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I\’m going to attempt to break down the different styles within poker
and what they mean in the real world. This is going to heavily sit with
those in Europe since my analogies are based upon English Football (If
anyone reading this understand what I’m saying and wants to rephrase it
in terms of NFL/NBA/NHL then please do).

The
reason for this post is because I disagree with a lot of the general
attitude in the online poker world in regards to how the game is played
(by this I mean turning around and saying THIS way is the best way in
which you can win and it’s the ONLY way you should play). Poker online
is a lot tougher nowadays because everyone is learning from the same
information, and thus they are learning how to be the SAME player as
the next guy. This is very much seen in the English Football.

Manchester United:

The
reigning champions and one of the biggest names in the league. They
play a very espansive, fast-paced style. They are the ultimate LAGs of
the Premier league. Very rarely will United draw a game, they’ll either
destroy a team by sheer attacking power or get caught by a “calling
station” (suckerpunched). THATS why I love the way United play. But
let’s talk about this LAG.

Loose-Aggressive-Aggressive. Very
open and risk-taking, in poker terms this type of player will allow you
lots of chances to take his stack. The reason is because HE is so
focused on taking yours. He isn’t interested in checking down to the
river (much) and wants to either take the pot off you right now or you
to prove to him you’re the better hand. Try to play around with this
guy and he’ll have you in knots, because you know he is bluffing and
yet you can’t do a thing about it because you don’t know if this time
would be “the one time he has it”.

Arsenal:

This team plays a
lot more of a TAG style. It is often said that Arsenal can “pass
themselves to death”. The reason being is that they like to take their
time, they use precise movements in the fact that they know what they
are going to do and how they want to do it. They are in total control
of the action, because they don’t allow you any. There’s almost no
freedom in their actions. Creativity, yes, but true freedom no. If the
ball falls right for them then they will destroy everyone in from of
them. However if they are up against a real “nitty” team then they
become stuck. They very rarely lose, in fact their variance is
extremely less than United’s. However their wins:draw ratio is a lot
tighter. They are a BREAKEVEN team.

Tight-Aggressive-Aggressive.
You control everything. You know when you’re going to enter a pot, how
much with and why you’re doing it. You don’t enter many pots (you keep
control of the ball and thus the tempo of the game) but those you do
you are wanting to take down. People can’t mess around with you because
usually you’ll have something.

Chelsea/Liverpool:

These are
the counter-attacking teams. Also known as the ROCKS of football (for
those in the know, think Italian teams). They are the check-raisers and
the calling stations with the nuts vs aggressive players. These two
teams want to not lose first and win second. They can (and do) win the
big trophies but it’s a true grind and not the “pretty style” that some
people, this poster very much included, demand and want. Their margin
of victory/defeat is usually very slim. Often if things aren’t right
it’ll be a lot of breakeven results because that’s better than a slight
loss.

Tight-Passive-Aggressive. This player wants YOU to make
the moves. He gives control over the action and pot to you because he
knows that with the nuts he can “sucker-punch” you out of the hand. In
fact they can sit around for hours on end doing nothing much in
particular and yet somehow they end up with a whole bunch of chips!

Rest of the bunch:

The
rest of the teams are really bad. The bottom bunch who are relegated
(pushed to the lower leagues) are usually Loose-Passive-Passive. Way
too many leaks and no punch to their play whatsoever. The best of the
rest are generally Loose-Passive-Aggressive. Again, a whole bunch of
leaks which COULD be plugged but with enough skills to get a result or
two at times. Yet almost every team has one thing in common when they
come up against one of the big teams I mentioned. They attempt to
tighten up and sucker-punch for a victory. They REALLY don’t want to
lose.

So what happens and where am I going with this? Well
Arsenal are the TAGs, so unless they “get the right cards” then it’s
going to end up as pretty much a grind/break even experience. A TAG
isn’t going to allow the other play enough room to play back and hang
himself so it comes down to cards vs cards and how each poker player
(team) can react to the bigpot situations.

Liverpool and
Chelsea? TPA. Again they are looking for the right spots, using the
right cards in order to extract the most amount of damage. If the cards
don’t come, they may look for spots in order to pick off enough small
pots (chances) in order to come out a slight winner. After all a slight
winner is better than not being a winner.

United on the other
hand don’t care about cards. Like Doyle Brunson says (immortalized by
Matt Damon in the winning scene vs Teddy KGB in Rounders), they’ll keep
pushing and leaning on the other team until that team either plays back
or crumbles. And very rarely does the team play back. It’s a massacre.
But it only works if United (a LAG) is on their A-Game. If they’re not
and they come up against a decent side then they are the ones who could
get destroyed. But that’s the risk they take to control every game they
play.

I hope this is making sense. What has happened with the US
rooms is that the fish (smaller/lower teams) are not playing back at
the bigger teams. This happened with Arsenal a few seasons back. The
team had gone an entire campaign undefeated but once the smaller guys
spotted how to defeat the team they couldn’t buy a win for love nor
money. This is why it’s a nit-fest in the US tables. The weaker guys
are trying to limit the damage first and then go for the winnings
second. Against a TAG, that’s the perfect way of playing because it now
means the cards have more say in proceedings. A TAGgy player is going
to pass themselves to death unless they get a break, or gets unlucky
and lose a bundle because they get sucker-punched/counter-attacked

A
really strong Rock team is going to come up stuck (not get the breaks)
a lot of the time in this situation either, pretty much for the same
reasons. But a LAG team like United? They’ll run right over the
tight-ass mo-fos and keep smashing that hammer until either the
opponent breaks or they do. And they will have the SKILLS to make sure
that they very rarely break.

For me that is the key. In the
short term you don’t need to match skill levels versus a TAG if you
play a tight-passive-aggressive game. A weaker player does not need to
go skill vs skill against a TAG, he can let the cards do the winning
for him and make sure not to lose any/too much in the mean time. In the
long term that statement is completely wrong. If two teams play each
other over and over again the one with the greater skills wins out. But
just like A-A vs 7-2o, you never know what ONE session/game will
produce. Hence why the FA Cup – if you know of it – is famous for
“Giant Killings”). A TAG is putting his hopes on the long-term, a +ev.
Even if it’s a small value.

On the other hand a LAG is all about
putting their skills vs your skills in every single game. A LAG is
going to push and push and push into every player, every hand, taking
every victory they can. This is why United has been so dangerous down
the years. But it is also why the “standard” skill level of online
poker appears to be getting higher.

US Tables – Tight,
counter-attacking players who are trying to compensate for lack of
skill. They don’t want to go skill vs skill, they KNOW they’ll lose.

EURO
Tables – Fishy only in regards that these players DO try to match Skill
vs Skill. It’s just as dangerous as the US tables but in a different
way.

You see the fish everyone wants to see are those matching
skill vs skill. Pushing AI with top pair no kicker. But what they are
finding are fish who are trying to limit their actions so that WE open
up and get caught on the counter. They are playing a style which lowers
the potential wins of a TAG player but they aren’t raising the
potential losses at the same time.

Now I’m not advocating one
style over the other (although there IS a style I prefer). You have to
chose what is best for you out of your personality and playing style.
But it is always good to understand the positives and negatives of each
style. If you can’t deal with an All-or-Nothing session then be tight.
If you’re looking to control everything around you, attack with SKILL.
But remember, for every style there is a style which counters it. And
then it comes down to which player is better over the long term.

See you at the tables.

PW.

Before you come on this journey with me, I want you to know something.

You shouldn\’t believe a word I say.

The
thing is, even if I end up in the higher levels of online or live poker
you still shouldn\’t listen to me. The amount of money I have, the level
that I am at shouldn\’t be the reason you listen to a word I say. I need
to earn your respect, otherwise there\’s no point in you listening to me
rant. And this goes for everyone out there. Take a look at who you are
listening and learning from and ask yourself why are you doing that?
Why should you respect them?

But don\’t forget, ask yourself why should I/they respect you?

You
see it doesn\’t matter if I bring in $300K a month or play 40 tables
plus at a time. It doesn\’t matter if I\’ve never had a losing month in
20+ years. You need to find out a reason why you should respect and
learn from someone because all they can teach you is how to be like
them. Poker is different from many thins in this world. There is no
right or wrong way about playing the game. There is a profitable and non-profitable way but these are not the same things.

Take
John. John doesn\’t like to put his money at risk. He will call and limp
(not raise) his way through hands unless he knows he has the best hand.
John doesn\’t want to risk too much. Jason, on the other hand, plays as
much as he can. Any two cards will do for our Jason, he wants action,
action and more action. So what if he loses, he\’ll win just as much in
his eyes. These two men are both playing poker. They are playing poker
THEIR way.

What about Mary? Mary makes a good living out of
poker, she\’s earning $60K a year on average. She\’s very happy to help
out and will teach you anything you want to know. Simon is playing on a
different level, he is at $400K a year. He multi-tables till the cows
come home, putting more and more tables up on his screen so that he can
earn more money. He wants to teach you everything he knows. And then
there\’s Johnny. Johnny plays in the biggest games around. A live and
online player, Johnny has no ceiling on his earnings because of the
level he plays. Whatever he want to earn that year is how much he will
shoot for. If he doesn\’t want to play too much, he won\’t earn as much,
but he\’ll have the freedom. Johnny too is willing to teach you
everything he knows.

So who do you want to learn from? Well,
that should depend on where you want to be. If you want to be Johnny,
Mary can\’t teach you how to get there. If you\’re comfortable being
stable at 60K a year then there\’s no point in learning from Johnny. If
you never want to lose money, listen to John. But if you need to \”play\”
then seek out Jason.

Do you see where this is going? You can
only get to the level your teacher is at. They can only teach you how
to be who they are. So before you put all your hopes and dreams into
the hands of a mentor, find out where that mentor is in his life, why
he is there and how he got there. In fact, learn everything you can
about them and if you come to respect their journey and where they are
now then listen and learn. But remember, respect goes both ways and
must be earned both ways. Have them respect you as much as you respect
them.

And at the end of the day, aim to be one thing only. The best YOU you can be. Anything else would be a lie.

See you at the tables.

PW

No, seriously, what is poker?

Poker
is a card game. Poker is a test of skill putting yourself against the
minds and wills of a number of other players in order to best them.
It\’s a game of chicken. It\’s random gambling. It\’s the greatest thing
in the world. It\’s also the worst.

In fact poker is, and has
always been, all of these things. But what is poker for me? That\’s the
important question, and that is the question anyone should ask
themselves when they decide to do something. What is this for
me? \”This\” could be anything; a sport, a job, your future. But you MUST
know what it means to you before you can do it to it\’s fullest.

I
was raised playing cards. I\’m never happier than with a deck in my
hand. I\’m also slightly reckless and will bet on anything if the mood
takes me. For me poker is more than a card game, it\’s a true test of my
character and desire to do something and be someone. You see, there is
no job out there for me which would make me happy. Not a one. I want
freedom. But freedom comes at a price, as does everything, but I am
willing to pay the price needed. So here I am, playing online poker for
$2 a game (2nl for those of you who don\’t know) and working towards
building a bankroll enough to give me the freedom I want and desire.

But
that\’s not all. I want to be the best. So I am not only aiming to have
poker as my means of income, I am also aiming to beat the very best and
becoming a multi-time World Champion.

What is poker? It can be
anything you want it to be. What is it for me? It\’s what my dreams are
made of and my future will be built upon.

What is poker to you?

PW.