The Cards Speak

“If I have seen a little further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants.”
–Isaac Newton

Too much work makes HDouble a dull boy. Unfortunately for this blog, the office
grind
doesn’t inspire new poker wisdom like the grind at the tables. So I thought
now would be a good time to pause in my musings and stand on the shoulders
of earlier poker wizards, and
give you…

THE TOP TEN POKER READS ON THE WEB

Forget Sklansky and Malmuth for now. There’s some inspired writing out there
on the web, writing that forces you to change your thinking about poker.

Tactics and Simulation:

• Abdul
  Jalib’s Preflop Strategy: Abdul’s guide to starting hands was honed
  by simulation after simulation with Turbo Texas Hold ‘Em, and represents
  the foundation upon which I built my game. Although much of his advice
  on "balancing hands" preflop is unnecessary in the ever-changing games
  of online poker, this article remains the best advice on Hold ‘Em you can
  find anywhere. Beginners be warned: the article requires careful study
  and an intermediate knowledge of the game before diving into.
• Abdul Jalib’s
  Theory of Sucking Out: After you’ve mastered preflop strategy, you
  can learn how to suck out with the best of them from Abdul’s second best
  essay, which focuses on how to play draws after the flop.
• A New Guide to the
  Starting Hands
  in Texas Hold’em Poker: This guide to preflop play was developed at Carnegie-Mellon
  by a group of sharp computer scientists with a deep understanding of poker
  and simulation. The guide shows the error in Sklansky-Malmuth hand groupings,
  and forces the reader to think hard about hand strength preflop.
• Blind
  Defense: This 2+2 post from an anonymous poster uses Turbo Texas Hold
  ‘Em simulation to explore optimal blind defense. Andrew
  Prock once remarked
  that blind defense "separates the men from the boys," and this post gets
  the intermediate player thinking towards expert play.
• Ed
  Miller on Low Limit Hold ‘em Tactics: Ed Miller (of Small Stakes Holdem
  fame) shows how much tight play can cost you in loose games. For players
  trying to beat the low limit holdem games, this article is a must read.

Psychology and Philosophy:

• Izmet Fekali’s Playing With the Fish:
  AKA "FAQ
  on How to Play Texas Hold’em in Loosest Games" shows off the wisdom and
  flair of the inimitable Izmet Fekali. Izmet’s site boasts a collection of loose-game
  wisdom built over many years of play, and includes one of my favorite quotes:

  “Optimal hold’em strategy is a defensive one. You make yourself
  unbeatable, you let your opponents bang their heads & weapons
  against your fortress walls. They are not playing optimally against you (they
  are either trying to find cracks in your armor and are zigging and zagging
  around or they are simply stupid and don’t have a clue how to play) and must
  therefore
  be losing money to you.”

• Is There an Ideal
  Poker Personality Profile?: Dan Mezick explores the role of personality
  in the success of a poker player, suggesting that introversion may be the
  secret ingredient of the top poker professionals.
• Sergeant Rock’s "How
  do you win" series:

RGP regular Sergeant Rock offers his unique advice on what separates the great
players from the good players at the table in this four-part
series, including another of my favorite quotes:

The most basic thing you gotta do to beat a poker game is…

“Play Differently Than the Other 9 Guys.”

…and I like to call this the Delta Factor. May sound silly, or
too elementary, but basic truths are sometimes like that.
Suppose that you play *real well* but are in a game where
everyone else plays EXACTLY like you do. If there were no rake,
then everyone would break even. Since there generally IS a
rake, then everyone would lose in such a game.

• Part
  I: Delta Factor
• Part
  II: Treebark
• Part
  III: Beware the OTBS
• Part
  IV: Luck

And although it may not contain as much wisdom as the works cited above, I
have to include a shameless plug for The Poker Tracker Guide, which can get
you started on the path towards statistical mastery in online poker.

Poker is a game of personal battles, but we can face these battles armed with
the wisdom of the great warriors before us.

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