36th Lecture - Answering Poker's Most Common Questions


Answering Poker’s Most Common Questions

The following lecture was the 36th Tuesday Session, held June 15, 1999, and later appeared
in Card Player magazine.

Classroom Lectures:

Some of Poker's Most Meaningful Questions

There are questions I get asked over and over in poker. Many of them don't have interesting
answers. We'll ignore them for now. But many common questions do have interesting
answers, and I'll deal with some of those today. And you know what? Sometimes poker
players talk about interesting stuff related to the game - stuff that suggests a common question
that they simply forget to ask. That drives me nuts. So, I'll ask some of those questions for
them and I'll give you the answers.

The following is taken from the 36th in my series of Tuesday Session classroom lectures at
Mike Caro University of Poker, Gaming, and Life Strategy. The lecture was held on June 15,
1999. This is from the handout that accompanied the lecture, and it has been specially
enhanced for Card Player. The title of the lecture was ...

"Answering Poker's Most Common Questions"

1

. Should you play seven-card stud or hold'em?

Now that's an interesting question, and one that I hear over and over. I guess the
reason is that the questioner is either thinking about specializing in a single game or
believes that one of the two forms of poker is the clearer path to riches. Actually, the
answer is that you will earn more money overall if you learn to profitably play seven-
card stud, hold'em, and other popular forms of poker. Then, you can choose the best
game that's available at any given time. You don't want to be sitting in a hold'em
game, unable to play, on that rare occasion when some Bill Gates clone unloads $10
million at the stud table five feet away. Just listening to the BGC giggling and not
caring might permanently scar you psychologically. However, in general, you'll have
fewer fluctuations and will win more consistently playing hold'em. Also, hold'em
tends to be more profitable against inexperienced opponents. Assuming that you know
what you're doing, when hold'em first is introduced in a locale, the games tend to be
incredibly good for a while. As new players learn that a pair of fours wasn't as good as
they thought, they tend to play better and the games get tougher. And as new players
who don't learn that a pair of fours wasn't as good as they thought, they go broke and
the games among surviving players become tougher. That's a good time to find a
lively stud game.

2.

In which game does position matter most?

Position matters most in games in which you consistently can act last during all rounds
of betting and that are neither too loose nor too tight. "Crapshoot" games with many
players paying reraise prices to hope for miracle cards are not as greatly positional.
You don't need to know what opponents are likely to do before they act. You already

pretty much know one thing they're not going to do - fold. When you're against
sensible opponents, some of the best positional games are hold'em, draw, and lowball.

3.

What's the most profitable advice for most players?

Quit. Since most poker players lose, and cannot easily be urged to learn enough to
win, the most profitable advice is that which keeps them from playing. I don't want
you to quit, because I think you'd be missing one of the greatest experiences in the
history of humanity. Even if you don't win overall, you'll probably find poker to be a
worthwhile adventure. But why not win?

4.

When is it bad to choose a tricky alternative strategy?

When it's not needed. The most obvious and straightforward strategy makes the most
money. Deviate from it only if there's a reason to do so, such as being deceptive for
future profit or making extra money right now. That's a tough thing to teach, because
skillful players often enjoy making unusual plays. The trick is to mentally condition
yourself to make these plays only for profit, not for show. If there isn't a clear and
compelling reason to play a poker hand in an unusual way, don't.

5.

Should you play tighter on a limited bankroll?

Yes - unless the bankroll is so small that it isn't worth protecting. You need to sacrifice
some of the aggressive but risky profit you'd make with daring bets, raises, and calls.
Survival becomes the more important factor with a limited bankroll. So, you should
play tighter.

6.

In hold'em, should you play 9-8 suited if first to act?

Only in a loose game without many aggressive opponents, and just sometimes. This
hand, and 8-7 and 7-6 suited even to a greater degree are tremendously overvalued by
average players, and often are played unprofitably by pros. Be selective with these
hands.

7.

Is a player probably bluffing who says that he's bluffing?

No. But he's more likely to be bluffing than usual, and you often should call with
borderline hands. We're talking about limit poker here. Because the size of the pot
usually is much greater than the size of the call, you don't need to win very many
similar calls to show a profit. A player who tells you he's bluffing is somewhat more
likely to be bluffing. In fact, players verbally tell the truth about their hands a
surprising amount of the time. Of course, in most games, a player who claims to be
bluffing probably is lying more than half the time. So, you'll probably lose if you call.
But he is telling the truth enough of the time that if your decision was otherwise
borderline, you should strongly consider calling.

8.

What percent of players have more winning hours than losing hours?

Zero. In most full-handed poker games, an hour is too short a time for you to have a
sufficient chance of winning the big pots that often are needed to score an overall

profit. Often, you will win no pots whatsoever in an hour's time. This is easy to grasp
if you asked, "What percent of players win more than they lose in a one-minute
period?" Clearly, most players will just lose an ante - if there is one - on a given hand,
which is all you can expect to play (at most) in a minute. The same concept applies to
an hour, but to a smaller degree. So, yes, I'll entertain arguments that some players in
some games can have more winning hours through eternity than losing hours – but it's
not likely.

9.

Who keeps accurate records of how much money they make bluffing?

Nobody. They can't. If your bluff seems successful, you're seldom sure whether the
hand that was folded was actually better than yours. This illusion - that a bluff
succeeded when you might have won anyway - is one reason why so many players
think a bluffing strategy works better than it does. Against most opponents, you need
to pick your bluffing spots very carefully. They tend to call too often - and this means
that you are apt to lose money to them in the long run if you bluff.