Beware, I`m back - with `the concept of poker!!!`

Hello all.

I am over my mood now and back playing.

I hope I didn`t offend anyone with my rant last week, but I`m over it now.

My problem was quite simple. I could not get my head around the poker concept - I need to draw a comparison to things and truly understand what my aim is. (I work as a consultant in real life, so this is what I do for a living)

I`m not an emotional person, I think logically, I`m competative, not affraid to gamble and I have a very good mathematical brain - all, I would guess, very good traits for playing poker.

So I could sit for ever and read books on poker, take it all in, make the right moves, be patient, etc.

I have now found a comparison to something I can relate to that should get me around the bad beat situation, although I`m sure in the years to come I`ll still get frustrated!!!

The best comparison I can make to poker is horse racing. You will bet based on form, the going, the other horses in the race, etc. You end up picking the 1:5 fav for the race (we will call this horse `pocket aces`). Now you know that horse should win, and most of the time it does. However, on every 5th race in a 2 horse race it comes second - the 5:1 shot catches it just before the line!!!

The next time u bet on Pocket Aces you are in a 4 horse race. pocket aces is still fav, but on this occasion it is only 1:2 fav.

So, do u get my drift???

This helps me to come to terms with poker - a game I`m fairly new to (one year or so)

It might help others

P.S. I`m away this weekend, but you better all be aware - I don`t care how good you think u r, I WILL take you out when I get back

Good to see you back and had a re-think about your game.

It is always worth looking at your own game - find the strengths, weakness', where to improve etc.

See you at the tables soon then

Glad you came back. Yeah sometimes no matter what lady luck bites you in the ass. It helps to remember that at those times she probably has PMS!

Absolutely the definitive definition of luck!

glad to see you back and thought about poker in that way,, lots of people would just quit,, hope your luck changes for the better,,, and YES there is luck in poker sometimes,>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> buck aka>luckster,lol

Lady luck isn't always a lady. Believe me. And yes she does have PMS.

PMS is rigged.

Welcome back, Ron.

Your horse-racing comparison is a good one.

Another idea I have always thought useful is this, which I read in a book (I think it may have been one of Phil Helmuth`s, but I`m not absolutely sure of the source):

"Poker is not really a card game. It`s a people game that happens to be played with cards."

Meaning that one can`t expect poker to follow a rigid framework in the way that (say) Chess does, or to be as amenable to analysis. The nature of the game changes over time and according to the people playing.

You can get a flavour this in some of the more complex of the Hand Analysis threads here at CC. Where the problem is a tough one, sometimes no consensus is possible as to the "correct" solution, just a range of opinions, often equally valid.

It`s a tough thing to get your head around, if you are the sort of person that likes things orderly and clear-cut. I`m rather inclined that way myself, and I sometimes feel the frustration about trying to master a game that is inherently somewhat chaotic.

This thread brings up an issue that keeps coming up in my mind.

From what I can gather, 90% of the players out there that take the game seriously wouldn't hesitate to get all their money in every time if they knew for a fact that after the flop they were a 4 to 1 favorite in the hand. Here's the thing. If you do that once and get drawn out on it's a bad beat. However, if you do that continually (and during the course of a tournament there are plenty of those opportunities) the odds are pretty much 100% that someone's going to take you down at some point. So when you do get taken down, is that really a bad beat?

Good question!!!

I`m a great believer that in a MTT to get high into the cash u need your big hands to hold up, win more races than u lose, and muff out a similar size stack to u at least once. An example of this was a few days ago I played a tourny. 780 players (party poker) I made 12 winning about 10 times my buy in. ($240 for a $20 stake)

At one stage a short stack pushed with 2k chips when I had 7k. The table folded around to me with 77. I called. He turned QQ. I caught 7 on flop.
A big stack with 12k chips put me all in when I had 10k. I called. I turned QQ he showed AA. I hit my Q on turn. There were a few more thing like this that went in my favour. However, I went out when on the button with 12 left a big stack called my all in (10 times bb) when I had A9s - he turned A6 and caught his 6 on the river

So the point is, yes u will be out drawn when u are a big fav, but u will never make the correct call every time and u will need to win when u come `from behind` it a question of knowing when?

You may often hear commentators saying about getting their money in with the best of the cards.

Well as long as you do that you will always be the favourite to win in a showdown - but as we all know the favourite doesn't always win and that is the bad-beat.

AA v KK and the kings win = bad beat

It has nothing to do with what actual cards are played as unless you have the same hand - one player will be a favourite (large or small) and so expected in the law of averages to win more times that the other player.

It just happens the earlier you push in the more you future is out of your hands so play your hand well enough early on and your future should be more under your own control.

i think i get what you are saying

The funniest thing about poker is that people don't get it's most basic concept. It is a gambling game. The cards never come out the same way twice. You don't know who will win till the river.

Poker is all about pushing edges or favorable odds. Odds in your favor, bet. When they are not, fold. The skill is making the most when ahead and losing the least when behind. 99:1 odds still means you will eventually lose at some point.

AA is still only one pair after the flop unless you hit your set. It is now only the 7th best hand in the most cases. You have 3 sets, and 3 different two pair combinations that are ahead of you. Some flops also can give someone a straight or flush to make the AA worse than 7th.

It is very rarely you are playing with the absolute nuts from the start to the end. You are only betting because you think you are ahead and want to prevent them from catching up.

Bad beats happening is a good thing. That usually means you are playing from ahead and betting with favorable odds. The other person has to get lucky to catch up to your hand.