There is NO Justice in Poker!!

I just spent the last few hours, ok it was 5 hours not 2, playing $2/4 limit Hold'em. It was a somewhat chatty crowd w/ 4 solid players that I'd never played with, and a rotating group of new and/or not so solid a players, (sometimes it is hard to tell them apart).

I was getting a long run of bad cards, and was closely scrutinizing the game trying to get a feel for a betting pattern that might put me on. I'd watch other, good players lose hand after hand, frequently saying dumb river. At 1st, I was skeptical, and said so! Then everyone started showing hands. I watched as hand after hand got cracked. AA fell to 6/3. AK fell to 72. QQ fell to 23 suited. KK fell to 47. All the while, these pots were being capped pre-flop typically by the player holding the marginal hands. The River Gods were cruel and the good players were really loosing their cool. Table chat was getting intense. Things like, "how could you stay with that crap" and "you re-raised me with that!", "That's just not fair, I lost with AA, AK, QQ, KK, KQ  to total crap cards, this site is rigged".
 
The average pot was getting to nearly $100 as the 4 good players started to go on tilt a bit, well a lot. I still couldn't catch a hand. It was getting wilder as the game went on. Lots of virtual high 5's between the non-good players. It had become a war as the new players did not know better. These players were saying things like "no guts/no glory" while the good players kept ragging them about the crappy cards they were winning with. I mean, wow, these players were raising and winning with 7/2 off.

I finally caught As Ac on the button and thought "aw crud, here we go again". The flop came, Ah 2d 2h, and I decided to slow play, but the betting was capped before it got to me. The turn was a Kh, and once again, was capped before it got to me. At this point, all the, non-good players had folded. The river was Qh. Two players type something like "yeah", and "finally". Thought about the conversation and this time I decided to cap the betting. Then, when I showed Aces Full, beating a nut flush, a set of 2's, and kings full, all good hands, the players left commented and agreed it was not fair for me to win a huge pot because they had lost so much to the, river rats. I thought about it and said. There is no justice in poker! I was asked what I was trying to say. I simply said "thank you" to the table. I kept saying "NH" and "Good One" to the River Suck outs I observed until  I left up for the 1'st time of the day and thankful to be that way.

Here is what, "There is NO Justice in Poker", means to me: Poker is a game of odds and laws of probability. Justice implies a higher power that makes sure its all fair. In the long run, the course of your total poker playing time, if given enough patience, will self justify! The number of times you win with good solid starting hands against crap cards WILL out weigh the times you lose.

That does not mean the cards will even out over the course of one session. Not even a very long one. Nor does it mean they will even out against the one jerk that sucked out on you. "The odds are the odds" and "luck is luck". Getting mad, frustrated (guilty here), or trying to get even like calling when you know you are beat, all this lead to Tilt where odds and probability are foreign concepts. If you think of poker in terms of "Fair and Justice", go play or watch another sport!  Emotion is a bankroll killer!  If you lose with As Ac, and get Ad Ah again, (Get back on that horse that kicked you off) raise again, but if the flop is 9s 10s Qs, then the turn is the 2s, STOP raising, Stop calling, FOLD! There is no Justice in Poker, no matter how many chips you throw in the pot.

What is the point of this?? To keep you thinking and analyzing your play. When you start thinking, "I'll call a triple raise pot with 33 because I'm due", the "Justice in Poker bug has infected you" and a break is in order...

Picking and Playing a Table

Ok, so you won a few free rolls and/or were given a few dollars to play with and now want to play a Ring/Round game. Don't just sit down and start playing. Find the table that fits your style of play. Do a little research, gather some intelligence.

Internet Poker Rooms, Holdem, Omaha, or Stud give you the opportunity to learn a lot about a table before you ever put a chip at risk. Look at the table stats, how many players see the flop, what is the average pot size, how many hands are played an hour (1 slow connected player that plays every hand can slow this way down). These statistics will start clueing you into the personality of the table. Is it a tight game where a few see the flop 40% or less, or a loose game where 70% or more see the flop. Is there heavy betting with lots of calls (large pots), or light betting with few calls (small pots). If you have a limited bank roll, the latter may be the table for you, the former can wipe you out with a few bad beats.

Ok you found one you think is good for you, wait! I know you want to get into the action, but watch the table for a round of blinds or two. Gather more intelligence, note each player, who is aggressive, who is passive, who check raises, what each player had at a show down, who mucked cards in the small blind with no raise (sign of an experienced or at least educated player). Now that you have valuable intelligence on theses players, its time to sit down but keep taking notes. Don't assume your 1'st impressions were correct. Adjust these as you play. Initially play very tight, only premium hands. If not sure of your hand, muck and wait. If they bluffed you out, they will try again. "(Very Important strategy here)" In fact if you've folded to a bluff with yours being the better hand, it encourages them to try you again and again! Use that your your advantage! In a No Limit or Pot Limit game, it only takes 1 hand to get all those chips back and then some. After an hour, the table should see you as a tight solid player (Your Table Image) - if you followed the tip earlier on this page! Time to start opening up the game. Time to take advantage of your image and your notes. Who is susceptible to a bluff, who is super aggressive, who is susceptible to a check raise. Take notes on your own play. The process of writing down a mistake and the corrective action will improve youy play faster than just thinking, "darn, that was stupid" and trying forget it because you'll soon do it again 10 minutes later. Mark my words!!! Some sites have places to take notes on players, use them!! Poker, Texas Holdem through Omaha High/Low to 7 Card Stud, are all thinking games of war. Intelligence is the most valuable resource in any form of War.

http://foxypoker.tripod.com/

http://techmanpoker.proboards40.com