Re-How Do You Win? Part 1 (Long!)
Sgt. Rock
KENN...@webtv.net (CAMILLE Visconti) asks:
>
> {...how do you win?...]
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Some months ago I thought I saw, on S&M's twoplustwo
website, a solicitation for essay submissions, with 2+2
books to be given away to writers whose work was accepted
and posted. Since I collect gambling books (who doesn't?),
and live for freebies, I went away and started writing down
some ideas. Later, when I checked back at 2+2, I could no
longer find the announcement (but didn't look very hard,
either.) An 'essay.txt' file just sat, incomplete, on my D:
drive. Somehow the rather terse post (above) made me want
to finish and post the essays on RGP.
Since so many posters and authors focus on objective or
specific aspects of *winning poker strategies*, discussing
things like starting hand requirements and whether to count
big bets, small bets, dollars or chips, I decided to instead
examine some of the more subjective, maybe even
philosophical areas.
Some things you might do (or even just think about) to help
win at poker might be:
Part:
1. Find (or create) a Delta Factor.
2. Emulate Treebark.
3. Beware (but learn from) the OTBS.
4. Be both intellectually AND emotionally prepared for "Luck."
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1. The Delta Factor.
In math and engineering, the Greek letter Delta describes the
"difference" between two values. If we optimize some software
to reduce program execution time from 12.5 to 9.2 seconds, then
the engineers will claim a "3.3 second Delta."
The most basic thing you gotta do to beat a poker game is...
"Play Differently Than the Other 9 Guys."
...and I like to call this the Delta Factor. May sound silly, or
too elementary, but basic truths are sometimes like that.
Suppose that you play *real well* but are in a game where
everyone else plays EXACTLY like you do. If there were no rake,
then everyone would break even. Since there generally IS a
rake, then everyone would lose in such a game.
Consider, however, the game with 9 solid players and one fish.
The fish is *playing differently* but will still lose. A Delta
Factor by itself does not, or course, equate to winning. Still,
*Playing Differently* IS always a necessary component of a
winning strategy.
I don't wake up in the morning planning to go to the poker game
and play tight. I wake up hoping to be able to find ways to
play *differently* than my opponents. Since most of the opponents
I face usually tend to play loosely, that mandates my playing
tight. Games filled with tight (or weak-tight) players are
beatable (maybe easy to beat), but I haven't had much exposure
to or experience with such games :-) and so I simply don't know
how to handle them. If I found myself in a game where everyone
played real tight, then my best strategy would probably be to
find another game.
--
Sergeant Rock
aka WoodRack-777
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