Worthy of it's own thread...

[Kurn]

I'm convinced there is a progression in becoming an expert player.

First you just start playing because the game is deceptively simple, you win some, you lose a little more, and you get confused.

Then you read a little and understand that it's a game of skill. The first skill you learn is tight play, and then you learn about aggression and try to combine them, but get frustrated when people playing incorrectly draw out. Now you're frustrated and break-even. What has happened is that you've interpreted "skill" and "gambling" to be mutually exclusive.

Enlightenment begins when you recognize that "gambling" is not synonymous with "hoping for dumb luck" - that there *is* a skill for gambling. You don't only raise when you have the best hand or are semi-bluffing. Sometimes you raise when you are behind even though you know you'll lose more often than win because you understand that raising will allow you to win slightly more often. It's marginal differences over the long run that separate a winning player from a break-even player.

Like in stud, when you have split 8's with an A kicker in a 3-way pot and you all catch bricks on 4th. A K in the door bets and you know he has Kings, and the player after you has a Q in the door. You raise to knock out the Queens because you have a better chance of overtaking one player than two.

This is counter-intuitive but shifts the odds more your way. That's skillful gambling.

[Talking Poker]

This was originally posted in this thread:


But I thought it was worthy of it's own thread. Good stuff.

[junYUN]

interesting theory...i guess i really never thought of it this way. buying outs makes sense, but sometimes i'm probably too passive to make a play like that -- which obviously would be a huge hole in my game. but hey, that's why we're here right?