Guru LESSON: New Trend in Online Poker

Posts: 2913 · Posted: 16.11.2007, 19:17

Guru LESSON: New Trend in Online Poker

Good evening, Gentlewomen and Gentlemen PCers!

I spent quite a few days and nights last week playing poker online at tables with stakes about the average of what you all have told me you played for. It made sense to me to do so. How could I advise you well if I did not experience the same thing you are experiencing? Or at least that was my reasoning and it has not changed.

Therefore, changing my username frequently and playing at many sites, I may have played against you and I may not have. I can guarentee you only that I tried as best I could NOT to play against you. The only thing I had to go by was the fact that I know most of the usernames you use, and when I recognized a name, I moved on to another table.

I kept a lot of notes as I played and I discovered an interesting new trend that is developing, even tho I have not heard or read one word about it. I can add that I do not like the trend, but in poker, trends come and go, and we have to deal with them all. As you might guess, I have developed a plan for
you to use in dealing with this one, which I found to be very effective.

What has happened is somewhat, but not really,like the undisciplined players in tourneys who start as early as the first round, that careless and risky habit of going all-in right off the bat. They could be doing it for one of only two reasons: trying to scare you out, or relying strictly on luck to bring their card, rather like a kid waiting impatiently for Santa Claus.

This new breed of players I noticed seem also to be impatient, but instead of going all in, what they do is raise regularly a disproportionate large amount, early in the hand, sometimes even before the flop, which tells you right away that they have to be fishing for luck with one hand, while trying to scarethe unsophisticated players out with the other. There is nothing else at all they could base such playing on, since they haven't seen anything else!

There IS one exception: It is acceptable if holding a pair of pocket Aces, but not much else.

I certainly hope this fad does not last long, because it is more like a game played with cars, called "Chicken" than it is like a real and respectable game of Poker that is played by real and respected poker players. In all honesty, I do not expect it to last long because sooner or later the poker analysts have got
to notice it and start writing about it and also because sooner RATHER than later, this new breed will commit collective slow suicide at the tables......and that will be the end of that!

But in the meantime, while they ARE still out there, I see it as my duty to arm you with weapons and prepare you to be the first to start knocking them out, as in KO's in boxing. I also think I should advise you that this is another one of those things that we should not talk about outside our own group. Why give your opponents the same advantage you have in spotting these characters and handling them? That is self-defeating for you and remember the rule of one player per hand and one hand per player. It is their responsibility, not yours, to choose their own methods of learning how to play the game best. Learning how to play the game best includes learning how to stay ahead and up-to-date and also how to be in the
vanguard of poker in general.

You, my PCers, have chosen to learn by burning the midnight oil, by working at studying the game for real, and putting in the hours of learning lessons so well that they become a natural and second nature part of your playing. That is why you are winners. It is really that simple. The "other guys" who want to learn by remaining lazy and thinking of our sport as "just a game" instead of the thinking type of work it really is.....well, to put it bluntly, why should you just hand over to them for nothing all that you have acquired so that it will be easier for them to win your money?

Remember that Poker-Crush is not a restricted and expensive private club. It is open to the public and free to anyone who is willing to follow our standards and rules. So there is not a thing wrong with refusing to hand out for the asking all the strategies that have now become habits to you. They did not
become habits overnight or easily, and they should not be given away quickly or easily. If anyone disagrees with me, please feel free to say so and we will have a discussion about it until every PCer is comfortable with how he feels about it.

Differences of opinion are not bad things at all. They are
very good things for people who know how to give respect to the holders of differing opinions and to expect and command that same respect for themselves. That is why PCers have so many great discussions and not one single solitary worthless brawl. That is how we learn from one another instead of trying to prove one another wrong. That is why we are poker players with class. That is why we are classy gentlemen and gentlewomen!

And now for the solution to single-handedly, as a group, doing our fair share of ending one bad trend and guiding our chosen field of occupation or avocation back onto the right track. The right track is anything that adds to the new respect and acceptability in society of our game as a recognized real sport with real champions.

I will not put you thru all the pages of math and reasoning and hypothesis and calculating that led me to the solution. I will just present to you the solution, which I have thoroughly tried and tested and know to be true. Then comes YOUR hard part.....studying it and memorizing it and internalizing it to the
point that it never leaves you until all traces of this new trend are gone from the world of poker!

The part that gives me the biggest chuckle is that my PCers will be solving the problem before the so-called "experts" even realize the problem exists. God, how proud I am going to be of you!

Okay. I said I would not give you a big rigoramarole of reasoning.......just the solution. And here it is, refined to a "T".
When you find one or more of these guys or gals at your table, here is how you defeat them:

We have to make an adjustment to which hands to hold and which hands to fold as our starting hands.

That's it. But as you know, it sounds so easy when there is nothing easy about it.

And that will be Part 2 of this lesson, coming up in just a few short days! So study caps back on.....until we can replace them with graduating mortarboards!

This lesson has been developed with a lot of sweat and proudly presented to my Poker Crushers from

Your ever-lovin' Guru

Posts: 846 · Posted: 16.11.2007, 19:50

can't wait for part two, this all in crepe has been going on since i started playing a year ago....and any advise on how to defeat them will be appreciated....right now i usually just sit out until i get to a reasonable table

Posts: 1740 · Posted: 16.11.2007, 19:56

Wow poker Guru welcome to my world as almost any table I sit at there is always an all in player and I usually excspect that lol.sometimes they will do it 6 or 7 in a row and sometimes it is so irratating that I always have to say lotto or bingo lol. This is where I have to remember your words of PATIECE as I have learned to sit many hands just folding even nice starts because of their all in.

Posts: 3276 · Posted: 16.11.2007, 20:01

After recognizing these wingnuts I will stay with them for the flop if it doesn't cost more than 10% of my stack,even with a less than perfect hand.With nothing on the flop I"m gone,unless I'm in the position to bluff,right Al,LOL!!!!

Posts: 243 · Posted: 16.11.2007, 22:06

My Poker Guru,

Your time and effort are greatly appreciated.I honestly can not thank you enough in words.
The only Poker I've ever played has been on the internet. I have never set foot in a casino in my life.
So I'm sure you'll understand how valuable your latest lesson is to me.
On the whole, it may, or may not be the most important lesson in Poker.
But to me. I believe it is, and I'm really excited by your lesson.
I can't wait for part 2

Thank You, Thank You, Thank You.

Posts: 1825 · Posted: 16.11.2007, 23:10

I have come across this time and time again in tourneys. Even if I hold pocket aces I just fold and wait them out. They usually always go all in before the flop which is insane of course but if I want to stay in the tourney I fold fold fold till they calm down.

I too cannot wait for part 2!!

Posts: 505 · Posted: 17.11.2007, 00:42

I usually find those players in freerolls and I must say if I have a good hand I will usually call all in..most times doubling or tripling my money but sometimes losing as well... you don't tend to see these reckless players in money trnys..at least I don't but they are out there and they are annoying!!! Thank you for the lesson Poker Guru..looking forward to the "thinking part II" Smile

Posts: 2913 · Posted: 17.11.2007, 01:22

ROFLMBOOOOOOO!

Pardon me, please, PCers, for laughing at you, because that is exactly what I am doing, and delightedly so.

You have forgotten, I am sure, when you first started with me two years ago this month, many of you, when your thoughts, attitudes, and opinions were so very different than today.

I can still remember some of your exact words, telling me you knew you could never learn to do this or that, and now here you are nearly raising your voices to confirm that you HAVE already learned it sooooo well! I don't think some of you even remember the differences in how you played 2 years ago.

So please forgive me for laughing and enjoying your educated declarations now, because I remember the differences and it tickles me near to death just to listen to you!

TALK ABOUT BEFORE AND AFTER PICTURES!

And Valeria, you in particular, I had to almost argue with and you certainly were stubborn in your unwillingness to take seriously what you are today ready to fight about because you are so serious!

I cannot imagine anythng that could bring so much hilarious pleasure to a true Guru!

So to all of you , I say: Forgive me and thank you!!!!!

Your laughing out loud while reading your posts Guru

Posts: 1253 · Posted: 17.11.2007, 03:50

Excellent Guru I can hardly wait!!! I get so frustrated with the all-inners especially when they show a 9 - 2 and I folded a good hand grrrrrr. lol What I usually do when attending a freeroll is I open another window and if I run into this type, I watch every hand and play solitaire until they are gone. lol

I'm definately ready for "Part 2"!!!

Thank you Guru!!!

Happy Gaming Always!

OrangeCrush Wink

Posts: 1825 · Posted: 17.11.2007, 05:16

lol @ oc HAHAHAAH I never thought to play solitaire hahahaah

Posts: 1192 · Posted: 17.11.2007, 07:10

Been there, experienced that and am glad to here that I am not alone in believing that thios is not poker where I have gone wrong on more than 1 occasion is openly bitcjing about it for instance I will post something like "are you finished can we play poker now" which hasn't done any good so I too adapted to folding everything but possibly pocket A's K's or Q's and sit out otherwise waiting, frustrated and anticipating the eventual demise. can't wait to see lesson 2

Posts: 243 · Posted: 17.11.2007, 10:44

Well done everyone. You all seem to deal with these chancers so well.
I've been struggling lately to justify letting go of good, even the best starting hands. But your posts may have finally convinced me, that as hard as it may seem, sometimes, I just gotta let em go.
I've learned lessons just from reading your posts in this thread.

Thank you all

Posts: 1100 · Posted: 19.11.2007, 11:16

Thank you . I have never played poker for real I only play a little at home
When I go into a poker place on line I get all confused . Don't know where to start when I get in . Just the look of it makes me all nervous . Some day I will get enough curage to give it a try . I will keep coming here to see what you all have to teach us . Thank you Poker Guru