bluff or buy a pot just by over betting to discourage a caller. In limit you have to be more careful. You aren’t doing to force an opponent all-in so they will stay in hopes of hitting that 2 outer. The bad part is sometimes they will hit.
Limit games will test your ability to read you opponents. It will also make you play smarter and I mean tighter and more aggressive. It will make you find ways of extracting more money from your opponent than just raising all of the time. Sometimes the best way to get more money is to check and let them raise.
Any way, if you haven’t played Limit, give it a try. You may find, like most pros, that winning a little more often is better than trying to win it all in one hand.
Keep the cards and chips flying.
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net
- Hank Cashman
“In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities. In the expert’s mind there are few.”
Shunryu Suzuki
After playing, dealing and writing about poker for years it is sometimes hard to remember that we have new players just starting to play poker, everyday. We have young players joining our tables. We get a few players that have played on-line and are just getting started playing live. There are even a few old guys that have played Stud all their lives and are just getting into Hold’em. For what ever reason, we are getting new players all the time.
I just want to give a few of you new guys some information that may help you learn some lessons that have cost the rest of us a lot of time and money to learn. It took us a lot of loosing hands to learn how to play.
Let’s start with when you sit down to the table. Find a seat where you will be able to see the cards and as many of the other players as possible. If the guy in seat 4 is smoking and it will bother you, sit in seat 8. Don’t sit next to a smoker and then complain.
Don’t buy-in for the minimum. Check the other chip stacks and buy-in for at least the average. This will help keep you from being bullied and from playing scared. It will give you enough chips to withstand a little action.
Use a card cover. It can be a chip or something you bought but you need to protect your cards from being mucked or called dead.
I hope I never have another new player ask about card rankings. That is just a sign to come get their money. Don’t ever go to a live table unless you know the rankings. Why is it so hard to remember that a flush beats a straight?
Know the house rules and chip denominations. These very from room to room so you need to formularize yourself with any rules that are specific to the room you are playing in. It can save you embarrassment and money.
Learn to fold. It is the best move in poker. You don’t need to play every hand. In fact you should only play about 70% of the hands. Save your chips for when you need them.
Many new players have heard about bluffing. There are two sides to this. As a new player don’t try bluffing. Unless you can tell the whole story it won’t work. Bluffing isn’t just tossing more chips out to make someone fold. You have to know how much will make them fold. You have to convince them that it isn’t worth calling. You have to know that you aren’t bluffing to a nut hand. The other side of bluffing a new player is that they don’t always know they shouldn’t call so they will call anyway.
Don’t worry about learning “chip tricks”. It’s fancy and cute to be able to manipulate chips and roll them on the table. The first chip trick you need to learn is how to drag them to you. All other tricks are for players with too much time on their hands.
I mean this in the nicest way, “shut up”. I know that you are at the table somewhat for a social night. If you want to be there longer don’t talk too much. When you chatter you are giving out information that will cost you in the next hand. Don’t tell everyone you folded a winner, we’ve all done that. Just have a good time and play the game.
Pay attention. Keep your food and drink off the table. Keep your iPod on low. Leave your sunglasses at home. Stay focused on the game and it will help the game run more smoothly.
Welcome to the game. I hope you have a great time and make some money.
Keep the cards and chips flying.
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net
- Hank Cashman
“It is bad luck to be superstitious.”
Andrew W. Mathis
I don’t ever believe in luck the way most people do. There is no lady luck or mystery force that makes cards fall better for one player over another.
According to Webster, luck is the seemingly chance happening of events which affect one. According to Cashman, luck is when the odds are not in your favor but hit for you.
The key word in Webster’s is seemingly. That means it appears to be just happenstance. It isn’t. It’s just simple math. When you have a one outer you will still win 2% of the time. 98% of the time you aren’t surprised. 2% if the time you are the luckiest guy in the world. No your not, it’s the 2%.
So from now on when I talk about luck you under stand I’m not talking about mystical creatures affecting your hand. It’s just poker.
I’ve seen two sides of how luck can ruin a good player. There are two basic effects of a lucky hand. One side you are the lucking winner on the other you are the unlucky loser. It’s funny, satirical not humorous, to see one hand actually spoil two players.
Last week I was in a hand and had pocket 9’s. The flop came out 8-6-4. Good hand for me, I had an over pair, so I potted it. I had one player stay with me. He raised. So I re-raised. To call would cost him over 75% of his chips. I knew there were many hands that could beat me like 7-5, two pair, a higher pair or trips. The other player had position on me but with his position on the table, middle; I felt I could eliminate the 7-5 and two pair possibilities.
He called with pocket 6’s. His trips dominated my pair of 9’s. I had a two outer or a 7.7% chance of winning. As “luck” would have it, I hit the 9 on the turn. Good luck for me bad luck for him. This was a tournament and that had crippled him.
92.3% of the time I would have lost that hand and not had anything to say. But, that time was the 7.7% time.
After that he could have cussed and fussed, talked about bad luck, suck-outs, bad plays and revenge. Instead he said good hand and we played some more. I could have bragged about my good luck and great skill and thought I was now ready to turn pro but I knew it was just my luck.
We ended up finishing the tournament first and second. We talked about that hand after the game and agreed that that was the turning point for both of us. I set me up to win but instead of it crushing him he saw it as just another hand.
Too many times a player will be on the bad end of a lucky hand and let it beat him down. He will let it ruin his ability to play. Luck has beaten him so he just can’t win then he doesn’t play his best. Then luck, really himself, has beaten him.
Sad to say even the winner can get ruined by a lucky hand. He thinks it’s his lucky night and starts playing like he can’t be beat. Then all the chips he played well and got lucky for all go away.
See the luck for what it is just odds and percentages. Don’t let one good or bad hand control your night. Don’t think your dead until you are and don’t think you’re invincible because your not.
Keep the cards and chips flying.
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net
- Hank Cashman
“Decide what you want, decide what you are willing to exchange for it. Establish your priorities and go to work.”
H. L. Hunt
Have you ever walked into a poker room and had to take any seat that was available? That could be one of the worst situations for your game. If at all possible you need to pick your table and your seat.
When you buy-in and get ready to play you want to have a good time but you also want to win. Poker is fun to play but it is better to cash out than to bust out.
When you get to a poker room take a few minutes to scope out the tables. The first thing you should look for is a fun loving loose table. Find a table where the players are laughing, talking a little loud and just having a good time. These are the players that came to play not necessarily concentrating on winning.
Unless you are really ready to take on the big guys stay away from the quite and serious table. These are probably the regular players that are at that table every day trying to take money from the tourists. You are walking into their home game. It may not be team poker but it is definitely you against a table full of buddies.
Now that you have found the right table look for the right seat. Identify the loose player and put them to your right. On a poker table money moves to the right. So, if you are left of the loose player you are more likely to get more of their chips. Be ready to call or raise them after they have put their chips in the pot.
You want to be able to call or raise after the player to your right has gotten into the pot. Most of the time, this puts you in the perfect position to take advantage of them. In a few hands they will be on the button but in eight out of ten hands you will have position on them.
If you have to sit left of the tight player on the table be careful. Don’t get pulled into a pot you can’t win. Don’t try to bluff them out of a pot they raised. They already have made it clear they have the hand and if you try to buy it you will lose more chips then you have to.
I know that you don’t always have the option to pick your table or seat. If you have to just grab any seat you can, go ahead and play your best. This does give you extra time to evaluate the table. After you have played for a while a seat may become available. Then if it will put you in a better position, switch to it. A player at the table has first priority on an empty seat. Then the new player will take your seat.
It is definitely worth the time to find the right seat and you will have more fun playing and stacking chips.
Keep the cards and chips flying.
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net
- Hank Cashman
“Common sense is the best sense of all.”
Lord Chesterfield
Back a long time ago when I was a kid a bunch of us would get together every day to play something. One day it would be baseball the next it would be basketball or football. There were about 12 of us that would want to spend the day outside running, sweating, getting dirty and consumed with friendly competition.
When it came time to decide what we were going to play this one kid always chimed in with what we called his statement of the summer. It was “I have a better idea”. I think he must have gone to work for Ford in later years.
No matter what we thought we wanted to do he wanted to change it. We would say we were going to play softball in the empty lot. He would have a better idea of playing cork-ball. We would say we were going to play touch football. He would say flag football would be better. This “better idea” got old real quick.
I sit down to 5-6 tournaments a week. Everyone is a little different. Some are little two table games and some are 100+ player games. They are all good. I listen to players that always have a better idea.
I was at a table and it was a preliminary qualifying game to a bigger tournament. You had to play so many games and place so often to get to qualify for the bigger tournament. One player said that they should change it so that those who played more got more chips in the big game. Another said that everyone should start the big game with equal chips.
I was at a tournament and the director was going over some rules. One was that that when a chip value wasn’t needed that there would be a race-off to eliminate those chips. I heard a player ask why that was being done. He said it would be better to do color-ups.
At one game a player asked where he was seated and was told it was random, sit where you like. In the same card room at a different event they had assigned seating. Oh, you would have thought they had changed the world. “Well, why can’t I sit where I want?” I thought he was going to cry.
At one tournament the dealers pushed every time there was a table broken. A player told the dealer that pushing on the half hour would be better.
I had one player tell me that we should start a game two hours earlier. So, we changed from 7pm to 5pm on a Saturday. He never made it to the game before 7pm.
The lists of changes and “better idea” could go on for ever. I know you think I already have. I don’t care what you do; someone will tell you how to do it better. You should use different colors on you chips. You should give lower denomination chips.
You just can’t please everyone. That is why there are different rules in different rooms and events. It really doesn’t make any difference. As long as you know the rules, go with them. In the end, you are going to have a good game. The best way to play the game is the way it is set up. All of this other stuff doesn’t really matter anyway.
By the end of the summer, the kid with the “better idea” finally got a really better idea. He changed to “I have another idea.” Then we started to listen. He did have some good ideas.
Keep the cards and chips flying.
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net
- Hank Cashman
“The man who insists on seeing with perfect clearness before he decides, never decides.”
Henri-Frederic Amiel
I usually don’t talk much about on-line poker. This is because I spend most of my time on live tables. Also, in most instances they are two separate ways of play. A good on-line player isn’t necessarily a good live player and vice versa.
I have found one instance that seems to carry over from on-line to live. It is the art of quick thinking. Let me explain.
I do play some on line and one of my favorite sites is Full Tilt. They have all the same games as everyone else and mostly the same bonuses. On game that they have that I haven’t seen at the other sites is the Matrix.
The idea is simple. There are nine players. There are four tables. Each player is seated at each table. The seating arrangement is different at each table. So on table one you might be seated next to a player that is seated across form you at table two. The players are playing four different tables with the same five or eight opponents. This can only be done on-line.
All tables are being dealt simultaneously. Thanks to on-line you can pre-fold or call and then move n to the next table. In the beginning this helps a lot. This way you can concentrate on the hands you want to play and fold the junk hands ahead of time.
As players get knocked out, the game moves faster. This is where it gets to be fun. You might be heads-up at one table and playing four opponents at the other. If it your turn to play the most urgent tables moves to the front of your screen. So, you have to keep focused.
The screens move fast and you sometimes don’t have time to think. On-line you can’t read a players body language. You can read their betting patterns and speed of action. This is almost removed by the fast screen changing and quick decisions that have to be made.
It forces you to instantly evaluate the table, your position and the pot. You have to play four tables, hands, sets of opponents and situations instantly. There’s defiantly no time to sit and ponder.
After playing one of these Matrix events I called Max. He is a friend of mine that has been very successful with on-line play. We talked about this fast pace, fast action type of play. He explained that was why so many on-line players play so many tables at once. He personally plays up to ten tables at one time. Always the same game like all Hold’em or all Omaha. He never mixes the games from table to table.
He said that it keeps him focused and keeps his mind from wondering during the game. He thinks it actually makes him sharper at each table. His success proves he is on to something.
Sometimes on live tables players sit and think and ponder the situation. They over think it. They don’t pay attention to the action and end up making bad decisions.
Next time pay attention and think fast. Know what is going on and make you mind up quickly. Remember, think long think wrong.
Keep the cards and chips flying.
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net
- Hank Cashman
“One of the greatest victories you can gain over someone is to beat him at politeness.’
Josh Billings
A friend of mine, Richard, always tells people that poker is a very easy game. All you have to do is follow the rules. So true. It is also a very enjoyable game. All you have to do is observe simple and proper etiquette.
I don’t mean to stick your pinky out while you drink your beer. Just treat the other players with the same respect that you would expect from them.
For a few simple examples;
First of all, if this isn’t a “learning or beginners” table, make sure you at least have the basics down. Don’t be asking how to play when money in at stake.
Act in turn. How simple could that be? Don’t do anything that will give another player knowledge of your planed action. It could influence another players bet, call or raise. If you act out of turn the other player may then decide to raise.
Don’t splash the pot. When you do it could cause confusion on the amount of your bet and slow the game. You say you bet 1,000 but there is only 500 standing clear of the pot. At best the pot and previous action will have to be recounted.
Don’t ask to “check-it out” when a third player is all-in. This comes across as collusion. Just play the hand out. Check it all the way down if you want. Just don’t ask.
Don’t read another players hand before it is placed face up on the table. Even if you see the hand let the cards speak for themselves.
Don’t tell someone to turn their cards over at the showdown. If they are required to the dealer will handle it. If not, let the cards go.
Revealing the contents of a live or folded hand with action pending can affect the remaining players. Don’t say, “I folded the case ace.” You could make someone unnecessarily fold.
Keep the game going. You’re not getting any TV time by sitting there. Delaying the game just aggravates the other players.
Discard your hand towards the muck. Don’t throw them on the chips or out in the middle of the table.
Keep your chips staked so they are easily visible to the outer players. It keeps from players asking what’s behind or for chip counts.
Don’t make comments or make actions that could influence the game. It may be funny to you but it could cost someone else money.
Cut the damn phone off. If you have to talk to someone that bad go to where they are and leave the poker to the ones that want to play.
Never, Never, Never touch another player’s cards or chips. You might pull back a nub.
Don’t let your music interfere with the game. Play with your iPod when you’re not in the hand.
We are all adults but it is also a gentleperson’s game. Keep the swearing to a minimum. If you curse, curse at the situation not the other players. It keeps down the gunfire.
Abusing the dealer is a capital offence. You could get hanged for it. Don’t blame the dealer for your bad luck or bad play.
Do your best not to react to the community cards. This will help your game.
Don’t “hit & run”. It is your right to leave at any time and you don’t have to give someone the chance to win their chips back. Stay for one more round then leave.
Be very careful not to mis-declare your hand. If you say you have a flush the other player may muck his hand. Then you turn over a four card flush you might be asked to leave.
Slow rolling is so stupid. I’ve almost had to call the floor to make someone turn their cards over. It’s so childish.
Show grace whether winning or losing. To maintain your composer in both cases is a sure sign of maturity.
One last thing, smoking. In most poker rooms smoking has been banned. If you are in a room that allows smoking don’t sit in seats one or ten. Also keep your ashes to yourself. If you burn the table, pay to have it recovered. It’s about $125.
Have a good game and make it one for everyone else.
Keep the cards and chips flying.
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net
- Hank Cashman
“Our repeated failure to fully act as we would wish must not discourage us. It is the sincere intention that is the essential thing, and this will in time release us from the bondage of habits which at present seem almost insuperable.”
Thomas Troward
What is it about us, all humans, not just poker players that make us dwell on the bad times? Do you remember the last time someone broke-up with you? Do you remember the last time you initiated the break-up as vividly? Do you remember the last bad beat you got as well as the last time you won the bad beat?
It’s something strange in us. For some reason we seem to remember the bad more easily than the good. I wish I understood why. All I know is that it has a bad effect on poker players.
I was sitting at a table and heard a player telling his tell of woe about the hand that busted him out of the tournament. The player next to me asked how many time does he have to listen to the same old story. It seems that he was telling this story every time he found a new listener.
I noticed that the storyteller was playing tighter than usual. That was good for me. I was able to buy a few pots that I might not have been able to if he had not been dwelling on the bad hand.
Then I heard a player telling how another had given him a bad beat. The other player said he didn’t remember it at all. It had been over a year ago. But, the teller remembered every detail.
Unlike blackjack, poker is one of those games where the previous hands have no bearing on the next hands. As far as the cards are concerned, every hand stands alone. This isn’t true for the players.
We let one bad hand and let it shake up our future play. One small loss can have a residual effect on how we play other hands. Just because A-K lost the last time doesn’t make it a bad hand. Go ahead and raise with it.
We should learn from every hand we play. How ever, we should not dwell on them. We need to take the lesson learned without the emotional baggage that comes with it.
Concentrate on the lessons and the positive plays you have made. Forget the losses. You are going to fold more hands than you play. You probably will lose more hands than you win. But, if you are winning the big pots you will still be ahead.
Next time you have a bad beat, don’t relive it. Don’t retell it. Let it go and forget it. We all have bad beat stories. It’s the few of us that learn form them without dwelling on them that survive to play better next time.
Keep the cards and chips flying.
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net
- Hank Cashman
“When you have confidence, you can have a lot of fun. And when you have fun, you can do amazing things.”
Joe Namath
Playing in a large tournament is fun and exciting. It is also an amazing thing to watch. Just for example take a look at a typical day at The Beau during the Southern Poker Championship.
You walk in the room of 65 tables and there are five or six live action tables still going from yesterday. These are the old die-hards that came to play and scale as many fish as possible. They're playing 100-200 PLO or split games like Stud / Omaha 8 or better. These are serious players there to make serious money. Brannon is over these games and is the right person for the job. He is accommodating to the players but keeps them in line when needed.
Then there are the 6-10 Single Table Satellites. Most of them are $100 to $200 buy-ins but some reach $550 and last about an hour to 90 minutes. Peggy runs these on day shift and has for years. She is no rookie.
Over to one side of the room is the stage where Henry and John are getting chips ready for the noon tournament. They have two tables covered with stacks of chips. Each stack has three trays of chips, a box holding two decks of cards, a dealer button and cut card. On top is the dealers’ down card. Everything the dealers need to start the game.
Everything is so quite and peaceful, till about 11:30. Then here comes the wave of gold shirted dealers. There are about 75 of them from all walks of life. Some are young just out of dealers’ school; they’re the “break-ins”. Some are the vets that have been working the circuit for years. Some are trying to make a living traveling around the country to deal a tournament every month. Some are retired business people that just love to travel and take a break from their routine.
In the midst of this wave of gold is one lady in black. That is Jessica the Dealer Coordinator. She is small and tough. She keeps the dealers in line and motivates them all at the same time. She is the one that is responsible for this group of dealers. She gives them their assignments and makes sure everything runs smoothly, till they mess up.
Fifty dealers pick up their set-ups and head to their tables to get ready for the players. The other 25 go out to get ready for the push that comes in a half hour.
As the day goes, live action gets busier. Heather is running the board to keep the tables full and make sure every player gets seated when it’s their turn. She is always calling out someone’s name to let them know it’s time to play. This includes calling them in their room or on their cell. The board has every table and game listed and a long list of players under each.
As the noon tournament is rolling Henry, John and Jessica have to get ready for the 3pm tournament, the re-start from the day before and the 4pm Mega. A floor person is assigned to each tournament to make sure it runs well. Henry has the noon. John has the re-start. Shawn has come in to run the 3pm and Mike is in to run the Mega at 4.
Now there are some other guys walking around watching over the floor. The thin man traveling at the speed of light is Eric. He’s the Tournament Director. He’s a nice guy but he is juggling so much that he’s hard to catch. His job title sounds like someone in an office but not Eric. He is all over the floor following up on each floor person. This doesn’t even touch what he has to deal with off the floor, player relations, the registration desk and much more. I admire his ability to run the tournament but I wouldn’t want to try it myself.
Then there is Johnny. Please don’t let him near a microphone. He is over poker operations. If he has half the fun he seems to he is having a hell of a time. He may be helping Heather on the board and the next thing you know he’s announcing the final table.
The other guy in the suit, but maybe no tie, is Ken. He is over poker operations for MGM in Mississippi which includes The Beau and GoldStrike. To watch him you would think he is just there to socialize but don’t be fooled. While he is shaking hands with poker pros and celebrities he is also watching every detail in the room. He makes sure no problem is noticed by a player.
About 4pm it gets nuts. Danielle and Amanda have come in to help in the fury that is about to unfold. As tables are broken, they are needed for more satellites and live action. Each floor person wants to get as many tables for their area but have to save some for the 7pm and the 5pm re-start. As soon as a table breaks someone is there to get it set up for a 10-25 PLO or a $200 satellite. Only the tables for the 7pm are left empty.
Around 6pm you start to see more gold shirts. These are the dealers for swing shift, “Swingers”. Armando is their D.C. and a tough one at that. He’s one of those supervisors that seem very stern and real business but he takes good care of his crew.
Now all tournaments are running and things seem to be less hectic. Tables break down and there is more room for live action. Slowly the satellites cool off. The mad rush is calming down for the night.
I admire these people, from the clerks, dealers, brushes on up, for the jobs they do and how they make it all work for the players.
Keep the cards and chips flying.
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net
- Hank Cashman
“Man is so made he can only find relaxation from one kind of labor by taking up another.”
Anatole France
Man, I love camping. Part of it is the sounds of the frogs, crickets and other critters at night. It’s great to be out of the house and back to nature. It’s so soothing and relaxing to get back to nature.
I get the same feeling when I go to a big poker tournament. It’s a chance to get out and away from the house. Sitting in a big poker hall is almost as big outdoors. When I sit there before the tournament begins I can here the clatter of hundreds of players shuffling their chips. It’s like the sound of the crickets. In a way it is kind of relaxing.
When I go camping I also do some fishing. A day of fishing is exhilarating and relaxing. I spend some time waiting relaxing and waiting for the next bite. When I get a strike then the battle begins. It is exciting to fight until I get the fish in the boat.
Poker is somewhat the same as fishing. I spend a lot of time testing my patience waiting for the big hand. Fold, fold and fold again tossing bad hands in bad position. Then I get the right hand in good position. Now the fight begins. I have to battle the other players until I get the chips into my stack.
When I’m camping I sleep outdoors. That is usually not as comfortable as sleeping in my own bed at home but it is part of the experience. The same is true when I’m at a big event. I do have a nice bed in my hotel room but why would I be there? Too many times, I spend the night at the table. For a long session a chair isn’t as comfortable isn’t as comfortable as a nice soft bed. Thank goodness go the masseuse.
One thing that puts poker above camping is preparation. When I go camping I have to pack gear and different apparel to fit the season. I have to take coats and boots to travel through the woods and into the water.
To go to a big game I have to dress for it. Poker rooms are always cool. I have to wear casual clothes but always bring a sweater or coat. I want to be comfortable and not cold.
One great thing about poker over outdoors, there is no night in poker. In a poker room, you never know what time it is.
Maybe it’s a stretch to compare poker to camping and fishing but they’re all good time.
Keep the cards and chips flying.
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net
- Hank Cashman
“What is defeat? Nothing but education; nothing but the first step to something better.”
Wendell Phillips
What is it about poker and fish? A long time ago I wrote about the similarities of poker players and fishermen, they both have patience and lie. Then there was the one about how to catch the Big Fish. One I really liked was, don’t tap on the tank. In other words, don’t scare off the fish that are feeding you. This one is a little bit selfish.
Don’t school the fish means simply don’t educate your opponents too much. I’ve seen players that show their cards a lot. I understand doing it when you win a bluff or as a once in a while friendly gesture. But, don’t make a habit of it.
When you bluff and win you should sometimes show your cards. This just sends your opponent over the edge. He will steam for a while. The next time you have a hand he will call you down and you get to stack more of his chips.
If you are feeling friendly and just want to show someone that they made a good fold go a head and show your cards, once. Don’t make a habit of it. Showing your cards too often just gives out information that will be used against you later. This is a costly mistake.
In poker it is customary to lie. Here is a good example. You are in a hand, the other guy says he thinks you have the flush and folds. He may be thinking about calling you and says he thinks you have the boat. While you are raking the chips, muck you cards. When he asks you if you hand that flush or boat just tell him he was right. Let him think that you had him beat and he can read you like a book. This encourages him to make similar folds later since he feels he can read you so well.
In the poker community we want to attract new players. We will ask a friend to join our game. We will even help them understand the basics. Drop it right there. Let them learn the same way we did, trial and error, chip by chip.
The best way to learn this game is by playing hands. A good poker education isn’t cheap. If you don’t learn quickly the tuition keeps going up. Let them learn the hard lessons. We did. It is also the best way to learn.
Today players can play in home games, bars and casinos just like we did. They can also play on-line. This allows them to play multiple tables and faster. They have the opportunity to learn by experience, let them. Don’t waste your chips giving them lessons.
I don’t mean to sound cruel or heartless. I just want you to keep your chips while they pay their tuition.
Keep the cards and chips flying.
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net
- Hank Cashman
“For the last three years the first big poker event of the year has been the WPT Southern Poker Championships. The first 10K event of 2010 promises to be even bigger than it was last year, and will attract lots of big names in the industry.”
Bodog Poker
When does your year start? Do you run on a fiscal year or a calendar year? When does the Poker year start? Does it start I August at the first WSOP event after the big game in July? For me, the Poker year starts on January 6th. This is when one of the biggest games of the year is held in Biloxi.
From January 6th till the 27th the poker world is focused on the Southern Poker Championship held at the Beau Rivage casino in Biloxi Mississippi. This is the first WPT event of the year.
Just because it’s held in the south don’t think this event is for light weights. Pros from all over the country come to this event. The $10,000 Main Event final table will be videoed for broadcast and it always brings surprises.
If you come to The Beau and want to play a Hold’em tournament, you can. But, that’s not even the beginning. In this three week event there will be three Stud , seven Omaha, a Lowball(A-5/2-7), HOSE and HORSE tournaments.
In the Hold’em events there are 19 No Limit events including 5 Deep Stack. Vanessa Rousso will be hosting a Boot camp and tournament. That alone is worth the trip.
For the Omaha players there are four Limit events and three Pot Limit games. The entry fees for these are from $340 to the Championship Event of $5,150.
There are events for Ladies and Seniors. Not meaning to be prejudice but these are special events to put show how they compete in unique competition.
The cash games at this event are phenomenal. You see players that look like they have just stepped off the bus with their last dime playing 100-200 Omaha with $10,000 in from of them. This may be a Judge, a District Attorney or a plumber. You see the old guard and the young guns butt heads. The old guys want to show they have been playing this game for years and the boys want to get respect.
Of most of the events I participate in, The Beau is one of the best. The facilities are wonderful. The staff is top notch. They make the event seem to go by flawlessly. It’s old hat to veteran operations people like Ken Lambert and Johnny Grooms. They seem to be having the time of their lives while running a tournament for thousands of people and millions of dollars.
This is a great event and you should come down to see and play for yourself. I’ll be there so just ask for me and I’ll show you around.
Keep the cards and chips flying.
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net
- Hank Cashman
“Where we have strong emotions, we’re liable to fool ourselves.”
Carl Sagan
Another year is gone and it’s time to start all over. 2009 was an interesting year. We have a new Nobel Peace Prize winning President. The world leaders had their first big summit on global climate change. The Congress has almost gotten the Health Care Reform Bill to the Presidents desk. But, let’s talk about more important issues of the day. How’s your poker game?
I finally got my book to press and have had a good response from Amazon.com. It was a labor of love for the game of poker.
Over the past year I’ve written about so many different aspects of poker. I introduced you to some friends of mine. Remember Larry? He talks to himself to evaluate the hands. Sometimes it’s not fair playing two against one.
Then there was Donna and Debbie. In one week they each had a Royal Flush. That made their week and gave them money to shopping.
Gentleman Robert exemplified the way we should all act when the cards don’t go our way. “Good hand” and let’s play some more.
There were some players that I had to leave out their names so I don’t hurt their feelings. There was Radio who always folded the winner. There was the Crier that complained about all is sorrows and how unlucky he was.
Table captains are some of the best and most obnoxious players at the table. I know they want to help but please let me do my job and correct me after I screw up, not before.
I even took you fishing. I tried to help you remember not to “tap on the tank”. That scares the little fish that feed you chips. Then there was how to adjust your game so you could catch the Big Fish, this is the player that raises the stakes to try and control the game. If you have patience and choose your hand you can help him win the small pots and he will give you the big ones. Aren’t those the pots you want anyway?
There were the rules of the game and how they change from place to place. As a dealer I have to be up to date on WSOP, WPT, TDA, state, regional and most important house rules. In one casino during a circuit event the rules are different on the first floor than on the second. That’s a bitch.
I talked about some of the important things to keep in mind while you are playing. You should watch for tells from your opponents and the dealers. They both can give you little hints of what is happening or going to happen.
Quit watching TV. It’s not real life. It’s edited and you only see the hands that are good for the show. Hellmuth took 19 minutes to make a call but on TV it was 19 seconds. The WSOP took 8 days to play and from 800 tables down to one. You only see the Big hands and the knock outs. You have to play every hand and you should fold most of them.
There are certain times to leave the table and you have to know when that is. Sometimes it’s when you are up, down or even. You have to know.
Finally, if you take nothing else from reading my articles, stories, tales or ramblings please listen to this, take your emotions out of this game.
I watch as players get a bad beat and go on tilt. When you play your pocket AA and get beat by some donkey that calls your all-in with 7-3 suited just to hit the flush on the river, shake it off. When you are in the game for more money than you planed on, don’t go chasing to get even, just play your hand.
Don’t try to bust someone because they straddle or don’t play the way you think they should. Play your game. That will show them better than your anger and losing to them.
I’ve seen too many good players let a hand or two ruin their night. Get up. Walk around. Keep your senses. Play your game. Play your opponents. Play your position.
Over the years I hope that you have enjoyed some of my articles. You may have been in some of them. I hope they have helped you see the game a little differently and may have helped you improve your game. Good luck in ’10 and win.
Remember to e-mail me or go to Amazon.com and buy the book “Cashman on Poker”.
Keep the cards and chips flying.
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net
- Hank Cashman
“Take calculated risks. That is quite different from being rash.”
George S. Patton
Do you ever watch poker on TV? That was a dumb question. Have you ever noticed that in most hands the field is narrowed down to two maybe three players pre-flop? In home games I usually see hands go to four or five players in to see the flop. There is a very easy way to explain the difference.
First of all in most televised poker you are watching very serious players playing for lots of money. In home games its friends playing for small stakes. A call in a big game can cost hundreds. A call in a home game can cost a buck or two. So it’s easier to call for small stakes.
There are some ways to change this so that you have a better chance to win more in your home games. First get more serious about winning. I know sometimes it’s fun to just sit with the guys drink and toss some chips but it is also fun to take home the money.
If you notice, in tournaments and higher stakes games alike there is almost always a pre-flop raise. It just makes since that if you can thin the field you have a better chance to beat two opponents than nine. It’s just that simple. To increase your chances of winning fight a smaller group of players.
One way to do this is just make a large enough raise that only serious players will stay in the hand. At this stage of the hand it should be three to four times the big blind. This removes the “pot odds” players and only players with decent hand should call. Then after the flop you have only a few players to contend with.
Another way to thin the field is a straddle. It’s funny how players that will call a small raise will fold to a straddle. It’s mostly because is the players are playing a 2-5 game they just don’t want to play a 5-10 game, which it what it becomes. I’ve seen players refuse to play a 5-10 game but want to play 2-5. At the same time they will never see a flop in the 2-5 game for less than 20.
It’s just a strange state of mind that a player will play 2-5 with a 10 raise every hand but if someone wants to change the game to 5-10 they will cash out. The game didn’t change, just the manner the money is wagered.
So, if you want to win more hands, it’s simple. Challenge fewer players. Eliminate them early so they don’t draw out on you. Either remove their pot odds with a pre-flop raise or a straddle. Remember to follow up the pre-flop raise with a continuation bet and the straddle with a raise.
I hope you and your family have a wonderful Christmas.
Remember to e-mail me or go to Amazon.com and buy the book “Cashman on Poker”. A great gift for any poker player.
Keep the cards and chips flying.
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net
- Hank Cashman
“It is better to look ahead and prepare than to look back and regret.”
Jackie Joyner-Kersee
I’ve mentioned before about being able to ride a rush but knowing when it ends. No matter how great the winning streak is, it has to come to an end. If you don’t change up your play when it does you could lose all that you have won.
There is another side of this. Have you ever seen someone that just gets hit with the deck? I mean he gets every card he needs. He hits the one outer that wins. He plays a 6-3os and beats Aces. He just seems unstoppable.
I’ve seen two good examples of this in the last week. In one game a player sat down in seat ten. In his first hand he was all in and busted. He came back in and played for about an hour and was busted and left.
There was a player waiting so he took the seat. First hand he gets AA and triples up. It went on from there. He could do know wrong. If he needed the 6c to hit a gut-shot, he got it. He began playing fast and loose and it paid off. The guy was invincible. He stayed till the game shut down and needless to say he had most of the chips.
The next night there was a player in seat 4 that had the poker god sitting on his shoulder. Everyone knew that if a jack hit to fold. He owned all the jacks. If there was one on the board he had two in his hand. If he needed one to make his boat, it came on the river. He was hitting hard.
The player across the table said he was going to bust him if it took all night. He let his emotions get the best of him. He became very aggressive. He tried to get every hand down to heads-up. The player in seat 8 became obsessed with beating seat 4 and not on playing winning poker. It cost him dearly.
While all of this was happening, the battle between seats 4 & 8 there was a player in seat 6 who was very calm and quite. He just sat there not saying anything, just playing and drinking, trying to dodge the bullets.
After seat 8 busted out and left the remaining players took a new look at the table to assess where everyone stood. Then someone asked where did seat 6 get all of those chips in front of him? Seat 4 had lost about half of his stack and seat 6 had almost half the chips on the table.
While everyone was so involved with the battle of 4 & 8 seat 6 was just playing his game and stacking chips. When 4’s rush had slowed down he was poised to take advantage of the opportunity.
He knew that seat 4’s ride wouldn’t last forever. He just waited it out. He saw that the momentum was slowing down so he became more aggressive. When seat 4 was trying to win his hand against seat 8, seat 6 took the pot. He knew when to sit and be patient and when to turn up the heat.
I guess it’s the old tortoise and hare story. Slow and steady wins the chips. Just as you have to be able to change your game when the rush is over, you have to be ready to take advantage of the opportunity when the cards turn your way. Don’t get all involved with revenge or trying to beat someone else play your best game. If the cards are hitting you opponent, let him have his rush. Just be ready to ride yours when it comes and it will.
Look both ways to keep you chips and to get the other guys.
Remember to e-mail me or go to Amazon.com and buy the book “Cashman on Poker”. A great gift for any poker player.
Keep the cards and chips flying.
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net
- Hank Cashman
“It is a profitable thing, if one is wise, to seem foolish.”
Aeschylus
It is amazing that a playwright living 2,500 years ago would know so much about table image. The art of deception can play a very strong part in your game. As it has been said in the art of war you should appear strong when you are weak and vise versa.
A few days ago I was talking with my friend Wally and we got to talking about how we approach gambling. First of all Wally is the expert when it comes to table games. I look to him for advice on all casino games like Blackjack. Mississippi Stud and Three Card Poker.
What we talked most about was how we approach poker. I am very business like about the game. I take it serious and treat it like a job. I don’t go into a poker room with the amount of money I can afford to lose. I go in with what I think it will take to win.
Wally on the other hand seems to go in having a grand old time. He’s boisterous without being offensive but entertaining. His table image comes across as being very light hearted and not in the least bit serious. Nothing could be further from the truth.
My table image is exactly what I want it to be, tight, aggressive and serious. When I’m in a hand I want my opponent to know that I have the upper hand. This also gives me the opportunity to bluff and buy pots since they think I only play when I have “the nuts”.
If you could see behind the façade you would find two very comparable players. We both take the game to heart. We both go in to win not just play. We both want to enjoy ourselves but want to have a profitable session.
It all comes down to presentation. Wally uses his ability to charm people to catch them off guard. I want them to openly fear me. Wally can get players to lose to him and laugh about it. I want to beat them and see them cry about it.
Both methods can be very profitable. Both can be enjoyable. Both are a great way to spend an evening of fun and profit.
Is one better than the other? I don’t know. He is able to seem loose and carefree and just charm chips his way. That can be just as effective as my way of muscling the chips away from them.
I haven’t had the chance to play Wally for a while. Maybe soon we will be able to knock heads at a table and see which way works best. Maybe we will luck out and just take everyone else’s chips. Then it will be free frou-frou drinks for everybody.
Remember to e-mail me or go to Amazon.com and buy the book “Cashman on Poker”. A great gift for any poker player.
Keep the cards and chips flying.
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net
- Hank Cashman
“The basic tool for the manipulation of reality is the manipulation of words.”
Phillip K. Dick
Sometime people don’t say what they really mean. The poker table is full of antonyms. Sometimes it is a simple word but usually it’s a phrase.
Donna and I were talking about this at a game and tried to compile a list of such phrases and get to their true meaning.
Donna started us off:
But it was suited, really means it was a lousy hand but I thought that the extra 3% was worth the gamble. Or, I just don’t know what a good hand looks like.
I’ll see one more, means the call is cheap and I feel lucky.
I don’t have anything, but I’ll call, means I’ve got the nuts and your chips.
I have to call, I’ve got pot odds and I’m priced in mean I can quadruple my money if I can hit a 2 outer.
Let me see if I can suck out means either I’ve got you where I want you or I need runner runner.
Just one more time means I’m desperate please hit me.
I have outs means the odds are totally against me but I’ll call any way.
Can you beat a pair means I have a boat so call with your trips.
How much you got behind you means I’m thinking about calling but only if you’ll fold.
I think we have the same hand means I’ve got second best and I hope you do too.
Are we going to split? means I wish you hadn’t called, do you have me beat?
What do you have? means damn, you called me please show your hand so I can muck mine.
I hit some of that means I have bottom pair doesn’t that scare you?
I’m open ended means you have a 65% chance of beating me please fold.
Nice hand means lucky suck-out I had you till the river.
In the big blind they check and say, I can’t raise my friends, that means all I have is crap.
I have the best hand but I’m going to fold means I got nothing but I don’t want you to know.
Just the word respect used at a table is out of place. I respect my parents, at the table its dog eat dog.
I’m all-in dark means I didn’t look at my cards because I’m too stupid to play
I haven’t looked at my cards but I’ll call means either I hope you didn’t see me look or
I don’t know how to play this game.
You are in the blind, you could be playing junk means I have no clue what to do.
Did that card help you? means I hope you didn’t suck-out on me again.
Keep playing that junk and I’ll get you later means I hope the odds will eventually turn in my favor
Only a donkey would play that means I wish I was that lucky.
I folded the winner means I’m playing too tight I’m going to lose all night.
One of the most obvious ones is I have to leave so I’m all-in. It means I’ve got the winner and I want all of your chips please call.
Donna & I concluded that you really have to listen close to what people say at the poker table. Sometimes they are saying “lucky hand”, “that sucks”, “I want my mama” or “I’ll get you next time”. You just have to get to the real meaning of what they say. Things aren’t always what they seem.
Remember to buy my book on Amazon.com
Keep the cards and chips flying.
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net
- Hank Cashman
“Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers.”
Charles W. Elliot
I love playing, dealing and writing about poker. I have been privileged to write for Enigma for a few years. Thanks, Dave. I wrote for Rounder, predictem.com and Amazon.com as well as for my own web site. I have now ventured into the book format.
I’m always sitting at a table and people are giving me ideas on what I should write about. Most of the time, I have to tell them that I’ve already written about their idea. After writing weekly for a few years I have accumulated over 200 articles.
Some people ask me where I get my ideas for articles. The problem isn’t what to write about, it’s which to write about. Being at a table six plus nights a week I get ideas all the time. Players are always doing something that we can all learn from.
So, I decided to put a few of my articles together in a book. Some of my articles were dated, like the ones about the anti on-line poker laws. Some were too local, like the Moccasin Bend casino idea. I chose 42 of the ones that I’ve gotten the best responses from over the past 5 years.
I chose my first article “Luck or Skill” the explanation of how much skill will inevitably win over luck in the long run. Then of course I had to include “Luck or Skill Part 2”
The first article in the book is “Always the Student”. I am not a pro player or do I consider myself a top expert. I’m just another player trying to learn and do better on the next hand.
The book continues with stories about players you probably know. You might even be one of them. Most of my stories are about the local players. I just change the names.
Many of the stories are related to improving your play, strategy and just plain winning. Some are about adjusting your game for different levels of a tournament. Some help you adjust to different games, cash to tournament or Hold’em to Omaha.
This would not have been possible without the help of a few friends. Tom Bolden thought it would be a good idea for a local paper to have articles on poker. Dave Weinthal of the Enigma gave me a try. The publishers of Rounder and predictem then followed.
Then came Dee Alessandra. She is a novelist and a fan. She took my book apart and raked me over the coals. She left neither “T” uncrossed nor “I” un-doted. She was like my English teacher that always said I could do better and made me. I could have never asked for a better editor.
This may seem like a blatant self promotion and it is. I would like to see all of you get the book and let me know how you like it.
My first book is “Cashman on Poker, Lessons from the Felt”. It is now available on Amazon.com. Just go to amazon.com and search my name or the title. Or, if you e-mail me I will send you an autographed copy for $4 off and no shipping charges. That’s a total of $10. Either way, Buy the Book
Keep the cards and chips flying.
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net
- Hank Cashman
“When the student is ready…the lesson appears.”
Gene Oliver
Back in ’06 I wrote about the acronym HALT’D. Wow, have I been doing this that long? Oh well, HALT stands for Hungry, Angry, Lonely and Tired, four ways not to play poker. I added the D for drunk. To me, one of the most important ways to not play.
I was playing at Sam’s Town a while back and ran into an interesting player. Steve is a truck driver that travels cross country. As often as he can he plans his stops near casinos. Smart man.
We played on a small 6 table tournament and got to the final table. At the table he was ruthless. On the breaks he was very cordial. Great player and a nice guy. Sometimes during a break we would compare notes on the other players. In this tournament he went out 4th and I finished 2nd.
Later I was playing at a blackjack table and Steve came by and asked if we could talk for a few minutes before he took off. Since I had been sitting at the blackjack table for a couple of hours I figured I could use the break.
We got a table in the bar and talked about many aspects of the game. Sounds dull but I enjoy it. Any way, one thing he talked about was his acronym that helps him make better decisions while playing. He said that he replays it every time it is his time to act. It’s POST.
Position. This word is almost a worn out but it is so critical to playing well. There are many ways to play your position in a hand. Most common is to play stronger in late position since you have gathered the most information. This is a good way to steal blinds or pots.
You can also use early position to your advantage. If pre-flop everyone checks and the flop is weak you can put out a feeler bet. This will thin the field and set you up to take the pot after the turn. This also helps you represent a strong hand. So, use you position to your advantage.
Opponant. All throughout the game you better be sizing up you oppositions. Constantly take mental notes about how they play and use this info to help play them better. You have to know who you can bluff and who will bet when you want to slow play a hand.
Think about how to put your position to best use against each opponent. You should play the very aggressive player differently if he is one your right as opposed to on your left. Use your reads and information to know how each player will react to your moves.
Stacks. As I’ve mentioned before you should know what the chip count is on all of your opponents and where it came from. Be careful betting into a player with a lot of chips that he won. Will your big raise scare off a short stack? In a tournament a short stack my fold to a big raise if by doing so it gets him closer to the money.
Will it just entice a big stack? Players seem to be more protective of bought chips than they are of chips they have won. If you bet into a player that can make the call, lose and still be up for the night, he might call you. If the same action is played against a player that has been even all night and has to play his paid for chips he may be more cautious. You need to know this.
Texture. This is how the table feels. No, not if it is felt or speed cloth, tables have a feel or flow. Chips flow in a pattern, usually counter clock-wise.
Cards can run a certain way. Dealers can shuffle, wash and even change decks and some cards just seem to fall. I can’t explain it but it happens.
Tables have a feel to them simply because you are constantly gather information that even you are not aware of. This becomes your “gut” feeling. Let your gut lead you. It has processed the information you have accumulated. Feel the table.
After our talk and drinks Steve left for the coast. I went back to my blackjack table for a little while but couldn’t stop thinking about what he had said. So, I went to the poker table to put his lesson to the test.
I played for about four hours and left handsomely rewarded for the time I spent talking to a new friend. Thanks Steve.
Keep the cards and chips flying.
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net
- Hank Cashman
“Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation.”
Martin Luther King Jr.
Revenge can be costly. Emotions of any sort at a poker table are dangerous. Poker is a game of odds, probabilities and some luck. Anger, revenge and requital will only hurt you game.
Some of the most costly words at a poker table are “I’ll get even” or “I’ll get you next time”. These are usually followed by a re-buy and another.
Revenge is akin to chasing lost money but it is directed at and individual. It becomes more personal and that makes it more dangerous. An emotion by it’s self is internal. You are in essence arguing wit yourself. Revenge has the added aspect of someone else fighting against you.
I’ve been watching some of this type of play take it’s toll on some players. It isn’t pretty. I was at a table and Steve just seemed to not be able to win against Ralph. It was like Ralph just had his number or could read Steve so easily.
If Steve had kings Ralph got aces on the river. If Steve flopped a flush Ralph hit runner-runner to a boat. It was relentless.
After every beat Steve would buy back in with more resolve to get back at Ralph and get his chips back. Some of this was Steve fault but the rage wouldn’t let him see it. In some cases he would play mediocre hands just to get back at Ralph. He also would slow play hands he shouldn’t and get drawn out on.
This type of play just made it easier for Ralph to read Steve. He took full advantage of this and it just made matters worse. Steve became more determined to get back at him. It was a viscous cycle that could only have a tragic ending for Steve.
He finally got busted and went home. I caught up with him the next day and we had a chance to talk. He surprised me. He didn’t blame the dealer, the other players or anything else. He said he had let his emotions get the best of him. He knew it while it was happening. He knew it was going to be costly but he just kept going.
He resolved that the next time he thinks he is losing his prospective he will just leave the table until he cools off. He said his losses were because he was chasing and trying to catch at the same time. He was more out to get Ralph than playing good cards to win.
We’ll see if he learned his lesson at the next table.
It’s really very simple. You should sit down with the intent of winning, not to get back at someone. Like in most endeavors once your efforts don’t match your original goals you can’t reach your goals. Stay focused on the game. The best revenge is to stay calm and carry home chips.
Writer note: “Cashman on Poker” the book will be out soon. Don’t wait on the movie.
Keep the cards and chips flying.
If you have any comments or questions, contact me athankcashman@comcast.net.
- Hank Cashman
“There is no such thing as quitting. Just sometimes there’s a longer pause between relapses.”
Alan Moore
Two guys were sitting at a bar…. Oh, no that’s the wrong story. Two guys were sitting at a poker table and one wanted to leave.
Jim and Stan had ridden together so one couldn’t leave without the other. They had been playing for about six hours. Jim was up a little and was ready to go. Stan was up some but wasn’t going to leave. He just hadn’t got all his poker in.
Do you know how that is? You play for a while, the game shuts down but you go to another game because you haven’t played all you want. You have to get your fill of poker for the night.
Anyway, to show he is ready to go Jim cashes out. He gets a drink and a seat on the rail. He’s willing to give Stan a chance to play the game out before he takes the car and leaves. What are friends for anyway?
Stan plays for another hour or so until he gets to the felt. He then wanted to buy back in to get back to even but Jim convinces him to home.
Later a few of us got together and were talking about the pros and cons of staying a little too long. After putting our semi-sober brain trust to work on the issue we came up with the best way to leave a poker table.
We decided that there were three ways to leave a table and only one is bad. You can get you while you are up. That’s good. You can get up when you get back to or down to even. That’s good. Or, you can get up busted. That’s the bad one.
A while back I wrote about riding the rush. When you have one of those nights when you get a good rush and accumulate a few chips and start to lose a few, get up. When you sat down you planed on winning. If you win some chips and are on a roll enjoy it. When the ride is over and you start to lose, lose a few and get up. Don’t play until you lose all you have won.
When you play for a while and you have won some but have gotten back to even, get up. On the other side of the cards, if you have been down and have gotten back to even, get up. There is no shame in playing for hours and leaving even. You had a good time, a few drinks and entertainment for free. That’s not bad.
On the bad side, if you have played for hours and are down, take a minute and evaluate your situation. Are you card dead? Is there another player that is out playing you? It may not be your night and there may be nothing you can do about it.
If you just happened to get rivered that’s one hand. If it happens over and over again that’s a bad night. Even though you are down, don’t chase bad money, get up. Call it a night and come back tomorrow. It isn’t supposed to be a secret but you can cash out. You don’t have to get felted to leave. A losing streak stops every time you walk away from the table.
You can leave a table up. You can leave a table even. You can leave a table down. A smart poker player plays the odds. You have a 67% chance of leaving the table well. Odds are you can have a good time and leave happy.
Keep the cards and chips flying.
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net
11/05/09
- Hank Cashman
“Sounds like life to me plain old destiny. Yeah the only thing for certain is uncertainty
You gotta hold on tight just enjoy the ride. Get used to all this unpredictability. Sounds like life”
Lyrics from “Sounds Like Life (to me).
Song By Darryl Worley
Wow, poker can be tough. I was listening to some players talk and it sounds like a rough game.
I heard about bad beats, bad suck-outs, bad players and bad dealers. Man, this game must be terrible.
One player was telling the others how he had played a hand and at least 4 outs. He made a large bet and was called. The other player was on a draw and sucked-out on the river.
Another then had to tell his story about the game where he was down to the river and the dealer gave his opponent a 3 outer to beat him. Sorry dealer. It was the dealers fault he lost that hand.
I felt so sorry for these guys. They must play at the worst games in town. Not really, I just heard losers crying about how poorly they play.
The first guy was amazed that he got beat when he had a 4 outer. Well that meant that he had a 15% chance of making his hand. He was still behind. He wasn’t looking at the 85% chance of not making his hand. Much less the other chances that he would still have second best after he made his hand.
The second sad player blamed the dealer for his bad play or misfortune. Most dealers I know are not mechanics or magicians. Most wouldn’t manipulate the cards if they could. Another guy started to tell him where he went wrong in his play but he wouldn’t hear of it. It had to be the dealers fault. It is easier for him to blame the dealer than to blame himself for playing poorly or just getting drawn out on.
You know, having the best hand pre-flop doesn’t always mean you are going to win. Pocket aces don’t win every time. If you figure your outs and it is less than a 100% chance of winning, you still have a chance of losing. Expect to win some, not all, even if you play it perfectly.
You have many ways to look at it. You played your best and still got beat or you could have played it better or the other guy is a donkey and just got lucky. Choose one. Which ever way you look at it suck it up and try again.
Poker is full of uncertainty. Nothing is 100% except the Royal. Anything less and you have a chance of losing. If you aren’t man, or woman, enough to handle this part of the game maybe it’s time to take up checkers.
I hope to see you at the tables but if not I’ll see you in front of the Cracker Barrel.
Keep the cards and chips flying.
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net
- Hank Cashman
“Some think it’s holding on that makes one strong; sometimes it’s letting go.”
Sylvia Robinson
Do you ever have one of those nights when you just can’t even buy a hand? Me too. We have also had nights when, at least for a little while, the deck just hits you in the face. I mean even when you play 7-3os you hit a straight. That is a great feeling. We begin to think we are superstars. And, for a minute or two we are.
I was playing a bar game with some friends and I saw two great examples of this. The first was in a tournament. Ken was playing like he could see through the cards. He would be on a gut-shot on the river and hit. He would bet long shots and draw out. He could do no wrong.
When we got to the final table he was by far the chip leader. He kept drawing and hitting. He played a 4-6os against pocket Aces and hit a straight. All of us at the table were in awe of his ability to hit what ever card he needed.
His luck never changed and he won the tournament. In a small way we were glad for him. He usually plays the same way and never gets to the second table much less the final. So, he had one good night out of many. Good for him.
This second story doesn’t have such a happy ending but is more common. Stan was playing a ring game. As things usually happen he was folding a lot and winning a few. But, then it hit, the rush. He could play ATC (any two cards) and was going to win.
He started with a minimum buy-in. Before the rush hit him he had lost maybe a quarter of it. He started off slow with just calls and checks. As he started winning he got a little more adventurous. As you know it is easier to bet when it is won money.
He slowly raised the stakes on how much he would call or bet. When before, he was betting double the blind with a good hand, he went to 5x the blinds. If someone raised he was more likely to call.
In just a few minutes he went from just holding on to 6x his original buy-in. He was on a roll. But, he got caught up in it. No rush lasts forever. The cards changed and he started to lose what seem to be easy calls. He still took some risks but they didn’t pay off.
This happens way too often. I’ve watched so many players have a good rush and ride it to the end and over the edge. The rush is great but just like a good wave to a surfer; you have to know when to get off.
Players will get a big chip stack and think they have become super players. They haven’t gotten better. It is just the odds have turned to their favor. All of the loses they have had are on the other guys cards now. It’s just the nature of the game.
Stan was smarter than most players. When he got down to his original buy-in he left. Too many players will lose their winnings, then their buy-in and then some more.
Enjoy the rush when it it’s you, but, be aware of the change. When the cards turn on you and you lose a small part of you winnings, take the rest home.
Keep the cards and chips flying.
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net.
- Hank Cashman
“It takes tremendous discipline to control the influence, the power you have over other people’s lives.”
Clint Eastwood
In poker there is no place for the timid. If you just sit there and wait on pocket Aces you will eventually lose all of your chips. Playing tight is good but you have to take the dominate position sometimes.
I do believe in tight aggressive play. I think that it is the best way to be profitable in poker. If you are constantly too tight you get blinded out. You will also play like “scared money” and fold too many winners. To make it simple, you will get bullied.
If you are overly aggressive you will give away your chips to anyone that has a good hand. Aggression by its self is just a way to win a few chips until the players get a read on you. After that they will let you have the small pots and take the big ones. That way you lose.
I watched a good example of this last weekend. I was at a good home game and watched it all from the comfort of my recliner. I was at a full table and another player came in. I wanted to take a break and eat so I let him play over in my seat.
The new player, Jack, is known for being very aggressive and will bet or raise almost every hand. He loves to keep the pressure on and make his opponents make mistakes. He will push players off pots with a big raise and usually wins in the beginning.
One of the players at the table, Mac, is fairly new to ring games but has a good history in tournaments. He knew of Jacks rep and planned on using it against him.
It was easy to see and know what was happening. Every hand Jack was in Mac stayed in. Jack had a tendency to raise if there were more than three players in the hand. That was his way of thinning the field. Mac wouldn’t leave.
In a lot of hands Jack and Mac would end up heads-up. If Mac was first to act he would put out a small bet or check. Jack would raise or bet. This was just too consistent. Mac would then apply pressure with a big raise. Jack usually folded. Once he stayed for a gut-shot and of course lost.
After about an hour Jack was short staked and out of re-buys. Mac made his final move and put Jack all-in. Jack had two pair and Mac had a set. Bye-bye Jack.
This gave me time to eat and a great show to watch. Mac told me later that he did have good cards about 50% of the time. The rest was just playing the player. In a lot of cases the overly aggrieve player does not play well when the table is turned. When pushed they have to concede.
When the time is right you should become the aggressor and put the pressure on the other player. It takes a lot of pressure off you when you are counting someone else’s chips.
Keep the cards and chips flying.
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net.
- Hank Cashman
“Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.”
Sir Winston Churchill
Poker can be compared to many things. It is a mind game where the player that can out think the others will prevail. It is a sport where the best player can out maneuver and out play his opponents. It is war fought on a field of felt. Poker is a game of mathematic probability, odds and projectable outcomes. Or, it’s a game of pure luck. All of these apply.
I would like to discuss one area that I disagree with the common thoughts of poker. I don’t want to argue with Sklansky but there is a time when math has to be ignored. I don’t want to disagree with many top pros about the advantage of aggressive play. But, there is a time when I think it’s best to just survive to the next hand.
I was in a tournament at Sam’s Town. It was a 9 table re-buy tournament. They had unlimited re-buys for the first hour. I sat down at 6pm thinking that if I don’t do well I could make the 7pm tournament at the Hollywood.
I kept an average chip stack through the first hour. I missed the Hollywood tournament start so I decided to see how well I could do where I was. At the end of the re-buys I was a couple of thousand above the average. Now bad for no re-buys.
As the game progressed chip stacks grew and blinds rose. I still stayed close to average. When we went to one table I was fifth of ten. I was doing OK.
Well, the big stacks got more aggressive and we lost a few players. After about 20 hands I was looking at being the short stack and the blinds were coming. I was two left of the blinds. There was a call then I folded.
The two players to my left said I should go in with any two cards. They said that with the pot odds at three-plus to one I wasn’t going to get a better chance. I responded with “They have to take my chips. I will not give them away.”
I don’t care what the odds are if I have what I consider to be a loser. Odds be damned, I will not play a loser no matter what the odds.
I played Q-Aos the next hand and quaded my stack. I later won a few more hands. The players to my left cashed before I did. They went out fifth and fourth. I did finally go out third because I would not give up or give in to the odds.
A similar thing happened at the GoldStrike. Players saw me fold and commented that they would have gone in with any hand with the pot odds I had. I don’t believe that everyone really figures all of the pot odds when they make that statement.
Pot odds are the amount of money you can win divided by the amount you have to call. Then compare that to the chances of hitting you hand. I think a lot of players forget the last part.
Anyway, my point is this, play the odds and percentages. But, no matter what don’t give up your chips and have to leave the table. I’ve never seen someone win while they are on the rail.
Don’t give up your chips. Make them out play you, beat you and force your chips out of your stack. Go down swinging. It is better to be left on the field of battle beaten and bloody than walking off with a white flag.
Keep the cards and chips flying.
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net.
- Hank Cashman
“If you obey all the rules, you will miss all of the fun.”
Katherine Hepburn
Last week I wrote about some of the dumb house rules that are used in different card rooms. I left out some of them because I think some make good since. They are made to be more courteous to the players. It’s just friendlier to use them.
The casinos are in business to make money. Most card rooms are also but they have a tendency to try and be a little less business like and friendlier. They are not quite as strict on hard and fast rules.
This is because the card rooms cater to a smaller group of players. Card rooms are more dependant on frequent repeat business. The casinos are trying to run a business for thousands of players, new and pros alike. The casino especially the circuit tournaments have to handle tournaments that may use hundreds of tables. Card room tournaments are usually ten tables or less.
In a casino tournament that uses TDA rules they have strict ways of how to handle dealing to an empty seat. If the player is being blinded in or just away from his seat he is dealt in. In tournaments the dealer deals to the chips. In Hold’em games the player has until the last card is dealt to reach his seat and stay in the hand. If he doesn’t get back in time his hand is folded. In Stud it’s handled a little differently but still if he isn’t back in time he won’t be able to play.
In many card rooms the missing player is dealt in and has until action gets to him before his cards are folded. I have even seen some missing players win a hand. The table doesn’t raise or the missing player is all-in and his cards play on the show down. That’s a little extreme but it does happen.
Casinos go by the “meat in the seat” rule in cash games. In other words the dealer deals to the players and not the chips like in tournaments. If the player isn’t in his seat he doesn’t get cards. Blinds will go around him and he will have to make them up when he returns.
They will stretch it a little that if the player is within site and ear shot, they will let him play. Especially in the case of a bad beat jackpot a player will asked to be dealt in if he is going to be up for just a minute or two. This is so he won’t miss out on a bad beat jackpot if it hits.
In many card rooms a player that is up will still get dealt in. This is to keep them in a hand if they make it back from the restroom or a food run. They are usually folded if action gets to them. In some rooms they will post blinds while missing. That way the play continues and there aren’t any missed or made up blinds.
These adjustments in house rules are for the convenience of the players. They are designed to make the game a little friendlier. Some players just don’t get it. They want to site scripture and verse and say that the games need to be by the book.
The only thing I have to say to them is be careful what you ask for. If all card rooms went strictly by the book there would be less straddles, more blinds made up and more missed hands.
Know the rules and enjoy the game. If the rules in a card room don’t fit you the next card room will. Play where you enjoy the game the most.
Keep the cards and chips flying.
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net
- Hank Cashman
“Play by the rules, but be ferocious.’
Phil Knight
Being a student of poker I read a lot. I’ve read many poker books. I started off with Super System by Doyle and friends. Then I went on to read books by Hellmuth, Gordon, Sklensky, Caro, Sexton and more.
I’ve read Robert’s Rules of Poker which is the bases for almost all casino and tournament rules. I’m a member of the Tournament Directors Association and have read their rules. But, not all of the rules and knowledge of poker is in books.
One rule stands out above all others. The house rules supersede all other rules. Now sometimes this can get confusing. You need to know the house rules before you take your seat. Here are a few that I’ve run across.
A few years ago I saw a player do something that was quite unorthodox but effective. It was his turn to act pre-flop and he turned his pocket aces face up on the table and said all-in. The message was clear. I’ve got the nuts now call me if you have the guts. The other players called the floor and wanted them to call it a dead hand. In that room it was a legal move and the hand played. In some rooms the hand would be called dead. I’ve always asked about this move prior to trying it.
Blinds are handled different in different casinos and rooms. In most cases you can have a dead small blind and button. In some rooms, like in Louisiana, there is no dead position. In some cases you will have two small or big blinds. The one that gets me is in the case of the small blind player dropping out the blind just moves to the next player. This actually gives one player a discount by not having to pay the big blind.
In most casinos this isn’t a rule but good poker etiquette. When it’s time for the showdown your cards are not supposed to touch the community cards. In some rooms this is called a mucked hand even if you can identify the cards. I think this has come about because of some players getting excited and tossing their cards in over the community cards and the cards weren’t able to be distinguished. It should be unnecessary but when players get out of hand there have to be rules made.
Chopping the blinds is common in cash games. Some players will chop the blinds just to not feed the house. In some rooms they allow chopping the blinds in tournaments. Some allow it during a tournament except for the final table. Either way, I think it is just done as a friendly courtesy.
This is the strangest one I’ve ever heard of. When two players have a flush in a flop game, if the ace is on the board it is a split pot no matter who has the higher second card. Don’t get excited. I’ve only heard of this happening in one place and I think they have changed the rule.
There are many levels of rules. In high stakes cash games the main rule is, “whatever the players want”. House rules are there for a reason. Usually it is to adjust the game to the players in an effort to help them feel more at home in that particular room.
Get to know the house rule and play by them. If you don’t like one room’s rules change rooms. Enjoy the game and obey the rules.
Keep the cards and chips flying.
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net
- Hank Cashman
“A good listener is not only popular everywhere, but after a while he gets to know something.”
Wilson Mizner
Man, in playing poker there is so much to keep up with. You have to watch your opponents. You have to keep up with the amount of money in the pot. You need to keep up with chip stacks. It’s also helpful to be aware of body language and physical tells. This isn’t a sport for the passive. Even when you aren’t in a hand you have to keep track of all this stuff. Now here’s one for you, Talking Chips. Are you listening?
No, they haven’t put micro-chips in poker chips to say cute sayings. But, the chips tell you something if you let them. It’s just like playing the hand. You want to tell a story. Bluff, trap or muscle you have to convince your opponent you are going to win.
Let’s start off with a simple betting pattern. Let’s say your opponent puts in a small raise pre-flop. His chips are telling you that he has a hand that he wants to protect. After the flop he throws in a few more chips but this time there less. The chips are telling you that he probably had a big non-pair hand that didn’t hit. This is just a continuation bet and a small effort to buy the pot with a low risk follow up. This is a good time to take the pot. He is weak and a raise could give you the pot.
Here is one that shows up in no-limit that is a problem with playing limit. You’re in a hand and the other guy is betting the same small amount every card. In limit you have no choice and it allows players to draw out on you. In no-limit it is a sign of someone going for a draw. He has a straight or flush draw and wants to stay in to try and catch. The problem with this is that as he gets called the pot grows. The pot odds are getting better with each bet. So, percentage wise, you can win more money for every call. You have to break that cycle. Raise him off that low bet or he will lead you right into his winning hand. Take control of the pot.
Short stacks also talk. In a short stack situation your opponent has to either gamble by playing a larger variety of hands or get blinded out. If he doesn’t take a chance once in a while he has to lose. If a short stack just calls the blinds he is probably weak. Go ahead and raise to force the action. Make him commit more of his money or forfeit what he has already put in.
If the short stack raises or goes all in, it doesn’t mean he has pocket Aces. It means it’s the best hand he has seen in a while and he is ready to make his stand with middle to high pair or maybe a strong Ace. Either way if you have a strong hand, play with him. He’s desperate to win or go home.
Basically, all I’m saying is to pay attention to what the chips and betting patterns are telling you. The chips talk to you but only if you know their language.
Keep the cards and chips flying.
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net
- Hank Cashman
“Without friends no one would choose to live, though he had all other goods.”
Aristotle
Poker is a ruthless cut throat game. You sit at a table with nine other players that have only one thing on their minds, how to get your money. While you are seated you have no friends. That can change after the game.
I was out of town last week and played tournaments and cash games in three different casinos. At each of these I met some new friends.
There was this mid-eastern guy, Jay. We was always talking and trying to get players to give him information by reacting to his chatter. He was aggressive and did well in the tournaments.
We played in three different tournaments on three different casinos. We sat at the same table twice. Over the course of the games we got to talking some. Later that night we ran into one another in the snack bar. We sat and talked for a while. He is lives in Memphis but is originally from Gaza. He told me his wife has no interest in poker so he usually gives her money to play other table games. She can play for hours and bring back the money. Sounds like a lucky player to me.
While at one table I watched one player that seemed to have a method to his play. He wore a ball cap with “PP” on it. He wore prescription glass with flip-up shades. He was constantly watching the players. He was looking at the players pre-flop, during the flop, as each took their turn and especially when one placed a bet that he had to respond to.
His name is Ron and he is a retired truck driver. After the tournament, he caught me at a 3-card poker table. We started talking and he told me he was heading for Biloxi the next morning. He was going to play at the Gulf Coast Championship. While we were sharing thoughts on poker he gave me a few pointers.
He told me that I did have the “breathing “tell. If I had a good hand and bet out he could watch my breathing and tell if I had the hand. We talked about some of the hands and some of the other players. All and all it was a great coaching session for both of us. The letters on his hat had no meaning but everyone seemed to ask about it.
At the last tournament I ran into a dealer that I had worked with once before. Stephanie is dealing at the Horseshoe now but had worked the circuit for a few months. We worked together at the Beau Rivage back in April. She said she was rehired at the casino and would probably not get back on the circuit. Her break happened to be at the same time the tournament had one, so we talked and caught up during the break.
At the table we have no friends but we can find a few there. When you get up from a table you may find a new friend. Someone that has your same interests and would like to have someone to share it with.
Just because he took your chips doesn’t mean he’s an enemy. You can learn a lot form the guy that just beat you. We can all use one more friend.
So, as you go about playing at new places and new opponents, remember that there are no strangers. Only poker players you haven’t met yet.
Keep the cards and chips flying.
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net
- Hank Cashman
“There’s a fine line between fishing and just standing on the shore like an idiot.”
Steven Wright
Poker has a funny way of looking at things. One of them is using aquatic names to refer to players. We call the new comers or players that feed the pot fish. The players that seem to take all the money are referred to as sharks.
If we go to sub-characters, there are minnows and big fish. A minnow is a player that feeds everyone. The big fish is the player that feeds off of the minnows but is still food for the sharks. He’s kind of the middle of the food chain.
A good example of the big fish is the player that comes to a 10-20 table and straddles or raises every hand pre-flop. At first this is seen as aggressive but it is merely a way to over come the inability to out play others.
The constant straddle raises the game to a 20-40. This forces many of the other players to fold. They want to play 10-20 so the constant straddle raises the game to a level they just don’t want to play. It keeps the field of competition and the pots low.
What usually happens is the big fish scares off the minnows and is left only to fight the sharks. In this type of play the big fish wins many small pots but then loses the bigger pots. Constantly winning 100 but then losing 1,000 puts him reaching for his pocket.
A constant pre-flop raise will give him the same result. It is a good way to thin the field but only leaves him playing against players with better hands. He follows up the pre-flop bet with a mandatory continuation bet. This usually gets him caught. After building a pot he is unable to let it go even with a losing hand. He will end up making higher bets trying to shake off the other player only to get caught losing to a better hand.
This big fish seems to never learn. Some where, way back, he was taught that aggressive play will win. He hasn’t figured out that if he can’t back it up simple aggression alone will lose. Aggressive play has to be supported with good cards or a good table image. Blind aggression by it’s self is a road to disaster.
After playing the same players a few times the big fish becomes the easy fish. The minnows will patiently wait their turn. When they get a hand they will stay in the pot. They know that this time the big fish will feed them. He becomes everyone’s meal ticket. His table image changes from aggressive to foolish. With nine other players at the table they begin to nibble away at his chips. He keeps re-buying and they keep taking.
Don’t let the big fish control the table. Just bide your time and your turn will come. Watch him and learn when to stay with him. The big fish may be a little tougher than the little fish but the winnings are just as good.
Keep the cards and chips flying.
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net.
- Hank Cashman
“The ability to focus attention on important things is a defining characteristic on intelligence.”
Robert J. Shiller
Do all poker players suffer from ADHD? Don’t get me wrong. I’m not a doctor but I’ve seen one on TV and I drove by a Holiday Inn Express. I’m just raising the question and I’ll try to explain why.
Just looking at the symptoms of ADHD and seeing them at the table makes me wonder. Is this an epidemic that has been over looked by the CDC? Hear me out. Let’s look at the problem.
Some of the symptoms are; Blurts out when not asked, difficulty waiting his turn, often interrupts others, intrudes on others conversations or games, angry outbursts, makes careless mistakes, trouble staying focused, difficulty remembering things, appears not to listen, trouble planning ahead, constantly fidgets, talks excessively and leaves his seat.
Have you ever been at a table and heard players say “I had the winner”, or “I shouldn’t have folded my Ace four”? This is blurting out information they should have kept to themselves but they couldn’t keep it in.
What about the player that folds or bets out of turn? You know the one that knows he’s going to fold so he tosses his cards in ahead of time. Also, there is the guy that is so eager to bet his pair that he bets early.
There is always the player that just will not shut up. Everything he has to say is more important than the game or your conversation. He has to interrupt your story to tell you about his last game. Sometimes you are having a nice 5-10 game with friends and some guy sits in and tries to play a 25-50 game to bully the table.
Angry outbursts are at every game. Anytime a player gets Aces cracked he jumps up and tells the other player how bad of a player they are. A player is chasing lost money. After he looses his final two dollars he tosses a chair and storms out of the room.
Careless mistakes are abundant. This is when a player knows he has second best but just has to make that last call. Or, turns over his cards to show his straight just to have someone show him the flush he didn’t see.
Why is it that in every game the dealer has to remind players to put in the antes and blinds? Because players have trouble staying focused. They know that there is an ante and blind every hand. They know that they were big blind last hand. Why does the dealer have to tell them they are small blind on the next hand? It’s ADHD.
We are supposed to look at your hold cards only once, but do we? No, we have to look every time there are three suited cards on the board. We check or cards every time a new card is put on the board. This is just another symptom.
Players are easily distracted. The games are played in casinos and bars. There is always a TV with sports on. There are the noises from the slot machines and the karaoke singers. We must stay focused on our game so that it runs smoothly.
Planning ahead shouldn’t be an issue since we only have to plan a few seconds at a time. Why do players wait till the last second to sit and think about their hand? They should know as soon as the last players’ action is over what they plan to do. Actually, they should know what they are going to do contingent on the last players’ action.
The constantly fidgeting is almost deafening. Have you ever been at a table and the chips are still? No, the sound of chip shuffling is load and constant. We just can’t be still.
There is a constant conversation at the tables. It is sometimes even about the game. Usually it is about the last hand, yesterday’s game, NASCAR, football, baseball or basketball. But, it is constant.
Last but not least. When a player is all-in or about to throw a fit they have to get up. Why? It’s the adrenaline and nervous tension. It is just uncontrollable.
Maybe as individuals we are all OK. But, as a group we need Ritalin.
Keep the cards and chips flying.
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net.
08/27/09
“A compromise is the art of dividing a cake in such a way that everyone believes he has the biggest piece.”
Ludwig Erhard
In the world of competitive poker, it is so hard for anyone to compromise. We want to win it all. It gives us the money, the jewelry and bragging rights. We want all three. Sometimes it is better to take a split than to go for the brass ring. If we go for first place or nothing, nothing doesn’t feel good.
I’ve been listening to a lot of reasons for people not wanting to split the prize money in a tournament. I understand the pride of winning and the extra money. In most cases it is better to negotiate a split than to go for broke. In most cases, if a final table agrees to a split it is basically giving everyone second place.
A friend of mine was in a tournament and got down to heads-up. The two players agreed to make a split. There was a bracelet and a seat in a bigger tournament also in the prize package. The two of them split the money and then played for the jewelry and seat. This gave second place an extra $15,000 and first the jewelry and seat. It was a good deal because with the blind so high the chip lead was changing every hand.
In other cases the chip lead isn’t so close but a split may still be a good option. Ricky has had to explain this to his opponents at least twice. On two occasions he has gotten into a heads-up situation where he is second in chips. He asked if the other players wanted to split the money. In both cases they just answered that they had first place and wouldn’t split. After that he proceeded to take them down and took their money home.
In a recent eight table tournament it got down to five players. The subject of a split came up. One player had the chip lead and said “he already had first place”. Another player said he wouldn’t split because he knew he could “take it down”. Well they were both wrong.
As the game progressed the guy who was going to “take it down” went out fourth. The player that “already had first place” went out third. The last two players that would have settled for less had to take home the top prize money.
It is very important to understand that having the chip lead isn’t a guarantied win. Usually, when a final table is set the chip leader win finish third or fourth. This is because the chip stacks have climbed but so have the blinds. Chip leads can change on every hand.
Going for the gold is great. But, don’t let the bright star blind you. Usually it is better to take the sure thing. Even if it is a little less than first place it is a lot better than third or fourth.
One more thing, when you split the pot, all of you can say you won.
Keep the cards and chips flying.
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net.
- Hank Cashman
The Worst Hand In Poker
“Only the mediocre are always at their best.”
Jean Giraudoux
What are the worst pocket cards you can have in Hold’em? Your first response should be 7-2os. Another good answer is the second best hand. That one will always cost you the most chips. I would like to offer another possibility. What about pocket Jacks or JJ?
I’ve seen pocket Jacks get so many players into bad situations. They may be more dangerous than 7-2os. If you have 7-2 what are you going to do? You’ll fold’em. What will you do when you have pocket Jacks? You’ll play ‘em. This is when playing a mediocre hand can get you in trouble.
JJ is considered a top ten hand. Actually it is the fourth best hand you can start with. It’s right after QQ and before A-K suited. So why is it so dangerous? Simply because we fall in love with it. It’s looks so good and has such nice pretty pictures. We just can’t fold cards with pictures. It’s easy to fold pocket nines in a bad situation but we hold on to those damn picture cards.
Pocket Jacks are a top ten hand but in most cases need to be played as a middle pair. In early position it isn’t even as strong as A-Q os. With pocket A-Q you have six cards that will help you make a pair that will beat JJ. If you have JJ in early position and you can see a flop cheap, play it. You might even want to put out a little feeler bet but don’t bet the farm on it. On the flop any Ace, King or Queen will either beat you or at least put you in a spot that you can’t bet.
In middle position JJ is a little stronger. Here if you get a limper or two you can raise to get the blinds out and discourage other limpers. Throw out a raise to find where you stand. This will get rid of the players that will try to draw on low cards. The big cards will stay in but then you at least know what you are up against.
In late position JJs become even better. Play them the a little stronger than you would in middle position. Here you have more information and are in a better position to control the play. If you have a small raise ahead of you, stick with them to see the flop. If there is a re-raise you’re probably in trouble.
On the button, play’em like Kings. You are in great position to push. If there is a bet, raise. As long as there is no danger on the board, go strong. Be mindful of the cards that can beat you. Someone might have stayed with the A-3 suited.
Don’t fall in love with JJ. It will only break you heart and take chips with it.
Keep the cards and chips flying?
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net.
- Hank Cashman
“Players are either acting or they aren’t. If they are acting, then decide what they want you to do and disappoint them.”
Mike Caro’s Great Law of Tells
One of the best things you can do to improve your poker playing is to learn how to read your opponents. You need to be able to know if they are bluffing or if they have the better hand. You need to know if you can get them off their hand or if they are going to the river with you. It ain’t as easy as it may sound.
Mike “the Mad Genius of Poker” Caro as spent years on teaching this very thing. He has written many books and articles on the subject of tells. I would never dispute his work. But, things aren’t always what they seem.
There are literally hundreds of tells that you should be able to pick up on. Some are talking, posture, betting patterns and slight actions, just to mention a few.
First of all if someone knows what the tells are they can imitate them. If they know that acting slow to call a big bet shows a weak hand, then they may act slowly when they have a good hand. This is just to give you a wrong read. To kind of fake you out.
Whether you are playing live or on-line there are things to watch for but you must interpret them correctly. For example, going back to the slow to act tell, on-line a player may seem to be taking a long time to make a call. Is he thinking, stalling, acting or is his ISP just too damn slow? I don’t know but you have to.
Let’s take the player that tosses his chips to the center of the table when betting. Usually this means that he is subconsciously throwing his chips away. Is that always the case? No. I have seen many players that for some reason love to try and splash the pot. It is some type of inner aggression. It has nothing to do with that particular hand.
Here’s one that can really catch you off guard, talking. Remember the old saying “Beware the speech”? It refers to a player that has made a bet and is waiting on a caller or a caller wanting to not scare off action behind him. They will start this speech about “It’s time for me to go home” or “It shouldn’t call this”. This is just to try and disguise how strong they really are. I will say most of the time this is correct but not all the time. Some players will do this every time they have to go all-in to call a bet. It’s just their regular speech.
I was at a table and a player made a bet and his hand was trembling. This indicated a strong bet, or did it? Another player noticed this and folded. He made a comment about the trembling hand. The other player said he had a slight case of Parkinson’s. It didn’t mean a thing.
Betting patterns are important but be careful. After the flop the pot is 100. A player bets 300. That is an extreme over bet. He must have a marginal hand and wants to scare off all callers. Or, he has the nuts and wants to get maximum return from any callers. Which one?
What about when the turn comes, there are three clubs and a player looks back at his hold cards. Is he checking to see if he has clubs? The rule is that if he had the clubs he would know it and not have to look. That’s not always correct. Many players just don’t remember their cards. You shouldn’t have to re-look at your cards but a lot of players need to. It may only be and indication that they don’t remember or that they want to be sure.
The best advice I can give about reading players I got from Annie Duke. It is very simple. First get to know your opponents and how they act normally. The tell is when they change their behavior. If they talk a lot, be careful when they get quite and vice versa. If they normally over bet the pot, be careful when they put out feelers.
The tell is in the change not in the action alone.
Keep the cards and chips flying?
If you have any comments or questions, contact me at hankcashman@comcast.net.
- Hank Cashman