Poker Strategy: Add a Little Science to Your Art Form

15.12.2008, Lesen Sie hier den Bericht über «Poker Strategy: Add a Little Science to Your Art Form».

By David Apostolico Poker is both a science and an art form. In this article, I'd like to take a look at a long standing law of physics and see how it can help our poker game. Let's go back to junior high science when we were learning all kinds of things that we never thought we'd use in the real world especially if we wanted to play poker. Sir Isaac Newton's Law of Inertia states: "Unless acted upon, a body at rest stays at rest, and a body in motion stays in motion."

What's this have to do with poker? Well, how many times have you been sucked into a hand? How many times have you heard a player at the table mumble about being pot committed to justify throwing away more chips on a losing hand? Or, my personal favorite, the player who moans that he knows he's beat but he has to pay to see the cards. In all of these circumstances, players let momentum take over their play. Once they throw in a few chips, they can't stop themselves from continuing down the path. They can't defy physics.

Fortunately, you can use Sir Isaac's law to your advantage. Let me offer an example from a recent tournament I played. The blinds were $25-$50 and I was in the big blind. A player in middle position made a mini-raise to $100 and two players called before the action got to me. I had 3-4 off suit and the price was right to see a flop. The flop came down 5-6-7 rainbow. This was a good but dangerous flop for me. I had the ignorant end of the straight but I didn't want to lose to a higher straight. I bet out $500 immediately. The initial raiser called instantly and the other two players folded. The turn was an Ace and I bet out $1000 before the card hit the felt. My opponent called before my chips hit the felt. Now, as the dealer was turning over the river card, I could see my opponent with chips in his hand ready to call.

I bet out another $2000 as the innocent 2 of Clubs was laid before us. My opponent called almost simultaneously. I turned over my straight and he chuckled in surprise before mucking his hand. I found out later that he had A-8 when I over heard him describing the hand to his buddy. That makes sense. He had an open-ended straight on the flop, top pair on the turn and no help on the river. The problem, however, was he was basically reacting the entire hand without thinking things through. He was a fast and loose player but he could be very deliberate and reflective when he needed to.

He could have saved himself some money if he had raised the flop or turn. He would have found out that I had a good hand and had him beat. I was able to put him into a rhythm where the laws of physics took over and he couldn't stop himself. He was reactive and helpless to my motion without being proactive.

Now, Newton's law "a body in motion stays in motion" is not an absolute. There's a nice qualifier at the beginning that states "unless action upon." That's a fairly big qualifier. You don't have to continue throwing chips into a pot when you're behind. You have control over your actions and can act by sending signals to your hands to pick up your cards and throw them in the muck.

More importantly, you have the ability to disrupt your opponent's motion. If you're up against an aggressive opponent, he's going to keep firing chips until stopped. He's a body in motion that is going to stay in motion unless acted upon. Pick up some chips and make a big raise. That's usually a strong enough action to stop his momentum.

Finally, let's look at the other part of Newton's law: "a body at rest stays at rest." If you're playing a tournament and you run the risk of being blinded out, you absolutely cannot afford to sit still. You have to fight inertia. Even if you aren't getting any cards whatsoever, don't allow your body at rest to stay at rest. Take some action before it's too late. While you still have enough chips to force others to fold, make a move. It sure beats being blinded out. Lack of inertia is a sure way to lose.

About the Author David Apostolico is the author of numerous poker books including Lessons from the Felt, Machiavellian Poker Strategy, and Tournament Poker and the Art of War. You can contact him at thepokerwriter@comcast.net.

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