The Education of a Fish!

By Scott Aigner

Back in 1995 I had completed my residency in Urology and moved to Dubuque, Iowa to start private practice. I discovered blackjack and craps at one of the local Casinos on the Illinois River during my residency. I was naive at the time and really thought I could win in these games. I did become fairly good at basic blackjack strategy and even learned to count cards. It really didn't make a whole lot of difference as I never had a big enough bankroll to take advantage of it. I never had to worry about being barred from a Casino. (I did get barred for suspected card counting at a small casino one time in Las Vegas. That Casino accidentally informed me about card counting strategy in 1995. I was mimicking a player at the same table who was winning big. Every time he started making big bets, I did the same. We were both banned. He told me about card counting on the way out of the casino).

Dubuque has two Casinos. The first one is associated with a dog track and only has slot machines. They are in the process of expanding and will have table games starting in May of 2005. I have never set foot into this Casino. I can only hope that they will open a poker room. I attempted to communicate this desire several months ago. Their reply was to send me a coupon for 5 dollars in free quarters. Of course this came with stipulations one had to meet. I think it was that you had to lose at least 50 times this amount in order to collect the 5 bucks.

The other Casino had all of the table games. It only took me 2 years to figure out that the 1% Casino advantage can become thousands of dollars if one played the games frequently enough. I was just not a big enough gambler to use card counting effectively. I then discovered the poker room in 1996. It was a small room with only 6-7 tables when I first started to play. It was fairly popular as well. The law in Iowa had changed the year before which allowed true Casino wagering. Before this time frame, the maximum bet allowed in any table game was only $5. The new boat they brought in had a lot more space which allowed them to add the poker room on the third floor next to the deli. The games were typical low limit stud and hold em (a game I had never heard of).

The games were structured for the Casino. The games were 1-5 stud and 5-10 hold em almost exclusively. There were plenty of fish, me included. I had only played in home games during medical school. We played all of the wild card games like crisscross and anaconda, among others. I played loose and never lost more than 20 bucks in a given night. The stud games at the Casino were much different though as people were actually folding their hands on third street. I had no clue that one was actually suppose to fold a hand if it didn't contain at the very least; a pair, a straight draw, or a flush draw. I was there to gamble, not to think! It took me a few months to realize that there was such a thing as hand selection. Still, I played looser than the average senior citizens that frequented the tables everyday. They seemed to really enjoy my company whenever I showed up and were quite friendly too. I really enjoyed the game even though it was just a game of who was the luckiest, or so I thought.

About this time a magazine appeared in the poker room. It was Card Player. I read it from front to back in a few hours. What the heck are they talking about? The Flop? What is a tournament? I ventured into my first hold em game just after this period of discovery. I still remember the first huge pot that I raked in. I played 3-2 offsuit on the button and hit a runner runner full house. My opponent didn't even flinch as he folded his hand.

Once I started playing hold em, the stud games just could not hold my interest. Maybe this is how hold em was named. I just liked the faster play and the bigger bets much more than playing with the tight retired folks at the stud games. I started to read Poker Digest along with Card Player Magazine and started learning about poker strategy. I learned about hand selection, position, and my all time favorite; the free card raise. I started to read my opponents and (more importantly at the time) how to read the board. I still had a lot to learn and Card Player and Poker Digest helped me immensely. I saw some of the ads in the back of these magazines for poker books. I bought two books with in a few months of each other, Tournament Poker and the Theory of Poker.

I also befriended an old pro who earned his living playing in home games and then in the poker rooms once they started sprouting up in the area. He would travel from new room to new room and have a grand ole time playing heads above the newcomers. Even at 5-10, he was making a decent living. I still see him on occasion and he still enjoys his life to the max. He never really taught me directly, but I watched his every move. He was one smooth player and had a solid game. He knew who he could outplay and who he couldn't. Occasionally, he would offer a tidbit or two about the play of an opponent and how he played certain hands but for the most part he was of the old school of never teaching your opponents at the table.Observing him and other strong players, reading the poker magazines, reading the books I bought, and playing poker every weekend turned my game around. I was no longer interested in gambling. I was interested in winning.

I became a winning player in a year's time, six months after discovering that there was more to the game than having fun and blowing off some steam after a tough week in the office. I started playing tournaments and became a frequent winner in the low limit buy ins that were held weekly. The same 4-5 players were vying for the top three spots week after week (they only paid 3 places). I found the tournaments to be even more fun as I am a very competitive person and I like to win. I was making $300-$500 a week playing poker part time. Of course this was not that big of a deal to me. It was easy to win when the bets were this small compared to my salary in my real profession.

I have continued to grow as a poker player. I read every book I can (and frequently reread them as well), read several forums daily, and continue to read every magazine I can find. I have also changed my focus to poker. Medicine will just have to wait, maybe until next year, or maybe even forever. I have no regrets and I have time to weigh my choices carefully.

I am definitely a different player and a different person. My need to win to pay the bills has changed my strategy in poker. I think the changes have also reflected on my life and has been a very positive influence in my approach in handling life's difficulties that we all encounter. Whether it is poker that changed this or the change in my lifestyle that changed my poker game is irrelevant. What is relevant is that I like the changes in my life that happened as a result of an unusual occurrence.

A fluke caused a fork in my road in life. Call it a mid life crisis. Call it crazy. I really don't care what you end up calling it! It happened and I am not interested in turning back the clock. It's been eight years since I accidentally walked into a poker room while looking for the deli to redeem my comp after playing blackjack. I rarely play blackjack or other casino games. I have not stepped foot in this casino since they closed their poker room 3 years ago. Chance sure has a strange way of working!