by Tom "Time" Leonard
 
My last column dealt with bad beats, so what better topic to discuss as a follow-up than keeping one’s composure in the face of poker adversity? Equanimity at the poker table is one of your most valuable assets. If you let bad beats, the noisy joker at the end of the table, your lost sports bet that was just confirmed on TV, or anything else affect your play you are headed to the felt—as in tapped out. Today, let’s discuss how to remain stoic when suffering a stinging loss at the table.

by Tom 'Time' Leonard
 
Bad beats… again… really? Yes, really but don’t get nervous I don’t plan on telling any bad beat stories. I just want to explore the dynamics of the process. Do you suffer bad beats or inflict them? If you’re usually the one on the victorious side of a bad beat I suspect you’re playing too loose. Playing small ball poker has become the sexy new thing. Any two (cards) will do is the mantra of the small ball players who hope to hit a flop hard with marginal hands. When it works it can really be sweet but how much good money is literally thrown away in pursuit of this goal? What helps fuel this loosey, goosey play is the frequency on televised poker of top pros embracing this strategy. The throngs of fans feel they have to emulate their hero’s moves. An old joke comes to mind… How do you make a small fortune in Las Vegas? Bring a large fortune!

by Tom 'Time' Leonard
 

by Tom 'Time' Leonard
 
As regular readers of my column know, for the past 176 columns spanning eight years, I’ve focused on hold’em poker. The truth be known… before my love affair with hold’em I was somewhat obsessed with 7-card stud. I’ve begun playing stud again, and for a change of pace, I’ll spend the next two columns highlighting ten predominant weaknesses that contribute to beginning and weaker intermediate stud players’ losing ways.

by Tom 'Time' Leonard

There is no question that today’s favorite poker game is no-limit hold’em. While there is a trend toward mixed games, no-limit hold’em currently reigns supreme. Many younger, newcomers to poker have never bothered to learn any other variation. On the other hand, old timers such as yours truly may not have started with hold’em but certainly grew up on a steady diet of limit versus no-limit play. Many young guns eschew limit play and denigrate it in a number of ways. They enjoy telling anyone who will listen that in limit play you can’t protect your hand, the donkeys always suck out, and it’s boring, as well as a host of other imagined negative aspects of limit play.

Premier running backs on the gridiron owe a debt of gratitude to their blockers. Without effective blocking by their teammates their stats would not be nearly as impressive. While blockers may not get the accolades, without them running backs wouldn’t either. Although poker is not a team sport you can still block… do you employ blocking in your game? Of course, I’m talking about utilizing a blocking bet on occasion.
 
A blocking bet is an attempt to see the next street less expensively than you would if you had to call another bet by your opponent after you checked. It is generally used when you have a draw on the flop or turn and don’t wish to have an opponent price you out of it. You attempt to take control by betting less than you believe your opponent would have bet.
 

I believe that every poker writer would agree that knowing your opponent’s playing tendencies is a top criteria for successful play. When you feel comfortable about your assessment of an adversary, you can use that information to your advantage. Recently I found myself heads up in a sit n go tournament with someone I have played against many times. I had him slightly out chipped and I’d like to share with you the final hand of that encounter.

I was dealt K-9 off-suit and decided to limp. The flop was 9-2-9 rainbow and the action was on me. It was my strong belief that my opponent, who goes by the moniker Queso, if he held a nine, would attempt to trap me by checking. With that in mind, I bet out with my trip nines.

Many, many moons ago I penned a column right here in this publication entitled The Sniper Syndrome. Players who succumb to this style of play always imagine the worst case scenario and tend to freeze up and miss value bets, fold winning hands and, through fear, tend not to make their opponents fold their winning hands. All in all, it’s a poor way to play poker. We all know it is not very frequent that we hold the absolute, stone cold nuts, so why do some embrace the fear that every opponent must hold them? The cure to this malady is to place the likelihood of an opponent holding the nuts in perspective. We do that by assessing a range of hands that the villain is likely to hold, thereby demonstrating that it is more likely that he does not hold the Brazils.

I’ve been playing poker for a looooooong time. Years ago, not living close to legal, public poker venues, I was a member of a dedicated group that played in a Friday night home game which lasted for decades. I also was one of the adventurous few that made the initial leap into on-line poker at a time when some of my friends thought I was crazy to put money up on an internet site. I recall playing on Planet Poker when the games were very, very different than today. One major difference, aside from sheer number and ability of the players, was the chat feature.

One quick way to tell if you’re playing with a real rookie is if they repeatedly need to look back at their hole cards to reaffirm what they are. If you find yourself doing this more than on a rare occasion… stop! This habit gives opponents information. In hold’em, you only receive two cards and if you can’t remember two cards, maybe you should find a different game to play. When first looking at your cards, say them in your mind … that works for me. I’ll forgive you Omaholics if you need to reconfirm your holding, since you need to keep track of four hole cards—plus I’m a nice guy.