so many questions...too few answers

One of the phrases that player's often say when they are discussing a poker hand is "it depends." To me this sounds like nails on a chalkboard! Eeeeeeechhhh! I hate that answer because it's no answer! The player's question may be general, but then just give a general answer.

Q: "What should I do with AQ?"
A: "Well...it depends!"

NO IT DOESN'T!

A:  "You Raise"

The person who then says, "well, what if there is a Raise and a 3b from a tight player in front of you?" - Well now, that is a whole different question, isn't it?  A:  "I fold!"
Ask a different question, get a different answer.

With each new parameter in a poker question, just like when a new card comes out on the board, the answer changes and that's okay! You don't need all the information on earth before you make a decision. Is it true that the more information you have, the better decision you will make? Generally speaking of course, the answer is yes. It is better to make an informed decision then an uninformed one. Sometimes you can have too much information. But don't let any lack of information keep you from making a decision. Otherwise you could put off and procrastinate till the cows come home and never make a decision.

Consider whatever information you have, evaluate it and make a decision. General information

produces a general answer, not no answer.

Q:  "How much should you buy-in to a poker game?"
A:  "Look at the table and whatever the average stack size is, buy-in for that amount."

I don't need to know what size game, the type of game, what level of player the person is whose asking me the question,  etc. etc. because the person is not asking me the question with those parameters.

Now, that said, the more detail that is in the question, the more detailed my answer will become.

Q:  "I was playing in a NL tourney and around the middle of the tournament this hand came up. I Called a Raise from an Early Position Solid player from the SB with TT. The flop came down Q86. After calling the 3x Raise I have 25bb left and my opponent has me covered. Am I suppose to lead, check and call, check and raise, or check and fold?"

A:  Great question. In spots like this I generally like to 3b big pre-flop, fight for the lead and define the hand early. I then would lead in on the flop and put my opponent to a tough decision. However, that is not our situation here and doesn't address your question. If for some reason I decided to just flat and play it defensively because of the player profile, then I would continue with that same passive line. I would check-call any reasonable flop bet and then re-evaluate on the turn. A check-raise would put me in a too high-risk, low-reward situation. Check-folding is giving up too much equity when I have my opponent beat if he has a smaller pair or AK.

So, when someone comes to you looking for an answer, acknowledge them and answer it with whatever the parameters given. Remembering of course that communication is for the other person. Meaning that in forming the answer you give, you should take into consideration the person who is asking it and answer accordingly.



Kenna

Play Well, Run Well! What percentage of poker is Skill versus Luck?

"Play well, Run well" is a common well wish given to players about to sit down in a poker game. I certainly will be trying to find this balance as I head into a special competition today. This statement alerts the question, what percentage of poker is skill to luck? 

It is a question that is often heatedly debated at the poker table, usually, by players who fall on one side of the fence or other and think they have the definitive answer. The beauty of game of poker is that it involves both. I don't think there is an exact answer or percentage. Even over time, where skill tends to sway the the pendulum back towards the center or beyond, I don't think there is a definitive answer as to what the exact percentage is. Our journey on the poker felt is one in which we hope to find that perfect balance between the two. 

In games of chance, anybody can win on any give day...in fact, we've all witnessed people run well for weeks. We've seen players at the WSOP final table who are only there because they have gotten lucky and run well for the entire main event. Which, by the way, is more then a week long. 

I believe myself to be a lucky player. Those who don't believe in luck at all just aren't playing with a full deck. There's that saying - "those who believe they are "right" and those who believe they are "wrong" - are both correct." And the same is true with luck. Those who believe they are lucky tend to be so and those who don't, continually find themselves falling on hard times. The reason is, in my humble opinion, is because BELIEF itself is so strong. 

The first part of the equation - "Play Well" - is a much more popular one. We exalt and admire our most skilled athletes. The command they have over their bodies and minds in accomplishing great feats is inspirational. They display for all of us what is possible when you put focused effort and discipline into what you are doing. 

Playing well, means being ethical to your purpose. Playing with integrity and being true to yourself. Not always easy in a game where the line is always moving. Bluffing is legal and in less then a minute you're making tough decisions for all your chips.  Being brave while making choices that need to be made, with the limited or hidden information that poker offers you, takes courage. And courage is just one of the higher faculties you'll have to employ if you want to win the game. Having faith to follow your intuitions when logic is telling you to do the opposite. Being self-determined and not being diverted by distractions requires mental will power. A player must see themselves as the cause of the outcome and stay the course that you know is "right."

So, this playing well, is a tough bill to fill. When we do play well we feel great and when we don't, we feel less good about ourselves. When we don't play well there is a tendency to not look inward for the solution, but to look outward at the deck or the dealer to save us. Sometimes they do, but more often then not, luck catches up with us and we fall flat on our faces only to pick ourselves up and try again. That is, unless you give up.

How much give up is in you? When a hand doesn't go your way do you take it personally, get angry and try to attack the opponent who beat you and try to get "your chips" back? If you have a losing session do you not go play for fear you're going to lose again? If you get knocked out of a rebuy or re-entry tournament to you pack up ship or do you raise your hand and yell "Re-buy!" to reload and try again? When to stay and fight and when to pick up and leave is a personal decision that each person has to determine for themselves. Certainly there are bankroll considerations and guidelines, but I'm talking more about personal resolve here, then about proper bankroll management. 


Today I'm heading to the Wynn casino for day 2 of a special event. About 80 players remain, battling for a top prize of just over $60,000.  Will today by my day? Will I bring home the cash and the trophy? Answers come after an experience, not before, my mentor Fast Eddie would tell me. And perhaps, that is one of the reasons we play the game. To find the answers to our own personal questions. I do know the answers I am looking for, are more likely to come, if I Play Well and Run Well!  

My focus will be on playing well and to allow those things that are out of my control to be. Perhaps I'll crack a wry smile from time to time with the irony that comes out of a simple deck of cards, that surely has a hand in dealing us, her players, our fate. 

Time to Play!

As I reach my destination of achieving my blog writing goal, I want to pause and take the time to reflect on what I’ve learned and answer a few personal questions, such as: Was it worth it? Was it as hard as I imagined? What were the benefits of completing this goal? What was the most difficult challenge go overcome? Do I want to continue doing it?

Yes it was worth it. It was important for me to prove to myself that I could do something on a month long basis and do it well. I feel I achieved that and so yes, it was worth it. The most challenging thing was to maintain consistency while travelling and working on the road. The biggest thing that got me through was having the goal clear in my mind every day and a strong determination not to be diverted. Sometimes I did get diverted and didn’t end up completing it until the 12th hour. When that happened, especially towards the end, it was much more difficult then when I tackled it the first thing in the morning.

The biggest surprise was that I didn’t need to plan as much as I thought. I didn’t have any preconceived idea of what I would write about, I just wrote. That took facing my fear of not knowing exactly what to say or saying it the right way. It's funny, the things we fear don’t seem to ever be as bad as we imagine. It's a healthy reminder to remember that it never will be as bad as we imagine. There actually is a release of tension and a sense of relief in facing our fears.

Many people either told me personally or emailed me about how much they enjoyed reading my blogs. They said that they themselves got something out of my writings in which they could relate or use along their journey. That to me was the biggest benefit, for it connects me to a purpose greater then myself.

To know that you are contributing and have an affect on others is not only a necessary level of awareness, but also a huge benefit I experienced from my writings. I also was reminded that whatever I put my mind and determined effort into something, I’m going to achieve it.

It’s all about choice. Having the power to choose what you want to do and how you’re going to do it. Whether it’s writing a blog or playing a hand of poker. Our choices are reflected in our actions or lack there of. If we make a choice and don’t carry it through, well that tells us something about ourselves doesn’t it? We may not have as much power to choose as we thought. But that’s what’s great about games like this, we get to test ourselves and if we drop the ball, learn from it and pick the ball back up and keep running. We’re not going to win every hand or game we play, but if you have the courage to play the game and not sit on the sidelines like a spectator, then you have my respect.

Will I win next month in the weight-loss game I decided to play? We will see. If I knew the ending score of the game, it wouldn’t be worth playing now would it? I do know one thing. I’ll be there at the end of the month win or lose, learning from my experience and either chalking up another win or picking up the ball and going after it in March. I’ll be sure to let you know.

I am pleased to announce that my blog will be moving to my new website, www.kennajames.com and I will continue with my blogging posts. They won’t be everyday, but you can count on at least once a week, that I will be spewing my thoughts on poker and other interesting theories about life.

I hope you’ll join me on my continuing journey through this poker life. It’s going to be one helluva ride this year and at some point along the way I hope you’ll join me on a final table.

Enjoy the Journey,


Kenna

Now and Then

I don’t know why I wait till the last minute, like writing this blog or doing anything for that fact, when it is obviously easier when you tackle it early on. I suppose there are competing interests at the heart of the matter. Today it was fixing things around the house and invariably when I fix things it means at least two trips to home depot. Throw in a stop at Starbucks, a lesson and a dinner and before you know it, it’s 10:30 at night. My how time slips away. And I heard it only gets worse as you get older.

The concept of time is a funny thing to begin with and as it was explained to me, a man made concept used to measure motion in order to help in management of our day-to-day activities. If you asked a tree what time it is, it would respond, “Now. The time is now.” – Ekhart Tolle. Man is consumed it would seem with both the past and the future, while ignoring the now.

In playing poker it is important to play in the NOW and not get overly concerned with the past or worried about the future. The “Now” is all we have. 

When someone is constantly complaining about bad beats, they are bringing past events into the present and it clouds their thinking and effects their judgment and play in the present moment. When someone is playing too timidly or cautious because they are afraid of what card can come to beat them, they are focused too much on the future.

The healthiest players I know let go of past events (hands), focus and play in the present, while preparing in knowing there may be a future.

One of the most important things we can do as players is to focus and stay in the moment and make the best decision we can make based on imperfect information. Poker is a game of imperfect information. So trying to play perfectly and force the moment into being something other then what it is will drive a player insane. The fun of a game is in not knowing what the result will be, but in doing our best to test our strategies and the skills we’ve developed to compete.

I’ve enjoyed the writing game and challenging myself to complete this blog every day for the past 30 days. There’s one day left and tomorrow I’ll share with you what’s on the horizon for my poker-life journey. I’m rather excited myself, not for just what lies ahead, but for the joy I feel in the present moment. Each day unfolds, each hand is dealt, each obstacle presents itself, but I’ve learned that it’s how I perceive or look at it that really determines my reality. 

Tomorrow I’ll head down to the Venetian to play in the first Deep Stack event. After a light week of playing, I’m looking forward to getting back on the horse and competing again. My discipline, patience and various other skills will be tested. Chances are, I’ll be up for the challenge.

Enjoy the Journey!

Kenna                                                                                                         

Hand Plays

Had a very up and down night tonight playing $5-10 NL at the Venetian.

I started up the 2^nd must-move game with 2 other players. We played 3 handed for an hour. I didn’t win many hands. By the time I moved over to the main game I was stuck 3k. The key hand for me  in that must-move game played out like this:

I’m OP-PFR-MW-9s8s. That’s my poker code, meaning that I was out-of-position and the pre-flop raiser in a multi-way pot with the 9/8 of spades. The flop fell 9-6-4 two diamonds. I bet 80, the next guy makes it 210 and another player calls. I call. The turn brings an off-suit 7, giving me now an open-ended straight draw to go with my top pair. I checked; the raiser now bets 610 and the other guy, obviously on a flush draw calls. I have a total of about 1400 and get drawn-in by the size of the pot and I let it influence me.  I decide to make a move at this big pot and move all-in. I get called in both spots, with the last guy also all-in. The river pairs the board with a 6 and the raiser turns over pocket 99’s for 99’s full. I'm felted.

Turns out I was 12% to win going to the river, so I would need about 8.5-1 pot odds to be profitable. With fold-equity and the slight chance they were both on flush draws and I had the best hand maybe puts me needing about 7-1. I was getting about 4-1, so my shove turned out to be a bad play. Now I had to decide whether to pick up buy back in.

A couple of new players joined the game so I decided to buy back in. I was also next up on the must move, which looked like a halfway-decent game that I was moving to. When I re-bought, I definitely stepped up my game, improved my hand selection and overall reads and play of the hand in general.

I moved over to the main game and this key hand played out like this.

I’m OP(bb) – PFR – MW – Qc9c.

I 3 bet pre to better define my opponent’s hand strength and to take the lead in the hand. I'm planning to lead most flops. The flop fell 9-4-2 rainbow.  The small-blind checks, I bet 110 and get called by the initial raiser and now the small-blind check-raises and makes it 320 to go! 

I call and the other guy folds. 

The turn is a Q. The small blind now leads for 340. It was a weak (25% pot size) type of bet that polarized the guys range in my mind. It was either a "trap bet", designed to get me to raise, or it was a "scared bet" trying to save $ on what looked to be a bad turn card for him. 

I took my time and thought about it and decided it was more likely that my opponent hand TT’s or JJs. He had about 1200 behind, so if I raised and he moved in I was going to be committed, so I decided to get it all-in right there. My opponent went into the tank and after about 2 minutes folded.

An hour later I called it a night, booking a small loss. I’ll be back at it tomorrow at The Venetian DeepStack. The month long series starts tomorrow, so I hope to see you at a final table there soon.

Enjoy the Journey!

Kenna

Brain Food

This may not be a very exciting entry. My eyelids are heavy and they are battling me for sleep versus staying awake and finishing my blog. It was a full day today with a work out, 3 private lessons and backgammon club on the agenda.

 

My day began at 7:19 am with new vigor and purpose in getting healthy. Not much poker played the last few days, which the break gives me just enough space to start on my health kick. 

By the way, those of you who are interested in getting fit and losing weight shoot me an email and you can join me on this journey. It’s going to be tough, but for 30 days I’m going to put my best effort in and see what happens. I want to create more stamina, health and overall energy in my body. I’m going to build mental strength through physical conditioning. 

I started this morning very simple, knowing from experience that overdoing things too early can lead to giving up. So I started with stretching and a 20 min. brisk walk. Eating wise I did well, reducing my portions and eating much healthier throughout the day.

I didn’t want to do these things, but decided to do them in order to begin confronting and handling poor eating habits and lack of fitness. It’s time, especially now that I’m 50, to make a concerted effort to change. I think a lot of the younger players in today’s game are more health conscious then ever and I certainly can’t give up that edge as well as the other things we start to lose, as we get older.

An important thing to remember is that getting older doesn’t necessarily mean you have to get weaker. Skill is not just derived from the agility of youth and knowledge, but also and probably more so, from experience. I was saying in yesterday’s blog that Luck happens when preparation meets opportunity. Add in learned experience and you have skill.

To be skilled at something means of course, that you can do it well. It’s hard to do something well if you just play and don’t practice. Poker is one of the easiest games to just show up and play and not put enough effort into practicing for game time situations. I remember I use to fall asleep at night dreaming of varying poker hands and situations and how I would play them. Thinking about the game and what you would do in certain situations is vital if you want to continue to grow as a poker player. Being in the situation ahead of time breed’s confidence and experience of how to deal with it.

I’m not sure how I’m going to respond to this weight loss and fitness challenge I’ve put on myself. But one thing is for sure, until I put myself in the situation to begin with, I never would really know. I could end up quitting half way through and just give up, or I could attack it with the same consistency as I’ve tackled this blog and finish the month reaching my goal. I hope you’ll join me and let’s hope it’s the latter.

Enjoy the Journey,

Kenna

Let's Get Physical

Those of you who are interested in getting my blog sent to your email, so you don’t have to come to this webpage every time, I think you just have to hit the Subscribe button on the left of this page.

I just arrived home after a 6 hour drive from Arizona and am a bit tired from my journey, but I’ve committed to writing this blog everyday for 31 days and with 4 days left I’m not about to give up now. This is the home stretch!

Speaking of “home stretch,” I’m getting back to stretching every morning and want to establish a good physical fitness routine. This is my spring training for the 2014 WSOP and I’m going to need to lose weight in order to build my stamina to be in performance shape for the 6 week, grueling 14-hour days.

If January was my blog month, February will be my physical fitness month. Empowered with the confidence of knowing I can consistently do something for a month, I plan to attack this weight loss with the same passion as I did my blog. I’m setting an ambitious goal of losing 15 pounds this coming month, but I’m confident I’ll meet it.

“Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” 

Some believe that we make your own luck and that luck is just a matter of perspective. I tend to agree. If it is true that you make your own luck, then preparation is vital. It’s hard to win a football game if you’re not physically fit enough to compete. Likewise in poker, if you’re mentally drained at the end of the long days, it will show up physically as well and it is more likely you’ll slip up and make a mistake. Chances are it could be that mistake that keeps you from making the money, final tabling or winning it all.

So physical fitness is #1 if you want to compete at the highest levels. Being physically fit allows the mind and brain to function better as well. How do you plan to prepare for the wsop? When preparing for an important event, my suggestion is to think of working outside-in. In other words, from the physical to the mental. 

Since poker is such a mental game, it’s easy to get it backwards and work from the inside-out.  Spending too much time looking at hand histories, talking shop and analyzing data. The mental activity of today’s players is far greater then 10 years ago and that can lead to a great advantage if kept in balance with the physical. Out of balance one can slip into the mind and find themselves trapped.

For those trapped in the mind and the mental activity of the game, remember this: The way out of the mind is through EFFORT! Get up, get out and do something PHYSICAL. Anything you can do to get or keep yourself moving and physically active. The key to success is in the “doingness,” NOT in thinking about it.

This is a little pep talk to myself as much as it is to my readers. Especially those of us over 40, who come to realize that being lethargic is deadly in competition. So I’m going to get an early start to Feb. and begin building my daily routine tomorrow. It will include a healthy diet and moderate exercise and walking each day. I’ve started this type of things many times at the beginning of a new year and find myself petering out right about now. So this year I've reversed it! I’m also glad I’m motivated not by the date of the year, but rather my own personal desire to want to feel and perform better at the tables. I’ll be sure to let you know how it goes.

Enjoy the Journey!

Kenna