Questions

[Presto]

Hi,

I have playing Hold'em for about 2 years now, I believe I have a fairly good grasp of the game, but I have a couple of questions which have always been bouncing around in my head...so here goes.


1)
How much is in the Cards?...if you were to take a Pro, or long term player and give them bad cards all night, and then sat five other players with a years experience each decent cards. Would the Pro have a chance of winning?. sometimes I hear people say "I didnt get the cards" - but surely this happens to every player at some point.


2)
I always seem to see the same faces in the poker press making the final tables and winnings...what is it that makes these people consistent winners?, what do they have that other players dont?. Players like Mike Matusow dont appear to me to be 'brainboxes', but always seem to up there. (im only using him as an example)

I hope this (my first post) will promote some healthy discussion, and maybe answer the naggings questions in my head.

Thanks
Presto

[tikay]

Hey Presto,

Welcome to blonde.

[KingPoker]

2)
I always seem to see the same faces in the poker press making the final tables and winnings...what is it that makes these people consistent winners?, what do they have that other players dont?. Players likeMike Matusow dont appear to me to be 'brainboxes', but always seem to up there.
I hope this (my first post) will promote some healthy discussion, and maybe answer the naggings questions in my head.

Thanks
Presto

Welcome

Just like to say first off Matusow although seeming to come off as a donk has a great grasp of the game, he knows the maths inside out and is a very very good player when he takes his emotions out of the equation.

Good questions though.

[AndrewT]

1)
How much is in the Cards?...if you were to take a Pro, or long term player and give them bad cards all night, and then sat five other players with a years experience each decent cards. Would the Pro have a chance of winning?. sometimes I hear people say "I didnt get the cards" - but surely this happens to every player at some point.

Good players don't need the cards, provided the game situation is right. But there are times when a hand will go to showdown so you need the best cards. Position is important - I read something once which said that in a heads-up game between the best player in the world, and a standard 'kind of knows what they're doing' average player, if the average player had position every hand they'd be favourite to win, so the advantage of the button negates the good player's extra skill.

2)
I always seem to see the same faces in the poker press making the final tables and winnings...what is it that makes these people consistent winners?, what do they have that other players dont?. Players like Mike Matusow dont appear to me to be 'brainboxes', but always seem to up there.

Mike has a big mouth and likes to be the centre of attention. I don't even think he is a consistent winner, given how much he donks off in online cash games.

[KingPoker]

1)
How much is in the Cards?...if you were to take a Pro, or long term player and give them bad cards all night, and then sat five other players with a years experience each decent cards. Would the Pro have a chance of winning?. sometimes I hear people say "I didnt get the cards" - but surely this happens to every player at some point.

Good players don't need the cards, provided the game situation is right. But there are times when a hand will go to showdown so you need the best cards. Position is important - I read something once which said that in a heads-up game between the best player in the world, and a standard 'kind of knows what they're doing' average player, if the average player had position every hand they'd be favourite to win, so the advantage of the button negates the good player's extra skill.

2)
I always seem to see the same faces in the poker press making the final tables and winnings...what is it that makes these people consistent winners?, what do they have that other players dont?. Players like Mike Matusow dont appear to me to be 'brainboxes', but always seem to up there.

Mike has a big mouth and likes to be the centre of attention. I don't even think he is a consistent winner, given how much he donks off in online cash games.

I rate him in tournaments though, his trouble is he has the gambling gene and donks off so much money in sports betting and cash poker, but you put him in a tournament where there is no rebuy and survival is the key, he plays extremely well!

[HOLDorFOLD]

Just to throw another question into the throw ..

what does "Calling the clock" mean???   Read it in a Skalie interview and he said "I called the clock on him" or something like that.

  fish alert  lol

[AndrewT]

Just to throw another question into the throw ..

what does "Calling the clock" mean???   Read it in a Skalie interview and he said "I called the clock on him" or something like that.

  fish alert  lol

If someone is taking a long time to make a decision, you can 'call the clock' which means giving the player a further 1 minute thinking time (usually counted by the TD). At the end of that minute his hand will be folded if he hasn't already decided.

[Sark79]

Hi mate

welcome

good questions , I look forward to the answers as well

[booder]

as Sir Jimmy Pursey once said...............there are more questions than answers

[fearisthekey]

good questions.

Firstly: probability. Mostly, no one is hitting the flop that solidly, so you can often make up for the cards in sheer agression. You have A7, your opponent AK, the flop 36Q (more likely this kind of flop than anyone hitting), you bet very hard.......what's he gonna do?
Secondly, what separates total donkeys from decent players is that donkeys often can't lay down a hand, even if they only have a small piece of the board. In this respect, you want to come up against better players if you have the worst cards, since you are relying on them laying down to your bluffs......
Thirdly, you can often rely on other information (betting, timing, etc) to let you know where you're at relative to the other guy, so you can bet with your inferior hand.
Fourthly, from what I've seen Matusow is pretty aggressive and a bit of a gambler, this can sometimes make up for a multitude of other sins (see reason One). Recently saw Hansen verbally destroy him for his 'sins' online. Does make a lot of 'plays' you'd never see from most others at the top.

I've always seen poker as a game of two interlocking 'machines', the 'cards machine' and the machine that is people's minds (these ARE machines). I think a lot of the top pros (Hansen, Ivey) understand the latter element really really well.