jb

During the next 30 days I am going to be writing a series called "Poker is all about decisions". We will run this series of articles in 10 installments, changing them here in the Spider's Corner every 3 days. If you miss an installment, don't fret, because we will be archiving them as we do all our articles; as you may have noticed.

In his book " Hold'em Excellence from beginner to winner " Lou Krieger characterized poker as a game of decisions.  As you approach the game these are some of the decisions you should address.

As I say in the title, poker is all about decisions. Good decisions gain you chips. Bad decisions lose chips. Hopefully after the series of articles, you will make better decisions as you approach poker. As we discuss the decisions, everyone should be aware that all decisions are situational. Some of the recommendations might be rather controversial, but they do provide a basis for an evaluation of the decision and they are based on a rational examination. Later, in additional articles that are more in depth, we will examine other solutions to these same decisions and don't be surprised when some situations call for the opposite solution. All of the solutions expressed in this series are to limit bad decisions. To keep these brief, I will direct everything toward Hold'em, once we begin to play.

Which Game to Play?

Before we address the 1 st decision, we need to know why we play. This will affect every other decision we make. Do we play for fun, or the money? The significance of the decisions will become apparent as we address the other poker decisions.

To play for fun, we need only some spare money, and some free time. In the online world we can even play for free and might win prizes, or small amounts of money in available freerolls. Many players play only fake money or freerolls for entertainment. Many more play fake money and freerolls to learn the game. Anyway, with the right decisions, there is no reason why you can't have fun and win money too.

To play for the money, we need a bankroll, lots of time, the patience of Job, and flexibility. Since we intend to win money, our bankroll will grow. We need time for study and practice. Your success will be directly proportional to the time you spend learning the game. Winning poker play requires large measures of patience. Someone once described combat as: "Days of indeterminable boredom punctuated by seconds of abject terror." Good poker play is much like this. For winning play though we also need flexibility. I am a stud player by inclination, but play Hold'em because that is where the money is. Why sit down at a tough stud table, when there is a rolling Hold'em table across the room or someone giving away money at the Omaha table. We're not there to have fun. We're not there to prove anything. We are there to win the money. "I don't have fun playing poker. I have fun stacking your chips." - Turner

Now that we know our motivation, let's examine the first decision. Which game should we play? Although, there are a myriad of games to choose from, generally the most common games are: 7 Card Stud, Texas Hold'em, Omaha , and Omaha Hi/Lo. I address this first. Because, we should know which game we wish to play before we select a poker room. Some poker rooms always have a good stud game, and some never have a stud game. Omaha and Omaha Hi/Lo can even be harder to fine. Although, most poker rooms have Hold'em, they may not encourage the game.

Stud is probably the easiest game to win. We can follow a simple set of rules and usually walk away from the table a winner. The mantra of the stud player should be, "Minimize my loss, minimize my loss." When the cards come we'll win, we don't want to lose with marginal cards. In stud we can expect a small consistent win rate with a small deviation. Although Stud is an easy game to learn and most people could be winners, it is a hard game to play really well, because the number of exposed cards and available outs, changes each card. Generally this requires some good mental math skills. In Las Vegas there are many locals that make at least a subsistence living with little or no real knowledge on how to play the game. They follow a set of simple rigid rules that provide a positive expectation.

If we want to have fun, Stud is probably our game. It is slow, there's time to talk to your neighbor, and you don't play as many hands per hour. It caters to those that relish the chase. It is simple to learn and anyone that makes a habit of good decisions can easily not lose.

For the money Hold'em is the game. With the televised World Series of Poker and World Poker Tour, Texas Hold'em has gained a significant following. Additionally Hold'em punishes chasers. The best hand usually stays the best hand. In Hold'em our mantra should be "Maximize my winnings, maximize my winnings."

Next we will examine: "Where to Play?"