Devin Porter plays himself into poker legend contention
LEGEND IN THE MAKING Poker players and pundits like myself place a lot of store in their view that poker isn’t like any other form of gambling because skill and experience definitely give you an edge way beyond pure chance. Every once in a while a new young professional will come along who demonstrates this fact perfectly for all to see and take note. Devin Porter is just such a guy. He’s a thirty three year old poker legend in the making. He was placed fourth in the 2005 Ultimate Poker Classic then third in the World Poker Tour Mirage Poker Showdown back in May of this year and has just recently found himself in the top two percent of Main Event finishers. These sort of consistent big time big buck achievements are well beyond pure chance. The player has honed his game to perfection. He even breaks a golden rule of mine as it applies to the early stages of tournament play. I’ll unload his opinion so that you can evaluate both sides of the argument.
DEVIN’S “EARLY” STRATEGY Devin Porter doesn’t hold to the established view that the early stages of a tournament are about survival. Normally, traditional wisdom would advise any new player to play very tight for the first hour or so of any tournament and concentrate on not busting out early on. However, Devin takes the interesting and opposite position pointing out that players who play tight find themselves at the end of the first day having to pay ten times more in chip value to get into a pot than they would six hours earlier. This is due to the way the blinds build up during the evolution of any tournament. Devin’s strategy is to play a lot of early pots because he feels that’s when new tournament players make a lot of their mistakes by either overvaluing or undervaluing their cards. “I like to go for it with the intention of being at least doubled up from say a start of $10,000 to $20,000 or more by the end of the first day’s session.” Devin has a valid point of view and it’s achieved at better value than the later stages of a main event. The one thing nobody can argue with is that this tactic certainly works for Devin Porter.
PLAY! PLAY! PLAY! During the World Series this year Devin Porter folded Kings once, Queens once and Jacks twice. All pre-flop. Each time he was shown Aces. The experience gained from hours and hours of play produces the instinct to make those sort of lay downs. Poker isn’t pure chance but you’ve got to put the time in. Play! Play! Play!
