WAR OF WITS! At its best, that’s what poker is: A War of Wits! When people first ask me about the game and why I enjoy it I usually say it draws on all your survival mechanisms. You have to have a strategy. You have to have some guts. You have to be a survivor under fire. Anyone who enjoys studying racing form, doing crosswords or shouting out the answers during “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?” is a candidate for enjoying poker. In fact, anyone who wants to take gaming beyond the notion of a simple “flutter” (where only pure chance influences the outcome) is a potential poker player. Poker is about an edge. Not living on the edge but gaining an edge. Let me give you an edge or two with the following simple beginners’ poker tips.
EASY POKER TIPS Tip 1: Never stay in a hand of poker with the mind-set “I might catch the card I’m looking for with the next card!” If the hand didn’t have real potential prior to the card you’re expecting, you’re expecting too much. Fold! Tip 2: Create an incentive for yourself to play well. How do you do this? Keep accurate records of your wins and your losses and study them every few weeks as you gain experience. Luck is a curious thing. In a single hand of poker luck is going to be 90% the deciding factor. In a whole tournament the luck factor will drop to 70% if you’re an experienced player. Top professionals claim that in an entire year of play they can reduce the luck factor down to 20% and lower. Keep records of how your game develops. If you start to see your “winning graph” heading in the same direction as the percentages I’ve just outlined (or anywhere near them) this will create not only proof of the fact that experience influences the outcome of poker games but it will put your confidence right up where it needs to be to continue that trend in your personal War of Wits!
IVEY LEAGUE Those of you who have had the considerable pleasure of watching Phil Ivey playing Texas Hold’em on television, or better still in the flesh, will not be surprised by the following comment I was offered whilst in Las Vegas recently. “I wouldn’t risk playing that guy if he had his back to a mirror for the whole tournament!” I won’t embarrass the professional who said it by giving his name but I will say he is recognised as one of the top fifty players in the world. It gives you an idea of how much Ivey is in a league of his own. See him play if you get the chance. He uses the felt the same way Tiger Woods uses the green and Roy Jones Junior used to use the ring.
