PLAYING THE PLAYER - Choose your battles...

There are many battles to be won if you’re going to win the war. None bigger, however, then the one in which you will battle your self. In my personal observations, I find that many players are defeated not as much by the cards or the dealers (as they would have you believe), as they are by themselves. It’s as if the ego will not let them see past the cards their dealt. 

The defeatist is one who readily accepts defeat. She lays down and gives up the battle. He surrenders the pot too easily without adequately confronting his adversaries. Together they look for a way out-of instead of in-to, or standing their ground when the going gets tough. And it does get tough. Especially when it comes to personal battles with self-discipline, patience and understanding. Poker tournaments especially can be emotionally, physically and mentally tough.  

That is why I always thought that real life soldiers and military personal in general would be great at this game. They have trained themselves to exhibit a level of discipline and courage that would seem to serve them well at the poker table. After working and playing with them, however, I realize it is a different type of battle. It’s not the same as fighting on the battlefields of yesteryear, where the enemy was easily identified as the one firing the bullets at you. The game of poker is more like todays type of terrorist urban warfare where locating and identifying the enemy is becoming an increasingly more difficult task.

It may be easy to not differentiate and say that everyone is your enemy at the poker table, but that is simply not true. Which is one of the reasons why sometimes playing poker competitively can become confusing. There are many times in which you form allies in poker, even if it is unspoken. For example, in a poker tournament when you are playing short-handed and the third guy is short on chips, it is common for the other two players to form a “secret” alliance and gang up on the short stack in order to improve their position. Many of us have been on both ends of that experience of being the hunter and the hunted at the end of a tournament.

There are many other times, albeit a lot less obvious, in which subtle moves and shifts of strategy are made in which to avoid conflict and align with one player and target another. In cash games the regular pros at the table often lay down against each other, only to play against the tourist or the “fish.” These secret alliances are not so much spoken as they are understood by the veterans who play the game. Which may be  one reason an isolated young “pro” who feels she is on the outside would walk around confused, frustrated and befuddled in her plight to forge a career in this business.

There is a mutual understanding and respect that can develop among peers that has been earned through the many battles that are fought along the way. Many times it is not until you have been battle tested and earned your stripes, so to speak, that you are invited into this type of alliance. Again, not by formal invitation, but by actions that take place in which you both recognize the truth. If you are lucky enough to find yourself in this position, respect and honor it. Don't take it for granted and leverage it in pursuit of your own self-interest. Just like with any war you don't drop allies in the middle of it, less you find yourself surrounded on all sides, disrespected and alone. There is honor among thieves. So, as the saying goes, “choose your battles wisely.”

Now, once your common enemy is defeated, well then, a new war may begin.