How stickability will get you to the higher levels of poker...
HOMICIDE HANK I sometimes get the pleasure of playing poker with a very experienced American card master, appropriately nicknamed Homicide Hank. He’s fond of saying, “Winners never quit and quitters never win!” It’s a very American thing to say, of course, and Brits tend to raise an ironic eyebrow when they hear him boom it across the felt. The facts are the guy makes mincemeat of most people who are anything less than fully focused and on their game. His outlook is one that I recommend to you if you’ve been playing for over a year and are beginning to iron out the weak spots in your game. Hank genuinely believes, and appears to prove, that it’s, “Ten percent about the cards and ninety percent about how you react to them.” It could almost come direct from the Doyle Brunson poker song sheet, and probably does. Most players would agree that poker is a bit like riding. If you don’t get straight back on when you get thrown you’re never going to be a horseman. The reason everyone tags Hank with the adjective “Homicide” is because he treats poker more like a Rodeo than a canter through the countryside. I’ll leave you with his final thought on the whole matter of playing Texas Hold’em and when you’re in a tight spot you can draw some inspiration from it as I do (usually after he’s taken me to the cleaners). “Imagine that life’s just decided this is gonna be your lucky day…and you’ve just quit playing poker!” It always gets me back in the saddle.
WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE DONE? In a recent game I’m dealt Ace of Clubs and Jack of Diamonds. It’s a full table game and I’m fortunate to be in late position so I pause my inclination to fold to see what everyone else does. Nobody raises, five players fold and four players, including me, call the $100 big blind. The flop delivers Ten of Clubs-King of Hearts and Queen of Hearts. What would you do? Think about it for a minute and then read on.
WHAT I DID DO! The rest of the table checked to me. I froze with the sudden conviction that four parts of a five card Heart flush were out there ready to pop with the turn or the river as no-one else had folded. I decided to bet $800. Everyone folded and my dynamic, best of the evening, Ace high straight rewarded me with so very little of its true value that a loss might’ve been more dignified. Sometimes your opponents aren’t slow paying a flush draw. Sometimes they are just flat calling and checking because they’re holding rags and are hoping for a break. However, if the turn was a Heart, I’m a genius. We’ll never know. What would you have done? Answers to dailystarpoker.com.
