What I learned at the WSOP*

Jay Greenspan

The summer of 2005, I had the good fortune to cover the World Series of Poker for PokerWire.com and Full Tilt Poker. For six weeks, I watched world-class players ply their trade and, in that time, I learned a ton about poker. What follows are three lessons I learned from watching Full Tilt Poker’s pros during their long days of play.

Never Rush a Big Decision

Even in the top ranks of poker, there’s a tendency among players to act rashly and blurt out an action – “All in!” or “I call!” – without having taken nearly enough time to carefully consider the situation. Of course, a player shouldn’t delay while holding the nuts. But I was often surprised to see the time the pros took to mull over situations that seemed to have only one clear-cut action.

One of the best examples of this came in the final hand of the WSOP’s first event. Allen Cunningham was heads-up with Scott Fischman. Fischman bet the flop of T-6-3 and Cunningham raised. Fischman called, then checked the turn, a 4. Cunningham made an aggressive bet, but Fischman then quickly check-raised all-in. Cunningham stopped and thought. He had two-pair, 3s and 6s – a hand that usually requires a call in heads-up play. But, he didn’t rush the decision. After a few minutes of thought, he called. When Fischman showed 4-5, it was clear that Cunningham made the right choice. The river, an Ace, gave Cunningham the pot and the bracelet.

I was impressed that after 13 hours and 300 hands of play, Cunningham didn’t automatically put his faith in a fairly big hand. He took the time to stop and review the conditions in their entirety. This sort of thoroughness is one reason the pros are less likely to make big, costly mistakes.

Never Talk During Play

In one of the early WSOP tournaments, Mike Matusow was playing very aggressively. He had a huge stack and used it to bully the table. In one early orbit, he raised on the button. The big blind re-raised all-in.

Mike had spent most of day chatting up the table. He turned to the man and asked, “You got a hand?”

The man replied, “Best hand I’ve seen in hours.”

“Best hand in hours,” Matusow echoed, “That means you don’t have Aces… I only have King-five, but I think I have to call.”

And Matusow was absolutely right. The big blind had pocket 10s, and given the size of the pot, Matusow correctly determined that with one over-card, he was getting the right price to call the bet.

Through a seemingly vague and innocuous statement, the big blind had given Matusow vital information, which he was able to use to make the best possible decision.

The lesson here? When playing, keep your mouth shut and don’t do your opposition any favors.

Bet Your Hand

The great players – Phil Ivey, Erik Seidel, Chris Ferguson, etc. – usually err on the side of aggression. That is, they sometimes find themselves betting with hands that are underdogs to win. But, in my time at the WSOP, I can’t remember a time when I saw a top pro miss a bet in a vital situation.

By contrast, many novice players in this year’s WSOP seemed determined to check-raise or slow play their hands. They were trying to be tricky. But often, their failure to bet was disastrous. Opponents were permitted to check down hands with which they might have called bets, and others were allowed to draw for free.

The best players are aggressive, and by following their lead, you’re less likely to make mistakes that could cost you valuable chips.

We’ve all heard that poker is a game of skill rather than luck, and watching the top pros play – either live or on television – only proves the truth of that statement. Watch how they act at the poker table, and it quickly becomes clear why the same players consistently finish in the money. Follow their examples, and it’s a good bet that you’ll pick up a few tips that can improve your game.

It’s Not Easy Being Green. Or Is It?

In the premier episode of our new show, “FullTiltPoker.Net Presents Learn from the Pros” broadcast on FOX Sports Net, five of our pros engaged in a roundtable discussion about stepping up in limits.

Everyone agreed that one of the best ways to improve your game is to play against better players. Jennifer Harman said she faced more tough decisions at her first table with Doyle Brunson than she’d faced in all her previous years of playing poker. Layne Flack and Howard Lederer agreed that the constant pressure can be a good thing, forcing you to weigh each decision more carefully and rethink old habits and patterns. Chris “Jesus” Ferguson said his best learning opportunities come at World Series final tables, and Phil Ivey remarked that, with time, you start to look forward to playing out of your comfort zone. Perhaps the adrenaline helps keep you focused.

But maybe there’s a corollary to this; the idea that being a first-timer relieves you of the pressure that can only come from having already had a taste of victory.

It’s true that you see a lot of the same names winning tournaments, but some newcomers have had some incredible finishes, and many of today’s pros started out with very early success. Erik Seidel finished second to Johnny Chan in his very first World Series of Poker Main Event. Andy Bloch won the first No-Limit Hold ‘em event he ever entered. Phil Gordon finished fourth in his first WSOP Big Dance. And Howard Lederer has made the final table of the World Series of Poker Main Event just once – the first year he entered the event. When Howard survived to Day 4 in 2003, he made this observation:

I am playing for more money than I ever have, and this kind of chance at the WSOP will probably only come up for me a few more times in my life. But, for some reason, I am only thinking about this table, this hand, this moment. I have read some Zen Buddhism in the last few years and it is really helping me now.

In particular “Zen and the Art of Archery”, a short little book, has everything you need to know about staying in the moment. Thinking about the recent past or the possible future at moments like these can only hurt your ability to make the plays necessary to win. And, those thoughts can actually make it impossible to win. I have started to think that players like Varkonyi and Moneymaker have an advantage over experienced tournament players. Yes they would like to win, and they know this is an important tournament, but they don’t feel that importance deep in their bones like a seasoned pro who has been trying to win the WSOP for years. It frees them up to play their best when it matters. My best finish was in my first try. It wasn’t real to me. I remember having a great time, and not feeling a lot of pressure.

Getting back to the roundtable… everyone agreed that tournaments are a good way to get out of your comfort zone without risking your bankroll. Try to let inexperience work for you, not against you. If you’re at your first final table and you see enough bracelets to fill a Tiffany display window, use it as a learning opportunity. Also use it as a chance to enjoy the moment and focus on the here and now. You don’t yet have a past, and living in the moment is the best way to ensure you have a future.

Big Slick: A Slippery Hand

Rafe Furst

I often tell people that short-term results are not a reason to change how they play, but I likewise encourage them to use any excuse to study and analyze their game.

Recently, a player on Full Tilt Poker lamented that he’d gone broke with A-K in his last several tourneys, and he suspected that he was doing something wrong. A few questions revealed that he was getting knocked out fairly early in these tournaments when he put his A-K up against pocket pairs for all his chips. It’s a familiar lament.

Many people fall in love with A-K pre-flop in No-Limit Hold ‘em because they know that they can rarely be much worse than 50-50 to win the hand if they get all of their money in heads up. While this is true, the reverse is also true: Rarely will you be much better than 50-50 to win an all-in showdown.

So why is A-K considered such a great starting hand? Folding equity. Under the right conditions, you can increase your pot equity to well over 50% by getting your opponents to fold in situations where they shouldn’t. Here’s a scenario: Blinds are $200-$400 and Jen Harman (who has $12,000 in front of her) raises to $1,200 from middle position with pocket tens. You re-raise all-in for $6,000 with A-K from the button. It is difficult for Jen to call here because, even though she suspects you might have A-K, she knows you could also make that play with A-A, K-K, Q-Q or J-J.

Does she want to play for half of her stack on what figures to be, at best, a 57% favorite? You, on the other hand, are confident that unless she has one of two hands (AA or KK), you are no worse than 43% to win, even if she calls. Unless Jen picks up on a tell, she is forced to fold a hand that is actually better than your A-K by a slight margin. Not only that, but you’ve also made her give up all the extra chips in the pot (mostly hers) that were giving her great odds to make a call. Variants of this scenario come up all the time in No-Limit Hold ‘em.

By putting your opponents in a bind where they must first call you and then have to beat you in a race, you can turn a hand that is 50% to win with all the money in pre-flop and turn it into a hand that is a 75% favorite or better.

The mistake many inexperienced players make is not giving their opponents a chance to fold. They look down to find A-K and can’t wait to get all their money in the middle and race. But as we can see from the example above, the power of A-K pre-flop really comes from the “folding equity” you gain when you can make your opponent lay down a hand they would not lay down if they could see your hole cards.

Here are three keys to getting the most out of A-K pre-flop:

1) Jam with A-K, but don’t call all-in with it.

2) Raise enough when you have A-K to give your opponents a chance to fold.

3) Don’t raise so much that the only hands that are willing to call you are the hands that have you dominated (A-A and K-K).

To execute these plays properly, it is important to keep in mind the size of the blinds relative to your opponents’ stacks and your own stack. A-K loses much of its value when your opponents are short-stacked or pot committed — and therefore unlikely to lay down a hand — or when the blinds are very small relative to everyone’s stacks. These principles apply to both ring game and tournament play. Getting back to my friend who kept busting early in tourneys with A-K…

In the early stages of a tournament, the blinds are very small relative to everyone’s stack size. This contributed to his breaking of each of the three rules:

(1) He was calling his opponents’ all-in raises when they had their expected pocket pairs.

(2) He was jamming only after his opponents were pot-committed.

(3) After getting gun shy from having his A-K cracked a few times, he made his raises way too big to “protect” his hand, but then was only getting called once he was beat.

This is one of those instances where looking at short-term results can lead to long-term improvements.

Texture Isn’t Just For Fabric

Phil Gordon

When I’m thinking about my actions after the flop or turn, I look to the “texture” of the board – i.e., what cards are in play, and how might they interact with my opponent’s likely starting hands – to help determine if and how much I will bet.

My normal post-flop betting range is one third of the pot to the full size of the pot. The texture of the board dictates where in that range I choose to bet, and I determine that based on the following four factors:

1. How strong is my hand with respect to all of the likely hands for my opponent?

If I have a very strong hand with respect to all of the likely starting hands for my opponent, I’ll usually go for the lower end of the spectrum, betting around 1/3 of the pot. I want my opponent to call.

If I have a moderate strength hand with respect to all of the likely starting hands for my opponent, I’ll likely bet 2/3 of the pot. I want my opponents to fold some hands that are better than my hand and call with some hands that are worse than my hand.

If I have a weak hand with respect to all of the likely starting hands for my opponent and I want to bet, I’ll bet the pot. I want my opponents to fold hands that are better than my hand.

2. How likely is my hand to improve?

If my hand is unlikely to improve, I tend to bet more than 2/3 of the pot. I want to take this pot now.

If my hand is somewhat likely to improve, say about 15% to 20% of the time, I am more apt to bet 2/3 of the pot.

If my hand is very likely to improve (about 34% of the time or more), I am more apt to bet 1/2 of the pot.

3. How likely is my opponent to have “hit the flop” and have a pair or better?

If my opponent is unlikely to have hit the flop and have top pair or better, I tend to bet 1/3 of the pot whether I think I have the best hand or not.

If my opponent is likely to have flopped exactly one pair, and I think I have the best hand, I tend to bet 2/3 of the pot.

If my opponent is likely to have flopped two pair or better and I think I have the best hand, I tend to bet the size of the pot. If I don’t think I have the best hand, I’ll almost never bet.

4. How likely is my opponent to have a primary draw? (That is, a draw to the best possible hand on the board, like a straight or a flush.)

If I think my opponent is likely to have a primary draw and I think I have the best hand, I’m likely to bet the size of the pot.

If I think my opponent has a primary draw and there is a good chance I don’t have the best hand, I’ll almost never bet.

When the four factors above lead to different conclusions about how much to bet, I average the recommendations and bet that amount.

Over time, you’ll develop a more immediate sense of the “texture” of the board, and the amount to bet based on that will become almost automatic. Then, you can spend less time calculating your actions and more time observing your opponents.

This lesson is from Phil Gordon’s Little Green Book: Lessons and Teachings in No Limit Texas Hold’em , published by Simon Spotlight Entertainment.