Speed: A Tale of Two All-ins from the WPO
By Amy Calistri

Having to leave the World Poker Open before the final event nearly killed me, with only blogs to keep me on poker voyeur life support. On Day 2 of the WPO final event, two entries caught my eye. They were two different blogs about two separate all-in plays, and each offered a perspective about speed.

Daniel Negreanu's Blog Entry from www.FullContactPoker.com :
A young player in late position makes it 150 to go, the button calls and I call from the small blind with Q-4 of hearts and the big blind also calls. The flop comes down 7-4-4 with two spades. I check, the big blind checks and the original raiser bets 200. The button calls and I make it 500. The big blind folds and the first raiser says, "I'm all in."

"Huh? Are you serious?" I thought to myself, "Do you really have pocket sevens?" I thought for a few seconds and finally asked him a question, "Do you play on the internet?" "Yes, unfortunately I do." he replied. I shot all my chips to the center after hearing that and doubled up against his 9-9.

Mike Paulle's Blog Entry from www.pokerpages.com :
Mark 'The Boss' Napolitano just had a scary hand with Lee Watkinson. Lee raised Mark's 8k bet another 12k from the small blind. If Mark would have hesitated, I think he would have had a pot odds call from Lee for Mark's last 27,400. But Mark went all-in immediately and after some thought Lee laid his hand down.

Different Speed Limits for Online vs. Live Play:

Some people may read Negreanu's blog and feel that this entry is somehow disrespectful to online players. But I think they will be missing the point. When playing online, especially when playing multiple tables, speed matters. Successful online players have developed the ability to make rapid decisions. A minor miscalculation is easily rectified in subsequent hands or on simultaneous tables. For the online player, making many good decisions quickly is better than making one best decision slowly, if it means losing the opportunity to execute in other hands.

But this skill in online play can sometimes translate to a weakness in live play. Executing decisions quickly becomes a habit, even when a player is no longer facing online time constraints or seeking multiple table premiums. Like a driver who has trouble reducing his vehicle speed after prolonged periods on the interstate, a poker player may have problems adjusting their decision making speed after honing their skills on the information highway.

Daniel specifically asks his opponent if he is an online player. Daniel realizes that if he is, chances are better that he executed a quick decision without properly factoring in what he was up against, causing him to go all-in without a nut hand. Daniel doubles up because he understands this online phenomenon.

Decision Speed vs. Action Speed:

You might think that the Mark Napolitano hand is at odds with the "speed kills" in live play hypothesis. After all, Watkinson folds the hand to Mark's speedy re-raise. But does Mark's all-in reflect a rushed decision? Watkinson has to consider that Mark's all-in retaliation may have been calculated BEFORE Napolitano made his initial raise. In other words, Mark's decision process may have occurred before the betting action began and shouldn't be measured by the speed of his re-raise. Although Lee might have pot odds to make a call, as Paulle points out, he can't discount the probability that Mark's series of moves were deliberate. Watkinson factors this in to his own decision process and folds. Speed of the action and speed of the decision process are two different things. Good players recognize the difference.

Speed Pre and Post-Flop:

The other obvious difference between the two blogged scenarios is when the key action takes place. In the Paulle blog, the action is pre-flop. While pre-flop decisions have to factor in position, starting hands, player reads and betting action, the scenarios are more predictable. Your mind can quickly think a few moves ahead to construct an " If I do this, he might do that, and I will do this" action plan, well before any action takes place. But there is more information available post-flop, which usually equates to a more complex decision process.

In the Negreanu blog, Daniel's opponent takes little time to assess the post-flop complexities. Even without the "online tell," a quick post-flop decision might be a "tell" unto itself. Drawing hands need to be assessed for the correctness of the draw. Flopping the nut requires developing a strategy that will extract the most chips in subsequent betting action. An overpair is a pretty straightforward decision. One has to consider that a variation in your post-flop decision speed may telegraph the complexity of your decision, and ultimately your hand. Negreanu is considered to be a very skillful post-flop player. He is also a slow and deliberate post-flop player - consistently so.

In Live Play, Speed Kills:

Speed is often our ally online, allowing us to improve our hourly rate by playing at many tables, simultaneously. But there is no "speed premium" in live play. If you are a good player, you have developed a sound decision process and solid instincts. So in live play, slow down, and take the time to exercise them to their full extent. And the next time an opponent fails to take adequate time for a post-flop decision, be like Daniel and spend a little extra time to wonder why.