Poker News

George Epstein

From The Mouths Of Babes

With age comes experience and (hopefully) wisdom. But sometimes children ask the wisest and most important questions. . . Esther asked the right question.

My almost-eight-year-old granddaughter, Esther, was visiting with me; and, as she often does, she opened a deck of cards and said, “Let’s play poker, Papa.”

I’m teaching Esther and her older sister, Dani, to play WINNING poker. Our agreement is that each will take me to Las Vegas when she reaches 21. Since Dani is 12, that’s still a few years off. More important, I figure that learning to play WINNING poker will be invaluable to my grandkids as they go through life. To start with, they’ll be able to “earn” spending money while going to college. (I still remember the long sessions when I went to college about 50 years ago; but I had not yet learned the “secrets” of WINNING at the game.)

We’re focusing on Texas hold’em and the decision whether to go in or fold after the first two (down)cards are dealt — the pre-flop betting. Dealing out a table’s worth of nine hands, Esther’s job was to look at each and make the decision: fold or stay. After a while of this exercise, she observed that most of the hands were being folded. Oftentimes only one or two hands were worth the investment to stay in the pot. So she asked me an intriguing question:

“Papa, what do you do while you’re not in the hand?”

That’s a very important question. Your answer can make the difference of whether you go home a winner or a loser. So I answered her. . .

I thought a moment and then gave Esther my best answer. That time while you are not in the hand can be very valuable. You can either use it to help yourself to be a WINNER or you can do as so many other poker players do — look away from the table, watch the football game on a nearby TV , or otherwise waste an opportunity.

I elaborated: Notice which players go in almost every hand — those are your PokerPigeons. Notice which players sit out most of the hands — those are likely to be PokerSharks. When one of these stay in, be cautious; he (or she) very likely has a strong starting hand. And if a PokerShark stays in after the flop, his hand probably has improved or he has a good drawing hand.

But there is even more to it than that, I told Esther. You’ve been watching the play and finally it comes to the last round of betting and the “showdown” when the players show their hands. Watch carefully when they turn up their downcards. Concentrate on what each stayed in with? That’s more important than which was the better hand. It helps you understand what kind of hands that opponent will go in with. Later, during another hand, if a player who often stays with less than a marginal holding is in the pot, you can better “read” his hand and make a decision whether to bet or raise or fold — or try for a bluff. For example, if he’s a timid player who plays poor starting hands, a good bluff could “earn” you the pot when you are heads-up with him.

So what’s your opinion?

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