Indecisive players often choose the “safest” option, checking or calling, rather than betting or raising. These actions seem to minimize risk, but they will often increase it. The small amount they save by not betting or raising can cost them a whole pot.
Winners accept that decisions must be made without complete information, but they definitely don’t act impulsively. They do everything they can to obtain the information they need, to get the best of it, and then they act decisively to make the most of it.
But What About Luck?
Forget about it. Nothing you can do will affect it, and over the long term it usually evens out. This book focuses on the only things you can control: your own thoughts, feelings, and actions because they determine whether you get the best of it and make the most of it.
• If you control them, you will win.
• If you waste your time and energy trying to control luck, you will lose.
David Sklansky and Mason Malmuth put luck into the proper perspective. The final words of their book were, “We wish you ‘average luck.’ That’s all you will need if you have been paying attention.”19
Winners’ Laws
This chapter has four Winners’ Laws, and they are very general. The remaining chapters will spell out the specific actions you should take to apply them.
1. Do whatever it takes to get the best of it.
2. Get as much information as possible.
3. Give away as little information as possible.
4. When you get the best of it, act decisively to make the most of it.
How Do You Rate?
This chapter covers managing risks and information, but we will rate only risk management now. In parts 2 through 5 you will rate yourself on many information-management skills.
Circle the number that best describes your agreement with this statement: I am neither a risk seeker nor a risk avoider. While playing poker, I always try to get the best of it and to make the most of it. (7) Agree strongly, (6) Agree, (5) Agree somewhat, (4) Neutral, (3) Disagree somewhat, (2) Disagree, (1) Disagree strongly.
Circle that number in the appropriate place on page 262.
The Critical Questions
Review this chapter, especially the Winners’ Laws and How Do You Rate? sections. Then answer two questions:
1. What are the implications of my self-rating?
2. What should I do differently? List specific actions you should take to improve your risk management.
Discuss your answers with someone you trust and take good notes.
PART TWO
Winners Control Their Focus
Introduction: Winners Control Their Focus
Most poker writers emphasize processing information such as memorizing the odds and understanding the meaning of various bets and tells. They pay much less attention to acquiring information, but it’s at least as important. If you don’t get the right information, what you know or how well you think don’t matter much.
Part 2 discusses the way winners control their focus to get the right information, while part 3 discusses how they process it. This distinction is somewhat blurred. The way winners focus affects the way they process information and vice versa.
Your motives and focus overlap. You naturally focus on what you want. However, if you don’t understand how various factors affect each other or if you lack discipline, you may focus on the wrong subjects. For example, you may want to increase your long-term profits but focus frequently on subjects that reduce it.
Since winners want to maximize their edge, they focus on topics that increase it, and they pay little attention to everything else. Losers don’t control their focus, wasting time and energy on subjects that don’t affect profits.
First and most important, winners focus on long-term results (profits) because they are the way we keep score. They are the primary, almost the only criterion, of success, making them the winners’ central focus. They minimize almost everything else, such as a love of action, a desire to impress people, bad beats, lucky breaks, and winning or losing streaks.
Since their long-term profits will be approximately equal to the total EV of their decisions, they focus on making good decisions. They will even make short-term sacrifices of chips, time, and comfort to increase their ultimate profits. For example, they invest time and money in developing their skills and deliberately misplay occasional hands to create an image or set a trap.
Despite their long-term focus, they remain firmly grounded in the present. Instead of worrying about the past or dreaming of the future, they focus on the here and now. They constantly ask themselves, To maximize my EV, what must I do now?
Because poker is a power-oriented, predatory game, winners focus on power and minimize luck, justice, fairness, and personal relationships. They are constantly assessing everyone’s power, trying to get more of it, and deferring actions until the power balance favors them.
Since power is always relative, winners naturally focus on other people. They constantly compare their opponents’ cards, skills, and styles to their own. They also try to understand their opponents’ motives, thoughts, and attitudes. Why are they acting this way? What do they want? How do they think? How can I get them to do what I want?
Because trying to focus on so many subjects is confusing, losers often oversimplify poker. They want a simple formula or a short list of do’s and don’ts. Winners reject such simplifications and consider complexities. They know that there are no simple formulas and that the right strategy depends on the situation. They ignore the attractively simplistic world of the losers and consider poker’s complex realities.
5. Winners Focus on Long-Term Results
If you can’t win, lose, just as long as you keep playing.
—Nick “The Greek” Dandolos20
You can’t win every game.... You must think of your wins at the end of the year.
—David Sklansky21
These two quotations summarize this chapter’s central principle. Nick “The Greek” Dandolos was a loser, but he was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame. He is famous primarily for losing a highly publicized series of head-to-head matches against Johnny Moss, his era’s greatest player. Nobody knows exactly how much he lost then, but some estimates range from $2 to $4 million.
“Near the end of his life Dandolos was near broke and playing $5 limit draw poker games in Gardena, California. When asked by a fellow player how he could once play for millions and now be playing for such small stakes, Dandolos supposedly replied, ‘Hey, it’s action, isn’t it?’”22
He was an excellent player, but his love for action destroyed him. His life epitomized the dangers of focusing on anything but results. But you should also ask, “What kind of results?”
David Sklansky repeatedly answered that question. You must think of long-term results. If you focus on action or short-term results, you will probably end up broke, just like Nick “The Greek.”
The Dangers of Focusing on Anything but Results
There are many action lovers like Nick at every level, from tiny stakes to enormous ones. For example, many no-hopers enter the biggest tournaments for the kick of playing in them. Winners call them “dead money.” Since the prize pool comes from entry fees, this dead