Welcome Back to Me and A Great Lesson from Phil Gordon
The wedding and honeymoon were fantastic, and now I return to the grind of full-time work and part-time poker. Yummy.
On ESPN.com, Phil Gordon wrote a great article about the four levels of poker thought. Great stuff...
Many years ago I used to watch broadcast coverage of the WSOP - the only televised poker tournament at the time. This was before hole-card cameras, back when a typical review of a poker broadcast included the words "cattle grazing." But I loved it; I loved trying to get inside the mind of the poker professionals at the table.
I wanted to know how the pros knew their opponent would fold to a re-raise, how they knew their Ace-high was best. I wondered why some players looked so uncomfortable - Did they have the nuts? Were they bluffing? Did they have irritable bowel syndrome?
Now, with hole-card cameras, the game of wondering what players are thinking is even more fun. Who doesn't want to know how Phil Ivey got his opponent to lay down the winning hand? You've just got to wonder, how many levels deep does this guy think?
Like all pros, Ivey was once a beginning player and so that's where our journey inside the mind of poker players will begin.
First, the setup:
The tournament is No Limit Texas Holdem. All players have $10,000 in chips. The blinds are $50 and $100. It's a full nine-player table, and the guy we're playing along with is first to act before the flop. "We" pick up AsQs and raises to $300. Two players fold and an aggressive player in middle position calls the raise. The remaining players fold.
The pot is $750.
The flop comes: Qc 8c 2h
Beginning players typically think one level deep:
Level 1: "What hand do I have?"
Let's listen in on the thought process of a beginning player before the flop:
"Okay good, I have an Ace and a Queen and they're suited! I love being suited! I'm going to raise because my hand is strong."
And, here are the thoughts after the flop:
"Fantastic! I flopped top pair, top kicker. I have a great hand so I'm going to bet."
The beginning player bets $300.
The opponent raises all-in and now the beginning player must call $9400.
"I have a strong hand!" he thinks, "You picked the wrong time bluff me buster!"
The beginning player calls.
Intermediate players typically think two levels deep:
Level 1: "What hand do I have?"
Level 2: "What hand does my opponent have?"
Let's listen in on the action after an opponent's smooth call or the raise before the flop:
"Normally this aggressive player would re-raise to get heads-up, but instead he just called. He's probably playing a middle or small pocket pair, a weak ace, or suited connectors."
After the flop:
"I've flopped top pair top kicker, but the flop has a flush and straight draw. I'm going to bet to protect my hand."
The intermediate player bets $750, enough to give the draws bad odds.
The opponent raises all-in, a raise of $8950.
"What hand could my opponent have? If he's willing to move all-in, he must have an over-pair, a set, or a gut-shot straight flush draw with the Tc-9c or Jc-Tc. Against the likely hands, I'm a slight favorite when he has the straight flush draw and a huge, overwhelming underdog against the other hands. I guess I've got to fold."
Advanced players think three levels deep:
Level 1: "What hand do I have?"
Level 2: "What hand does my opponent have?"
Level 3: "What hand does my opponent think I have?"
This time we'll listen in from after the opponent's all-in raise.
"My opponent probably thinks I have top pair because I bet to protect my hand. Because he's probably thinking this, is it possible that he's trying to push me out of the pot? Then again, what if he made his set? Or what if he has an over-pair? If I call and lose, I'm eliminated from the tournament. If I lay down my hand, I'll still have $8950 left -- more than enough chips to some play solid poker. I'm going to fold."
Expert players think four of more levels deep:
Level 1: "What hand do I have?"
Level 2: "What hand does my opponent have?"
Level 3: "What hand does my opponent think I have?"
Level 4: "What does my opponent think that I think they have?"
We'll listen in again from after the opponent's all-in raise:
"My opponent probably thinks that I think he has a pocket pair or suited connectors because he just smooth called my pre-flop raise. Since he knows I'm capable of laying down top pair, he decided to move all-in. Can he beat my top pair, top kicker? If so, would he bet $8950 into a $1500 pot? I don't think so. I suspect he over-bet the pot because he doesn't want to be called. I think he's on a move with the Ace high flush draw. I'm going to call."
You can improve your play immensely by taking your thought processes to the next level. If you're a beginning player, do your best to consider the likely hands your opponent will hold. If you're an intermediate player, consider what your opponent thinks that you hold. If you're an advanced player, give more consideration to what your opponent thinks that you think they have. If you're an expert player, get your butt out to the tables.
In my new DVD, "Expert Insight's Final Table Poker" you get to see my hole-cards and then listen in on my thought process as I play through twenty-four hands at the final table of a high stakes tournament. Depending on the situation, you'll hear me thinking on different levels. Against the Internet rookie Butch Dude, I'm thinking two levels deep. Against the 2001 WSOP Champion Chris Ferguson, I'm thinking four levels deep. Throughout play, you hear every thought I have while making winning decisions in No Limit Hold'em. It is a great teaching method experiential rather than professorial.
Will watching my DVD make you a WSOP championship like Chris? Well, I can't promise this. But I can promise that the lessons in this DVD will substantially improve your poker game. I can also promise that when you see Rachael Huntley of "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" fame playing the role of Harmony Jensen, you won't be thinking of cattle grazing.
What level do you think at??
You know, I've been doing a bunch of thinking about poker since I've been home, after thinking about NOTHING poker-related for the duration of my honeymoon except why the airport in Maui still had the pre-WSOP Collectors' Edition of Card Player Magazine on display at the end of July. It's weird--my wife doesn't really bother me about playing poker online. She knows that I've made my money from my initial deposits, and to her, though she was sketchy about playing for real money online, she's come to accept it, if not in some way embrace the idea. But at the same time, I'm playing 2/4 and 3/6 online (currently all 2/4 since the withdrawal), and I don't really have a desire to play higher, and definitely not until my online roll goes back up enough to support it. I don't even play with the 200-300 BB that are recommended for a level. I play to my comfort level. I play 2/4. I take $100 to a table and play. The rule is simple. Win a buy-in, leave. Lose half-a-buy-in, leave. Simple. I play no more than 2 tables at a time (probably a good thing because I would take this WAY too seriously otherwise, and it would then cease to be fun), and I enjoy myself. I'm right now at about 175 BB in the Stars account. That should tell you not only what my current online BR is, but also how I feel about it. I will dabble in 3/6 when my mind chooses to as well. But I digress--I've gotten off the point.
When I go to the casino, I've beenplaying crushing 2/4. Obscenely unsustainable win-rates (double-digit BB/hour consistently), but the competition isn't any. In another article on ESPN by Peter Newmann, he talks about the players at a B&M 2/4 game as:
I alternately laugh and get pissed off at that. Number one, I'm one of those players. Few who play against me in either a tourney or a live game, no matter how small the stakes, would agree with that characterization. Secondly, just because he doesn't understand the finer points of roshambo doesn't give him a right to bash it. He continues...
You see, I make a very nice living. My job pays me into six figures annually (and who knew a pharmacist made THAT much money). However, I'm not the kind of gambler like my partner at work, who would save up money for two months, take $2k to a casino, and just go down andplay piss away money at 10/20 just for shits and giggles. I love poker. I also love my toys. I spend money on toys. If I took 2k to a casino for something other than a WSOP event, my wife would stuff me into a GA meeting quicker than you can blink. I choose to go to a casino with a couple hundred dollars and have fun.
However....
He's also right. Many of these players suck. They're horrendous. What the hell is the challenge of playing solid poker against guys just there to gamble? You'll beat them mercilessly, they'll suck out on you or hit a miracle flop, and you'll shuffle money across the table all night long. For a quasi-serious player like myself (as serious as I allow it to become), that sucks. Hell, I could give chips to a bunch of my non-playing friends and just take them from them all weekend long, but what does it do for me? I've dabbled in live 4/8 before, but I might even be selling myself short there. I could buy in for 3 racks and sit 6/12, and probably make just as much money because you can't look me in the face and tell me that the difference between B&M 2/4 and 6/12 is much more than the size of the fishies' checkbooks. Granted, as you move up levels, you will likely find more players like you, sharky-types who like to take from the fish and keep it for yourself. I accept that. But at least there would be a challenge! It's not just the money that keeps me playing poker--it's the intellectual stimulation too. At the expense of sounding like a Sklansky-clone (which, for his coming off as boorish, isn't really a bad thing) I like to THINK the game while I play it. I LIKE the challenge of playing a solid player. I'm a competitive person by nature. You can play wiffle-ball with 9-year-olds and have fun, but if you have a competitive fire burning, you still want to play against people that can play against you and give you a battle. You see, for someone who lives literally 40 minutes from the casinos in Atlantic City, I don't get down there very much. I get to AC about 6 times or so yearly, so the majority of my action is gotten online.
The point of this rambling discussion is that I have an itch. I just don't think that live 2/4 is the brush to scratch it anymore.
On ESPN.com, Phil Gordon wrote a great article about the four levels of poker thought. Great stuff...
Many years ago I used to watch broadcast coverage of the WSOP - the only televised poker tournament at the time. This was before hole-card cameras, back when a typical review of a poker broadcast included the words "cattle grazing." But I loved it; I loved trying to get inside the mind of the poker professionals at the table.
I wanted to know how the pros knew their opponent would fold to a re-raise, how they knew their Ace-high was best. I wondered why some players looked so uncomfortable - Did they have the nuts? Were they bluffing? Did they have irritable bowel syndrome?
Now, with hole-card cameras, the game of wondering what players are thinking is even more fun. Who doesn't want to know how Phil Ivey got his opponent to lay down the winning hand? You've just got to wonder, how many levels deep does this guy think?
Like all pros, Ivey was once a beginning player and so that's where our journey inside the mind of poker players will begin.
First, the setup:
The tournament is No Limit Texas Holdem. All players have $10,000 in chips. The blinds are $50 and $100. It's a full nine-player table, and the guy we're playing along with is first to act before the flop. "We" pick up AsQs and raises to $300. Two players fold and an aggressive player in middle position calls the raise. The remaining players fold.
The pot is $750.
The flop comes: Qc 8c 2h
Inside the Mind of a Beginning Player
Beginning players typically think one level deep:
Level 1: "What hand do I have?"
Let's listen in on the thought process of a beginning player before the flop:
"Okay good, I have an Ace and a Queen and they're suited! I love being suited! I'm going to raise because my hand is strong."
And, here are the thoughts after the flop:
"Fantastic! I flopped top pair, top kicker. I have a great hand so I'm going to bet."
The beginning player bets $300.
The opponent raises all-in and now the beginning player must call $9400.
"I have a strong hand!" he thinks, "You picked the wrong time bluff me buster!"
The beginning player calls.
Inside the Mind of an Intermediate Player
Intermediate players typically think two levels deep:
Level 1: "What hand do I have?"
Level 2: "What hand does my opponent have?"
Let's listen in on the action after an opponent's smooth call or the raise before the flop:
"Normally this aggressive player would re-raise to get heads-up, but instead he just called. He's probably playing a middle or small pocket pair, a weak ace, or suited connectors."
After the flop:
"I've flopped top pair top kicker, but the flop has a flush and straight draw. I'm going to bet to protect my hand."
The intermediate player bets $750, enough to give the draws bad odds.
The opponent raises all-in, a raise of $8950.
"What hand could my opponent have? If he's willing to move all-in, he must have an over-pair, a set, or a gut-shot straight flush draw with the Tc-9c or Jc-Tc. Against the likely hands, I'm a slight favorite when he has the straight flush draw and a huge, overwhelming underdog against the other hands. I guess I've got to fold."
Inside the Mind of an Advanced Player
Advanced players think three levels deep:
Level 1: "What hand do I have?"
Level 2: "What hand does my opponent have?"
Level 3: "What hand does my opponent think I have?"
This time we'll listen in from after the opponent's all-in raise.
"My opponent probably thinks I have top pair because I bet to protect my hand. Because he's probably thinking this, is it possible that he's trying to push me out of the pot? Then again, what if he made his set? Or what if he has an over-pair? If I call and lose, I'm eliminated from the tournament. If I lay down my hand, I'll still have $8950 left -- more than enough chips to some play solid poker. I'm going to fold."
Inside the Mind of an Expert Player
Expert players think four of more levels deep:
Level 1: "What hand do I have?"
Level 2: "What hand does my opponent have?"
Level 3: "What hand does my opponent think I have?"
Level 4: "What does my opponent think that I think they have?"
We'll listen in again from after the opponent's all-in raise:
"My opponent probably thinks that I think he has a pocket pair or suited connectors because he just smooth called my pre-flop raise. Since he knows I'm capable of laying down top pair, he decided to move all-in. Can he beat my top pair, top kicker? If so, would he bet $8950 into a $1500 pot? I don't think so. I suspect he over-bet the pot because he doesn't want to be called. I think he's on a move with the Ace high flush draw. I'm going to call."
Take it to the Next Level
You can improve your play immensely by taking your thought processes to the next level. If you're a beginning player, do your best to consider the likely hands your opponent will hold. If you're an intermediate player, consider what your opponent thinks that you hold. If you're an advanced player, give more consideration to what your opponent thinks that you think they have. If you're an expert player, get your butt out to the tables.
In my new DVD, "Expert Insight's Final Table Poker" you get to see my hole-cards and then listen in on my thought process as I play through twenty-four hands at the final table of a high stakes tournament. Depending on the situation, you'll hear me thinking on different levels. Against the Internet rookie Butch Dude, I'm thinking two levels deep. Against the 2001 WSOP Champion Chris Ferguson, I'm thinking four levels deep. Throughout play, you hear every thought I have while making winning decisions in No Limit Hold'em. It is a great teaching method experiential rather than professorial.
Will watching my DVD make you a WSOP championship like Chris? Well, I can't promise this. But I can promise that the lessons in this DVD will substantially improve your poker game. I can also promise that when you see Rachael Huntley of "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" fame playing the role of Harmony Jensen, you won't be thinking of cattle grazing.
What level do you think at??
You know, I've been doing a bunch of thinking about poker since I've been home, after thinking about NOTHING poker-related for the duration of my honeymoon except why the airport in Maui still had the pre-WSOP Collectors' Edition of Card Player Magazine on display at the end of July. It's weird--my wife doesn't really bother me about playing poker online. She knows that I've made my money from my initial deposits, and to her, though she was sketchy about playing for real money online, she's come to accept it, if not in some way embrace the idea. But at the same time, I'm playing 2/4 and 3/6 online (currently all 2/4 since the withdrawal), and I don't really have a desire to play higher, and definitely not until my online roll goes back up enough to support it. I don't even play with the 200-300 BB that are recommended for a level. I play to my comfort level. I play 2/4. I take $100 to a table and play. The rule is simple. Win a buy-in, leave. Lose half-a-buy-in, leave. Simple. I play no more than 2 tables at a time (probably a good thing because I would take this WAY too seriously otherwise, and it would then cease to be fun), and I enjoy myself. I'm right now at about 175 BB in the Stars account. That should tell you not only what my current online BR is, but also how I feel about it. I will dabble in 3/6 when my mind chooses to as well. But I digress--I've gotten off the point.
When I go to the casino, I've been
These players have seen poker on television, but don't understand the game. And because of that, there is less strategy. There is less skill. There are fewer decisions. A $2/$4 limit hold'em game is like an alternate universe. If no-limit hold'em is the Bellagio, then $2/$4 is the casino in "National Lampoon's Vegas Vacation," featuring games like Guess the Number, War and Rock, Paper, Scissors. It's a joke.
I alternately laugh and get pissed off at that. Number one, I'm one of those players. Few who play against me in either a tourney or a live game, no matter how small the stakes, would agree with that characterization. Secondly, just because he doesn't understand the finer points of roshambo doesn't give him a right to bash it. He continues...
Because it's only a $2 bet, players will call with virtually anything, trying to catch something on a cheap flop. Any knucklehead who finds a couple of bucks between the seat cushions of his couch can play.
You see, I make a very nice living. My job pays me into six figures annually (and who knew a pharmacist made THAT much money). However, I'm not the kind of gambler like my partner at work, who would save up money for two months, take $2k to a casino, and just go down and
However....
He's also right. Many of these players suck. They're horrendous. What the hell is the challenge of playing solid poker against guys just there to gamble? You'll beat them mercilessly, they'll suck out on you or hit a miracle flop, and you'll shuffle money across the table all night long. For a quasi-serious player like myself (as serious as I allow it to become), that sucks. Hell, I could give chips to a bunch of my non-playing friends and just take them from them all weekend long, but what does it do for me? I've dabbled in live 4/8 before, but I might even be selling myself short there. I could buy in for 3 racks and sit 6/12, and probably make just as much money because you can't look me in the face and tell me that the difference between B&M 2/4 and 6/12 is much more than the size of the fishies' checkbooks. Granted, as you move up levels, you will likely find more players like you, sharky-types who like to take from the fish and keep it for yourself. I accept that. But at least there would be a challenge! It's not just the money that keeps me playing poker--it's the intellectual stimulation too. At the expense of sounding like a Sklansky-clone (which, for his coming off as boorish, isn't really a bad thing) I like to THINK the game while I play it. I LIKE the challenge of playing a solid player. I'm a competitive person by nature. You can play wiffle-ball with 9-year-olds and have fun, but if you have a competitive fire burning, you still want to play against people that can play against you and give you a battle. You see, for someone who lives literally 40 minutes from the casinos in Atlantic City, I don't get down there very much. I get to AC about 6 times or so yearly, so the majority of my action is gotten online.
The point of this rambling discussion is that I have an itch. I just don't think that live 2/4 is the brush to scratch it anymore.
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