Poker Articles

Cowboy Carl and the Loose Gooses

TWO CATEGORIES OF PLAYER

There are two broad categories of new poker players pouring into traditional and online poker rooms. The first group consists of purely recreational players. For the most part, they have been drawn into the game because of television. They take delight in mimicking what they have seen on television, but despite what they may say, they are not going to any great lengths to become skillful players. The second group consists of players who are actively working at getting better. They want to become skilled card sharks. Many are even dreaming about the supposed "green pastures" of playing poker for a living.

Chances are that since you are reading this article, you belong to the second group. Your thirst for poker knowledge has driven you to PokerPages.com, and you have stumbled upon this humble column in the hope that I can impart some rare gem of wisdom that will unlock the vault of poker profit. OK. Here is it, as succinctly as I can put it: "Stop trying so hard."

OVERPLAYING THE GAME

In my experience, most new players spend too much time trying to be deceptive. They read David Sklansky's learned texts and attempt to apply some very advanced techniques to beat some singularly primitive opponents. In other words, "They try too hard."

Frequently I am asked, "If I play as tightly as you suggest, won't my opponents figure me out? They will know that I have a big hand and they will not give me any action."

And just as frequently I answer, "You would think so wouldn't you? But, it just doesn't work that way in real life. Let me tell you the true story of Cowboy Carl and the Loose Gooses."

WHO IS COWBOY CARL?

Cowboy Carl is a real person. I have occasionally played against him in the northern United States. Carl has what can only be described as a flamboyant sense of style. Every time we have played together, Carl has been wearing a magnificent western shirt on which two royal flushes are embroidered (one above each breast pocket), a ten-gallon hat (maybe twenty or thirty gallons for all I know,) and snakeskin boots. In short, you cannot help but notice Cowboy Carl. He sticks out in a crowd. It's like there is a rodeo parade float sitting in seat three. If you were going to notice anybody, you would notice Carl.

His playing style, however, is not nearly as flamboyant. In fact, Carl may be the tightest player that I have ever seen in a low-limit game. To speculate, I would guess that Carl limits himself to A-A, K-K, Q-Q, J-J, T-T, A-K, and A-Q. If I am right, Carl is playing 62/1326 hands or about one hand every two laps of the button. Assuming thirty hands an hour, Carl plays about 1.5 hands per hour (excluding his un-raised big blind). The point is this: if ever there was a super tight player that the bad players would notice, it would be Carl. It would be impossible not to notice how many hands Carl folds because it is impossible not to notice Carl.

NOBODY IS PAYING ATTENTION

Yet, Carl gets all kinds of action on his good hands. After two hours of folding hands, Carl is under the gun and announces: "Raise." Five players call Carl's raise. The flop is K-x-x of mixed suits and a betting frenzy breaks out. Carl bets out, gets raised, and Carl re-raises. And so it goes until the river when Carl turns over K-K for a set of kings and takes down the pot. Carl had folded almost every hand for two hours and then he suddenly went nuts betting and raising! The poor players at the table had never noticed Carl folding hand after hand. As a result, they didn't know that Carl would only re-re-raise with A-A or K-K in this situation. The bad players not only gave Carl action on his good hand, they raised him several times!

I mean, here was a player who practically had a sign above his head reading, "I am a super tight player don't give me any action" and nobody seemed to notice. Weird. After three hours of this, I actually leaned over to Carl and asked him: "Doesn't it amaze you that anyone ever calls you?" Carl nodded and said something prophetic: "You know, it's the same everywhere I play."

CONCLUSION

The point is a simple one. Against little-skilled, low-limit opponents, you do not have to be deceptive because they are not paying attention anyway. Moreover, even if they are paying attention, they probably do not care what you have! They came to play cards and gamble. They are not going to throw away a hand like K-Jo just because you raised. They will be thinking, "Any two cards can win," as they throw in bet after bet.

Look at it another way. You are not going to win much money from good players. You are going to win your money from the bad players. And since bad players are not paying attention anyway, why try fooling them?

So, especially when you are starting out, "Stop trying so hard." Master the fundamentals of the game. You will, eventually, have to add some deceptive elements to your game, but you do not need to add them at low limits against little-skilled opponents. And, it's the same everywhere you go.

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