Poker News

James McKenna, Ph.D.

At first, this title of ‘Poker Excitement” might sound like a contradiction. Most people who play the game regularly know that it can be a pretty boring and long wait before any excitement shows up. If you are waiting for the cards to bring that excitement, you will have a much longer wait. A lot of players get excited when they get great cards and fill them into the ‘nuts.” When you win a pot every half-hour, it’s occasional excitement. It’s exciting when you leave the table with more money than you brought into the game. For some, it’s being with people and not having to be sociable or carry on a conversation that’s exciting. For others, they get little excitement out of the cards. They prefer the comradery of the game.

Poker has been referred to as the ‘waiting game.” Some are waiting for a good hand to bet. Others are waiting for someone to step into the traps that they set. A lot of players are just waiting. If you want to increase your level of excitement by playing poker, it’s time to stop waiting and become a player that creates some excitement. I know–we have a lot of aggressive players, who like to raise and re-raise and play to get other players on tilt. I’m not talking about creating that kind of excitement. Most players who are not that way by nature would prefer not to be that aggressive. Then there are players who play ‘no fold’em hold’em.” They are creating their own brand of excitement-usually for others who welcome them and hope they stay a long time.

Playing poker is boring for those who are playing cards. You can create legitimate excitement by learning to play people. That’s right. When poker is played the way it is intended, it’s a people game. A lot of excitement can come from creating exciting action in a game instead of waiting for that excitement to show up. All you have to do is notice the bad beat jackpots and how long they build up to realize that waiting for the right combination of cards for your excitement will be a long vigil.

You tell me. Which of these events is more exciting? Scene one is a table where a player gets a King high straight flush. He says that was his first and he knew he had a straight; but, wow, when he realized that it was a straight flush, that was a rush. Count how many straight flushes you have experienced and ask yourself this, ‘How long do I have to wait to get that kind of excitement again?” That’s waiting and letting things that you can’t control determine how often you are excited.

Scene two will happen over and over and doesn’t just happen. Players who make the game exciting are doing things, engaging others, playing hunches, taking risks, playing pot odds and playing people. It just happens that they are doing all of this in a poker game. The cards are not that important. What they are doing with the cards is. You won’t hear about it as loudly as when someone gets a straight flush; but, it will happen more often because players make it happen-not the cards.

What I am talking about is pulling off successful bluffs and never getting caught-for a whole evening….Wow! Now, that’s exciting. So, the question is what’s more exciting getting quads or winning a big pot with garbage? That’s what I’m talking about. And, you don’t have to wait for the right cards to come along to get that rush. You not only have to learn who, what, and when to bluff. You have to learn how to create bluffs that will fit different styles of players. Now, THAT’S EXCITING. So, playing cards without playing people is very boring. Poker and excitement, then, do go together for some. For others, it’s endurance.

Filed under: Poker News