Poker Articles

Win the Battle, Lose the War
By Andrew N.S. Glazer, The "Poker Pundit"

On a visit to the San Diego area, I played hold 'em poker Ocean's Eleven (which actually isn't in San Diego but a bit to the north in the neighboring town of Oceanside). It's a nice cardroom and the wall-sized photos and drawings of the original "Ocean's Eleven" (i.e., the "Rat Pack" version, not the recent remake) give the place a lot of character and atmosphere.

In the limited time available to me, I couldn't get into the higher stakes games I wanted. I never made it into the 20-40 game, and so I wound up sitting in a 4-8 game. The players were about what I would expect in a California 4-8 game, that is, relatively weak and relatively loose. One guy at the table, in particular, seemed very weak. Let's call him Punk, a sobriquet that fits for all sorts of reasons.

After about 20 minutes of play, Punk was winning, but only because he had been very lucky in catching some river cards. His money was destined to return to the rest of the table. I guess that's why someone protested when a friend of Punk's came by and Punk gave him one of his $100 racks of chips, as a stake for the friend to play.

"He can't do that!" cried another player.

"Wha?" asked Punk (that right, "Wha" not "What." Punk wasn't big on full sentences or even full words. Perhaps the beers had something to do with this.).

Another player chimed in. "Floorman!" he yelled. "He took chips off the table!"

"Wha, you guys don't want to play with me anymore?" asked Punk. Someone explained to him that there is a rule against taking chips off the table.

"Well, if you're going to be that way," Punk said, "I'll just go play somewhere else where they don't have a stupid rule like that." Punk got up from the table, and told his friend "Let's get out of here, this places s--ks."

The players all shook their heads as Punk left, for a few reasons. I was shaking mine because the game's worst player had just been chased away. One of the cardinal rules of winning poker is that you don't get technical with someone who is going to give you his money eventually. Punk was so new to poker that he didn't know that it isn't just an Ocean's Eleven rule, it's a rule found in every cardroom and casino in the country: you can't take chips off the table without switching games.

I really didn't feel too badly about it, in part because I knew I'd soon be heading to the 9-18 game, and in part because I've never been comfortable winning money from someone who is drunk. I'd rather my opponents be able to defend themselves.

The other players might also have been sad to see Punk go, but seemed to be enjoying more their lofty superiority over his lack of knowledge. His defiant remarks as he was leaving, intended to prove how tough he was and how much he knew about poker, proved exactly the opposite. He made a complete fool of himself.

What are the lessons here? The obvious one about poker and alcohol being a bad combination aside, if you haven't played much in casinos before, you should expect to encounter some rules and game etiquette that have never been a part of your home games. If you want to look sharp (or at least, not look dumb) don't rant and rave about how the rules are unfair, or stupid, or bad. The rules are the rules: it's every player's responsibility to learn them, and it can take a while. Arguing about the rules produces exactly the opposite of the effect you're looking for: it makes you look like an amateur.

If you're on the other side of the fence-that is, you're one of the better players in the game-then keep your mouth shut when your likely source of profit makes a minor breach of etiquette. Showing him up is likely to produce one of two effects, both of them bad for your long-term results. Either the novice will leave, or he will start to realize there is more to this game than he'd previously thought, and start improving.

This incident is just one more example of the many ways that it is possible to win a battle but lose the war in poker. I so often see the mediocre players in games try to bully a new player, primarily because the mediocre players are sick of losing to the strong players, and desperately want to lord it over someone else. Indeed, mediocre players tend to assume that a new face is incompetent, while strong players tend not to prejudge, but wait and assess what they actually see, rather than what they want or hope to see.

Standing on top of a technical right might make you feel a little taller for a few moments, but technical rights aren't very sturdy structures, and if you aren't careful, you might fall off, and wind up looking far more ridiculous than if you'd never tried to climb upon one in the first place. Focus on playing good poker, and don't get technical with someone unless it's necessary to protect your money.