CAUTIONARY TALES I am often asked what kind of limits a player should impose on his or herself when it comes to financial risk. This is a bit like structuring a sane household budget and it’s a good thing to straighten out as soon as you decide that regular online poker playing is for you. In general, you should never risk more than five per cent of your playing bankroll in any one game. It heads off the desire to “chase” any losses, and chasing is the fastest route imaginable to going on tilt and defining yourself as a loser. There’ll be times when you stretch the five percent envelope. Make them rare and you’ll always enjoy your game because you will already have decided where your comfort zone is and that really is the mark of a winner.
PAIRING YOUR LOSSES Let’s assume you are in late position and there has been no aggressive betting ahead of you. You have consequently decided to bet your pair of fives on the basis it’s a cheap way to maybe land that three-of-a-kind you’ve been promising yourself. The environment has all the right ingredients to make the play. So far so good. The problem arrives if you land the third card you’re looking for (let’s say you now have three fives and a bushy tail). Check reactions to the flop to see if there’s hidden trauma among the community cards and be thankful you’re in late position. This snare almost caught me out a few weeks back when I made a large bet following three remaining limpers. There were two low hearts on the board plus my five of spades but because there were no Aces or Royalty cards about I remained confident my trips would prevail. One of the limpers turned into Doctor Death and upped the stakes big time when the turn produced a nine of hearts. I dithered, weighing up the big bluff likelihood and folded my trips. Good play for a change in the face of my gathering greed. Doctor Death had the other two hearts and would’ve gladly hacked mine out if I’d let him. If I’d had Aces I would’ve ploughed on regardless ignoring the warning signs and ruined my evening. As it was my losses in that game were paired and I came out ahead after three hours of enjoyable play.
JUSTICE IM-PAIRED! The Doctor Death incident reminds me that last week I was rail-birding a heads up game between a much nastier piece of work, with a face that looked like it had been reconstructed by a tyre iron, and a very accomplished and pretty poker player who was about to take him to the cleaners. When she finally “tripped” his pair of aces with her three fours he let out a tirade of abuse which had the bouncers looking nervous and putting in their gum-shields. Totally unfazed, her ladyship calmly leaned across and kissed tyre iron full on the lips. He completely melted along with everyone watching. Not a dry eye in the house. I can’t have been the only one watching who saw her palm the four? True story. Only in Marbella.
