See http://www.nopaypoker.com/articles/index.php/article-1-of-10-a-prerequisite-for-poker-venues-involving-real-money for article 1 in this series on how to graduate from free poker to live card room cash game $5/10 play.

Little doubt exists on my part that you’ve noticed, throughout this series of free poker Articles, throughout all of the preceding series of Articles (if you’ve read them), that I fundamentally adhere to a very ‘conservative’ style of play. And, I’ve yet to find any reason to remove myself from what is an exceptionally rewarding approach to the game. After all, it does produce an average monthly Return on Investment of 65%.

But, how does it do so well? And, why does it do so well?

The answer to both of these questions reside in a very simple fact. One that should be easily understood by all of us. We don’t gamble, many others do.

Not everyone, but countless numbers of players that we end up competing against do gamble.
And, these gamblers are completely unaware of the long-term negative consequences associated with the way they play. Therefore, as long as these players remain a constant at our table, and they will, we’re going to regularly strip them of their cash; large amounts of cash. Plus, our standard method of winning their cash will be founded in the conservative poker play that we bring to every one of our B & M sessions at the felt.

Now, this being so, I’ll wager that most of you have no idea how many of these types of poker players…the gamblers…fill the seats at the B & M tables. As an example, I often play with an Orthodontist; he’s not a friend, just a poker table acquaintance.

He joins a ‘private’ $5/$10 No Limit table every Friday. He’s a gambler, he buys-in with $2,000 every week, and he rarely leaves the table with any money. If the truth be known, I want him around. He’s the source of a lot of cash regularly flowing in my direction. And, again, it’s my conservative play that is the principal cause for the movement of his cash to my pockets.

He’s a gambler…and, I guess, he should be on my ‘I love You’ list (it’s a figurative list; not a literal one). Or, for his benefit, he should be on the ‘I Need to Read Fyodor Dostoevsky’ list (the author of ‘The Gambler’).

And, if, by chance, you too have not as yet picked up this classic piece of Russian literature, you’d be well advised to do so. It won’t take more than six hours to read the book in its entirety.

Where, you’ll discover, that the contents of the book get you inside the gamblers mind. Once immersed, you’ll be shocked to learn that the subconscious goal of just about all gamblers is to lose. That’s right! To lose!

Conversely, I compete with two extremely good players in the very same ‘private’ game, both of whom have become close friends; we’ll often end the day at a dinner table with one another. Each of the two of them know full-well exactly what’s happening when, for example, I’ve flopped a ‘low pair’ set.

Obviously, they say or do nothing while the hand is being played. But, when the hand is over, they’ll often shift their eyes in my direction, and offer up a discretely veiled congratulatory grin. Additionally, as you might expect, It’s rare for any of the three of us to be in the same hand together at ‘post-flop betting’ or ‘post-turn betting’.

In essence, why should any one of the three of us compete against each other when there are ‘Farm Animals’ filling at least half the seats at this cash game table. And, since it’s a weekly private game, it must be obvious to you all that I am in possession of extensive notes on all fourteen of the groups members; eight of whom have got to maintain full-time residence in a pasture…their play stinks; much like manure in a sweltering sun.

Yet, weekly, eight to eleven players show up for the game, and, four to five of them wouldn’t be able to win money if they were competing against a table full of imbecilic, ‘anal-facial’ inverted, tiddly-wink players.

Now, inversion aside, it’s necessary for me to point out a few things to avoid...or, a few things to be fully aware of while you’re at the tables with other players.

• The first item of note has to do with gender. It is infrequent, indeed almost non-existent, to ever find a woman who is a gambler.
• I don’t know why, but I do know that I have yet to encounter one.
• Possibly, as a byproduct of their innate patience, they maintain a ‘wisdom’ about their play that often escapes their male counterparts.
• Of note, this ‘wisdom’ may also be the case in every day life.
• Think for a moment, if you’re male, about your life-time tally of large mistakes, versus the life-time tally belonging to the female who shares your abode. No comparison! Right?

Additionally, make note of the fact that there aren’t a whole lot of females in my sample. On average, at least nine out of ten participants at just about all B & M tables are men.

As evidence of this proportional statistic, visit your local poker room…then count the women you see who are playing at cash tables. Your eyes will quickly validate the statistical veracity mentioned in the preceding sentence.

In fact, when you count heads, when you separate by gender, you’ll discover that approximately nineteen out of twenty players in the card rooms are men. And, rest assured, the lone female in this group of twenty players is not a gambler.

Also, with gender as a non-issue, toss away any attempt to make a gambler the victim of your deceitful plays…all three of them.

• The gamblers don’t bring anything but ‘reckless abandon’ and aggression to the tables.
• They’re simply not attentive enough to pick-up on the ‘deceits’ you would like to implement.
• Save the well-intentioned, profitable, and deceitful set-ups for the players who possess some degree of comprehension about how to play the game.
• Then, at ‘deceit success’, stack their chips at your small space on the felt.
• Additionally, use the serendipitous occasions of holding non-deceitful ‘nut’ hands to relieve the gamblers of their money.

Plus, you need not exclude any of the ladies from the ‘deceit’ tactics that you’ll regularly put to use at the tables.

• Frankly, since they are so observant, since they are so patient, since they are so non-forgetful, and since they bring ‘wisdom’ wherever they go, they will often fall victim to the deceit shows you stage.
• And, Lord knows, there’s nothing wrong with stuffing your pockets with the cash that once existed in their purses.
• Remember, gender does not exist at a poker table. A woman can take a man’s money, a man can take a woman’s money…no sexism; it doesn’t exist.

Next, now would be an appropriate time to render some clarity to another statistic.
One that may have buried itself into your thoughts, but escaped definition. It has to do with ROI.

Where, frequently, throughout all of my poker ‘writings’, I have mentioned a sustained 65% Return on Investment (ROI) regarding my years of B & M play.

And, should you not have done the arithmetic tied to a 65% ROI, should you not have calculated the amount of money tied to a 65% ROI, take a moment to allow the explanation contained within the next two paragraphs to introduce you to the potential effects on your wallet’s contents.

Paramount within the introduction is the very simple formula used to compute an ROI.

• Do not use your buy-in amount as the basis for arriving at a Return on Investment Percentage.
• You can only use the largest amount of money that you have put into play during any one hand…on any one day that you have played.
• If you bought in for $1,500, but never put more than $1,000 into play, then your basis for computing an ROI is $1,000 (not $1,500).
• And, if you ended the day with winnings that totalled $500, you would have experienced a one day ROI of 50%…where $500 in winnings, versus $1,000 put into play, equals 50%.
• Pretty simple! The amount you won expressed as a percentage of the amount you put at risk.
• If you never used your original $1,500 buy-in as an ‘all-in’ bet during play, you never put your $1,500 buy-in at risk.

Then, game day after game day, maintain a journal where you record the day’s ‘at risk’ money, and the day’s ‘money won’ or ‘money lost’.

• At month’s end, total up all of the ‘at risk’ money, and total up a net of ‘money won’ less ‘money lost’.
• As an example, let’s identify the monthly total of ‘at risk’ money as $20,000.
• And, let’s identify the net total of ‘money won’ less ‘money lost’ as $13,000 (in winnings).
• OK! Done! You’re looking at a 65% Return on Investment…where $13,000 in winnings, versus $20,000 put into play, equals 65%.

However, considering the preceding, it’s important to note that the numbers I just used were hypothetical…they were only intended to clarify the process of calculating a Return on Investment; they were not meant to convey the monetary results that I may, or may not, experience during my play at the tables.

Those results, understandably, are personal to me. And, my goal here was not to toot my own horn, or to highlight my own stupidities; no, the goal here was only to get each of you to understand how much money can be accumulated as a result of playing with a 65% Return on Investment (ROI).

In candor, my play, my 65% ROI, is a byproduct of the two most valuable words in the English language. Those two words are ‘How’ and ‘Why’.

I know of no other words, when properly used, that will yield more information…more knowledge…and, more benefits.

The word ‘How’ permits us to dig…to uncover.

The word ‘Why’ permits us to understand…to reason.

In their absence, we’d be blind at a poker table. And, none of us, not if winning money is our goal, not if a 65% or more ROI is our goal, should ever look to sit down at the B &M felt without having mastered the use and effect of the words ‘How’ and ‘Why’.

In truth, even with our comprehension of the power of these two words, nothing to follow will be easy…actually, it’ll all be very hard. Yet, nothing to follow will be as difficult as the really, really, really, hard stuff…like, “What does a woman want?”. Go ahead! See if you can bring forth an answer to that question; it has essentially puzzled men for thousands of years.

And, if you were to commence a research effort in an attempt to answer that very question, you’d undoubtedly spend thousands of hours performing the task. Plus, in the end, you’d likely come to an erroneous conclusion.

So, suffice it to say, that the work involved in the task of properly utilizing your ‘player notes’ will pale in comparison. But, it’s your choice. Take up the task of trying to answer a question that is no more than an exercise in futility, or, take up the task of productively utilizing player notes that is no less than an exercise in success.

The latter will stuff your wallet with $100 Bills and make you pretty damn happy, the former will deplete any and all of your energies and make you pretty damn frustrated. A no brainer? It sure appears to be!

Moving forward…at least for those of you who chose the cash and happiness….we need to fully involve ourselves in the utilization of player notes.

And, as stated above, while the task will be an exercise that both culminates in success and fills your wallets, it’ll also be a task that challenges your ‘Hows’ and ‘Whys’, tests your perseverance, and strains your memory.

• You’ll not successfully conclude this effort without complete determination
• Without a continual attentiveness to ‘How’ and ‘Why
• …and, you’ll not successfully conclude this effort without making full use of all your abilities related to the process of memorization.

To begin with, when you’re first seated at the table:

• Recall that you’re going to say hello to all the players you know, you’re going to re-introduce yourself to all the players you think you know…but have managed to forget their respective names,
• You’re going to hand over your buy-in money to the floorman.
• Then you’re going to excuse yourself from the table. And, during your brief absence, you’re going to hide yourself from the table, and quickly research all of your relevant player notes.
• Once done, you’ll need to commit all of the player notes to memory, return to the table, apologize for your ‘phone call’ absence (or some similar white lie), and commence play (obviously, waiting to start until you’re the Big Blind).

Or, if it’s your plan to start play with a ‘false presentation’ that is intended to let people know that you’re a loose player, you’ll need to ignore the normally accepted principle of waiting for the Big Blind and put out the BB so that you’ll be dealt pocket cards on the first hand.

Yet, don’t be foolhardy in putting out a BB if most of the table’s participants know you. I mean, if the bulk of the players at the table know full well that you’re both a conservative and very good player, the charade of suggesting to the table that you’re loose is meaningless.

Second, pre-flop, you’ve got notes about tells and betting habits.

• As an example, I’ll use my ‘AR’, ‘SA’, and ‘CB’ notes.
• The ‘SA’ note tells me that this player always shuffles his two pocket cards when he has seen that the first card he looked at was an Ace.
• The ‘AR’ note tells me that he’ll call modest raises with Ace/Rag
• And the ‘CB’ note tells me that he’s a Calling Station once he’s participated in a BB raise.
• Plus, two other notes, ’8A’ and ‘RP’, have told me that he’d have been an eight times the BB raiser if he were holding pocket Aces (’8A’)
• Or that he’d have been a re-raiser if he were holding Ace/Paint (‘RP’).
• So, when he calls a three times the BB bet, after displaying his ‘shuffle’ tell, I can now play the hand with almost total confidence that he is holding pocket Ace/Rag.

No doubt, I’m in an ‘advantaged’ position. I know his cards, an Ace with either a 2 through 9, but he doesn’t know my cards. Granted, I don’t know if his cards are suited…mostly because I’ve never had the opportunity to record an ‘ARs’ note; it having never been shown to me at the conclusion of any one hand.

However, if, by chance, I’m holding Ace/Paint+ (K, Q, J, 10, or 9)  in my hand, I’m about a 7 to 2 pre-flop favorite versus this player.

Yet, I still need to take an accounting of the notes that I have for the player who made the original raise to the BB. And, in this case, let’s just label him a pre-flop ‘LA’ (loose/aggressive) and ‘FB’ (chip flinger who likes to bully the table).

Also, to make this example a bit simpler, let’s assume that my notes contain the very useful code ‘FQ’ (folds to quality players). Plus, the two players to my left are both coded ‘ET’; this code tells me that they are both Extremely Timid.

Now, with the knowledge that there are two Aces out, and the fact that the chances of the ‘ET’ players holding a pocket Ace are approximately one in ten, I’d like to isolate myself against the Ace/Rag player (keep in mind the ‘CB’ note).

And, since the original raiser is a ‘LA’, ‘FB’, and ‘FQ’ noted player, it is more than likely that a pot size raise will get rid of everyone except Mr. Ace/Rag.

So…my best play is to put out the three times the BB of $30, announce that I’m going to raise, and then place $100 in additional chips onto the table. In candor, when all of the above is true, I will experience greater than a 90% success rate with this play.

However, at this point, pre-flop, the 90% only relates to the mission of getting to an ‘isolation’ versus Mr. Ace/Rag…it has nothing to do with the number of times that I’ll win the hand. But, we already know how many times I’ll win the hand when I’m isolated with this A/rag player….it’s about 77% of the time.

Remember, I’m close to being a 4 to 1 favorite…my A/Q against his A/rag has put me in a considerably advantaged position.

Then, we need to know, and use, our player notes post-flop, post-turn, and post-river. Clearly, no easy task. Yet, when done properly, the rewards far outweigh the discipline, effort, and mental challenges that are the identifiable obstacles in our path.

• Think of them as ‘one foot’ high hurdles…possibly as many as 300 of them.
• In the aggregate, they may appear to be insurmountable.
• Individually, however, each of them is merely a single step.
• This being so, each of them becomes passable, attainable, and surmountable.
• Plus, having triumphed over my 225 hurdles, my 225 player note codes, I can’t bring myself to believe that many of you can’t do likewise…or, can’t do better.

And, while I would like to go much deeper into the subject matters relating to ‘Player Note Utilization’, there is a restriction placed on me that I am currently unable to navigate around.

In a general sense, it has to do with my ‘publishers legal authority’. They own the publishing rights to my 225 player note codes, and they own the publishing rights to my book: ‘A Journey Down the Brick and Mortar Road’.

In return, I own the money they paid me, and I own a ‘royalty contract’ that they, my agent, and I have signed. In the end, the bottom line is that I am prohibited from publishing anything more than a ‘sampling’ of the codes…here at NoPayPOKER, or anywhere else.

Yet, given all that’s been presented to you in this series of Articles, I’m comfortable with the prospects for your future success at the B & M cash game tables. And, I’m equally comfortable with my own projections that many of you can, and will, develop all of the ‘note taking’ codes that you’ll need to attain the aforementioned future success.

There is, however, one last natural, innate, or God-given individual poker ‘skill’, or ‘characteristic’, or ‘gift’ that each of you must possess to move forward….to bring about the frequent stacking of $100 Bills on the green felt laid out before you.

And, while I have no interest in offending anyone, I will be brutally honest in defining the ‘skill’, ‘characteristic’, or ‘gift’ that I’m writing about.

I could simply call it your Intelligence Quotient, or I could simply call it your ability to Memorize. But, if I were to do either, I believe that I would be instituting an injustice.

I know of any number of people with high IQ’s who can’t memorize very well, and I know of any number of people with great memorization skills who don’t hold a high IQ. So, it’s not one or the other…it’s really a combination of both.

Fundamentally, I suggest that you’ll need an !Q of 105 or higher, and I suggest that you’ll need above average memorization abilities.

And, without exception, it’s you who knows you best…you’ll need to determine whether or not you belong at a Brick and Mortar cash game.

Best of Luck at the Tables

Michael

(c) copyright 2009; no reproduction, all rights reserved by D. M. Vadnais

NB – Over your head a bit for now? Don’t worry! Read the whole series by D.M. Vadnais on the NoPayPOKER.com blog then go practice your free texas hold em poker online on the main NoPayPOKER.com site. As our maestro says in previous articles, you can win real money playing real free poker on NoPayPOKER.com and with that fund your bankroll for the real deal when you go up to the B&M bigs.

This Article is a continuation of Part 8….where Player Notes remain the primary subject matter; as they will in Part 10 to follow.

And, while it’s one task to have accurately recorded player notes, it’s a completely different task to properly make use of those notes. So, here, in Part 9, we’ll look to address the latter.

Plus, as difficult as it was to develop a coding schematic for recording notes (which was your job; not mine….I have my own set of about 225 codes), be mindful of the fact that the effort required to put your notes to sound use will be no less difficult.

Additionally, it’s going to take some time before the player notes, and their usage, evolve into a ‘semi-robotic’ component of your cash game play.

However, prior to our journey into the depths of player note utilization, I’ll use this opportunity to again present a difference between cash and free online poker play versus B &M play.

Given all the past presentations of the vast differences between the two, I’m hopeful that you’ve incorporated the ‘assumed gained knowledge’ into your game play. If you have, I’m confident that you’ve managed to attain a positive Return On Investment (ROI) at the casino or card room you’ve been visiting.

Yet, I can’t conceive of your ROI, to-date, having reached 65% or more. However, I can conceive of your ROI getting there….or going beyond there. You’ll simply need a bit more time; it’ll happen.

Now, on to the difference(s).

• It deals with your ‘Flops Seen Percentage’ and your ‘Flops Seen Win Percentage’.
• When you’re playing free poker at NoPayPOKER, remembering that ‘real money’ Internet poker sites are no longer safe gaming venues, you’ve likely experienced a ‘Flops Seen Percentage’ of somewhere in excess of 25%; possibly as high as 45%.
• Plus, you’ve likely experienced a ‘Flops Seen Win Percentage’ of somewhere below 50%; possibly as low as 20%.
• And, as a result of your ‘percentages’, I suspect that a number of pennies have accumulated in your accounts.
• Moreover, I suspect that those pennies have added up to a moderate stack of one dollar bills ($1).

Well, the growth of a ‘penny’ bankroll at NoPayPOKER, versus the growth of a ‘Hundred Dollar Bill’ bankroll at a Brick and Mortar (B & M) establishment, represent horses of a different size and color….one is a roan miniature, the other is a dark bay Clydesdale; there’s just no comparison.

And, you’re NOT going to win any ‘serious money’ ($100 Bills) at the B & M tables with a ‘Flops Seen Percentage’ that exceeds 17 to 18%, or you’re NOT going to win any ‘serious money’ ($100 Bills) at the B & M tables with a ‘Flops Seen Win Percentage’ that is lower than 60 to 64%.

Candidly, the days of 45% Flops Seen and 20% Flops Seen Wins are over.

Why? Because, we’re playing with extreme patience; and that limits flops seen.

• Because, we’re playing with a Playable Pockets Matrix (PPM); and that limits flops seen.
• Because, we’re more than willing to ‘pre-flop muck’ truly good pockets when the ‘Farm Animals’, reminiscent of a donk-infested freeroll, begin to fling chips around; and that limits flops seen.
• Moreover, we’re not remotely comparable to any of the ‘pasture dwellers’….we’re not removed from the knowledge of winning strategies….and, we’re not required to abandon the principles of our game play quality.
• Additionally, we have a complete understanding of both Positive Expected Values (+EV) and Negative Expected Values (-EV).

Also, keep in mind that we’re only playing when we believe we have an advantage. And, we’ve come to learn when, and if, we do have that advantage….like holding the current ‘nuts’ hand, or slow-playing a flopped set, or using Implied Odds to create big ROI’s, or making pot size bets as a defensive weapon, or implementing any one of the three deceits that have become a mainstay in our game.

Plus, the very fact that we’re only playing when we are in an ‘advantaged’ position, represents the principle reason for all of us to be pathed toward eventually taking down more than 3 out 5 hands (a ‘Flops Seen Win Percentage of 60% or more).

Of note, the ‘Flops Seen Win Percentage’, where I’ve indicated to you the presumption that it will fall into the range of 60 to 64%, will occur….zero doubt exists on my part that this will be true over any extended period of time. It’s been true for all of my No Limit Ring Game students, and it’s been true for me.

If you play the game in a manner that substantially parallels the ‘instructional’ scribblings I’ve presented to you, it’s inevitable that your ‘Flops Seen Win Percentage’ will end up somewhere between 60 to 64%.

And, when you’re winning with that degree of consistency, you will be experiencing a substantial growth to your $100 Bill bankroll….especially when you take into account the fact that you’ll rarely, if ever, call an all-in bet unless you hold a ‘nuts’ hand.

Clearly, at this point, I could easily visualize a whole lot of people who’d have a whole lot of interest in benefiting from a continually expanding Hundred Dollar Bill bankroll. And, if you’ve come with me this far, through Part 9 of this series of Articles, the chances are that you ARE one of those people.

This being so, it would be a good time to enter the realm of putting the player notes you’ve developed to profitable use at the felt. Quite possibly, you’ve already discovered that some of the notes you’ve recorded to-date have moved a number of $100 Bills into your wallets and purses. And, that’s great! However, I’m intent on getting you to move quite a few more….with quite a bit of regularity.

Let’s begin!

• First and foremost, stay away from a $1/$2 No Limit game.
• Generally speaking, the opening bet in this low stakes game is in the area of seven times the big blind (that would be $15).
• And, there are only two pockets that we could be dealt that would give us cause to call a seven times the BB raise: A/A and K/K (and, for the record, we’ll find ourselves holding pocket A/A or pocket K/K only once in approximately 110 hands).
• Plus, there are way too many different players, countless players, who will join this low stakes game.
• Over the period of as little as three months, you could easily be witness to well over six to eight hundred different people sitting down at a $1/$2 table.

That fact, for certain, will place our note taking task in jeopardy; we’ll never have enough room in our notebooks for all the ‘BananaHeads’ who come to play, and, we’ll never have enough free time to successfully record accurate notes (I’ve yet to meet a single individual who could successfully record notes on 800 or more players).

• Additionally, the cost to play, the rake, will be way too high; likely in the area of 7% to 10%.
• Plus, the same is true for a $2/$4 game; too many different players, and too high of a rake.
• Why would we want to compromise our ability to win by holding insufficient notes?
• And, why would we want the ‘house’ to be garnering more of the pot than what would seem equitable? Answer! We don’t.

Additionally, we’ll be well advised to avoid the $10/$20 games, and the $20/$40 games.

• Both attract extremely good players, and an assortment of professional players.
• It would be most infrequent to find a ‘BananaHead’, or an easily readable player at these high stake games.
• For sure, by my judgement, we have no reason to be putting ourselves in the most challenging game play settings.
• More importantly, avoiding these games allows us to place ourselves at the tables where the pickings are the easiest.

This being the case, our starting game, and, much more than likely, our constant game, is going to be a $5/$10 No Limit cash game.

• It attracts a fairly consistent group of players.
• Some are good, some are bad, and most are very predictable.

As an example, the games I play in, one a 70 minute drive away, the other a 2 hour drive away, each attract about 5 dozen ‘regular’ players, and a small, but continual flow of tourists, businessmen, oil platform workers, and ‘traveling’ poker rounders.

For the most part, the tourists, businessmen, and oilmen, are all major ‘turkeys’ in the games. Often, however, a rounder will prove to be a very good player. And, rarely, will I end up labeling any one of the rounders I’ve met as a bad player.

Interestingly, as an aside, it’s always fascinating for me to talk with any number of these rounders post-play, at the bar, or at dinner. I usually make every attempt possible to get one of them to join me; many of these guys can offer up all sorts of ‘words of wisdom’, and, often, there are worthwhile lessons in their words.

Plus, just about every rounder plays at the $5/$10 level. And, whenever they speak to the reasons for their decisions to play the $5/$10 game (vs. a higher stakes game), they almost unilaterally talk about the rationale I presented to you two paragraphs earlier.

In the end, I have notes on approximately 160 active players in my book, 160 pieces of paper.

• At any one time, no more than approximately 240 note pages are in my 8-ring binder.
• And, from time-to-time, I purge the book of player pages for the people that I haven’t been at the tables with in a defined period of time.
• For me, the purge occurs when the player has been a ‘no-show’ for approximately 3 months.
• However, while I remove the purged pages from my notebook, I don’t toss them into the garbage can.
• They go into a file in my desk at home. The file currently contains more than 500 pages, and it has been built up over a period of more than seven years.

The reason behind the ‘page saving’ action should be obvious; the player could return to the felt at some future point in time. And, if he does, the saved notes go back into my book with the ‘amount of time absent’ notation added to the page.

The ‘time absent’ entry is very important. Since, as is the case in everyday life, people change. The player who has been away for a while could have adjusted his method of play. Essentially rendering a few, most, or all of the notes on his page useless; possibly bringing forth the necessity to start the note taking process anew….as though he was a brand new player to me.

Additionally, as mentioned above, people change. And, it doesn’t have to be the result of an individuals absence from the felt. He could be changing his method of play because he has learned from experience, becoming a better player.

Or, he might have learned a whole lot more about the game because of his time spent reading some really good poker books. Or, he could have recently completed one of the ‘classroom’ type of NLRG courses (not an Internet class). Therefore, no matter what the cause for his improved play at the table, the notes as recorded on his player page must be adjusted.

And, those notes, plus all notes, for all players, can never be thought of as ‘concrete’; they can only be thought of as ‘dynamic’.

• When the players’ game changes, your notes change.
• As the player demonstrates new methodologies at the table, as the player puts forth new ‘tells’ at the table, your notes have got to change.
• Don’t get caught up in a ’100% labeled’ frame of mind, your notes will always be changing.
• Only a small number of players maintain an absolute constant in the way they play the game.
• So, you best be using a pencil to record and update your notes and, the pencil better have an eraser; you’re gonna’ use it much more often than you might currently imagine.

The maintenance of your notes, as addressed in the preceding paragraphs, is only one of three goals that Articles 9 and 10 are meant to discuss.

• Control is a second. And, it’s not about the control of your notes, it’s more about control as it relates to your personal attachment to your notes.
• Certainly, I recognize that you’ve done a great deal of work to establish the ‘player note’ codes you’ll use.
• And, I recognize that you’ve done a great deal of work in the process of establishing player pages, each containing player notes.

Yet, while mindful of the dynamics of note taking, you’ve got to realize that there will be a multitude of game play situations where those very notes will be completely useless.

• On average, in every 6 to 8 hour session that I play at a B & M, where approximately 170 to 220 hands are played, my player notes have become a valuable resource about 2 dozen times.
• Plus, in the last Article, you should have noted that I shared with you the fact that my notes are responsible for 2 large pots to come my way in almost every session at the tables.
• Moreover, my notes are responsible for occasional instances of folding premium pockets pre-flop, folding good cards post-flop, folding solid cards post-turn, and folding excellent cards post-flop.
• Also, I mentioned, given time, the same will be the case for each of you. Yet, in most hands, the notes simply sit idle in my notebook, or in my head. And, at this point, you would be suitably justified to ask “Why?”

And, I’ll be suitably forthright in answering the question. Basically, a vast number of hands are played by tourists, businessmen, oil workers, and rounders for whom I possess few, if any, notes.

With this being true, it’s awfully difficult to be in a position where my notebook has any value, simply stated, I barely know these people. And, I need time to record accurate notes about the way in which they play.

But, nothing guarantees me that I’ll reach the point of establishing ‘good notes’ about these players during the B & M session that I am currently playing in.

Sure, I can start the process, however, I’ll need at least 5 or 6 sessions with each of these ‘new’ players before I could begin to use my notes with any degree of confidence. Again, as has been highlighted so many times before, patience takes a front seat to all the skills and assets I, you, or anyone bring to the felt.

Well, if there are limited opportunities to remove cash from the players we know very little about, how do we generate the stack of $100 Bills? Good question!

• And, there isn’t just one answer, there are multiple dimensions to the answer.
• However, all of the dimensions are founded in a single commonality.
• And that commonality relates to the third goal of Articles 9 and 10 – The proper utilization of the notes we’ve recorded.
• Yet, concerning the players that we’re not acclimated to, the tourists, the businessmen, the rounders, and the other strangers, don’t lose sight of the fact that you’ll get to take quite a few $100 Bills from them whenever you’re in possession of a ‘nuts’ hand.
• Especially when the ‘nuts’ hand has been held by you in a staged deceit.

Last, while it may have taken a while, we can now move on to our third goal; it being the utilization of player notes.

For sure, the notes do nothing for us if we can’t take full advantage of them while we’re at a B & M poker table. And, no matter how organized, or how comprehensive, or how accurate, our player notes have become, if we don’t use them properly, we have about as much chance of attaining a 65% ROI as does a ‘pinhead’ who’s playing tiddly-winks.

Clearly, there can’t be more than a few ‘Farm Animals’ reading this Article. So, for just about all of you who have taken up this Brick and Mortar journey with me, and are reading this Article, I can confidently tell you that the note taking process will move rapidly toward the pleasant job of stacking your newly acquired $100 Bills.

And, thus far, in these Articles, you’ve read about a few instances where my player notes have been responsible for the movement of a handful of these Bills to my wallet. But, as good as that may have been for me, it hasn’t moved any of the Bills to your wallets.

The latter, the lack of money movement in your direction, is what I now need to rectify.

Plus, at this stage, even if you’ve only identified somewhere in the area of 100 ‘player note’ codes, I want you to know that you’ve navigated the first four steps on my nine step ‘player note’ ladder. In time, your codes will expand, who knows, you might even end up with a 12 step ladder; you could ultimately be playing with 250 to 300 codes (vs. my 225). Which, if your memory can handle it, will put you in the position of playing the game with approximately 11% to 33% more player data than my memory can handle.

And, the issue associated with ones ability to use their memory is not to be taken lightly.

• Remember, you’re not playing the game like Greg Raymer, you’re not openly exposing your player notebook to the other participants at the felt.
• No! You’ll enter the game through a buy-in with the floorman, you’ll extend a greeting to all the people you know at the table, you’ll identify the people you don’t know, you’ll introduce yourself to the unknown players, and then you’ll excuse yourself for a minute.
• And, during your brief absence, well hidden from the table, you’ll take the time to memorize everything your notes can tell you about the players you know
• Be attentive to detail, skip nothing, and pray that all of your brain cells are functional; you’re gonna’ need them!

Best of Luck at the Tables

Michael

(c) copyright 2009; no reproduction, all rights reserved by D. M. Vadnais

(DETAILED PLAYER NOTE UTILIZATION WILL BE PRESENTED IN ARTICLE 10)

NB – Over your head a bit for now? Don’t worry! Read the whole series by D.M. Vadnais on the NoPayPOKER.com blog then go practice your free texas holdem poker online on the main NoPayPOKER.com site. As our maestro says in previous articles, you can win real money playing real free poker on NoPayPOKER.com and with that fund your bankroll for the real deal when you go up to the B&M bigs.

The whole idea of recording player notes….given that you’ve been playing free online poker for an extended period of time….should not be new to you.

You’re well aware of the fact that almost every online poker site you’ve visited has provided you with the ability to record notes concerning your individual opponents play….most often, you simply ‘right-clicked’ your mouse and it brought up a note box. And, I would hope that almost all of you have taken advantage of that poker site option.

If you didn’t, shame on you…that was a costly mistake. A mistake that you best not be making in your future play at the B&M cash game tables; if you do make the mistake, it’ll cost you money….possibly a lot of money.

Of equal importance, now that the fraud and chicanery has been amply documented at online poker sites, I’m hopeful that y’all are no longer playing for ‘real money’ on any of the ‘deposit required’ poker venues available through your PC.

And, I’m just as hopeful that y’all have limited your Internet poker play to only NoPayPOKER.com…which, in my opinion, offers you much more than any other ‘free poker‘ site. Plus, it’s a great place to render improvement to just about anyone’s game play, and it’s a great place to build a bankroll.

In the end, when you can thump the ‘Farm Animals’ with regularity, I truly believe that your game can be played profitably at a B & M card room.

However, since there is no PC available to you while you’re playing in a real poker room, no ‘right-click’ option, you’ll have to improvise…you’ll need to develop a manual note taking system, or a mental note taking system.

And, while some of you may be capable of the latter, I’m not; there would be way too much information to store in my aged, and rapidly deteriorating, brain cells. I have a hard enough time remembering what day of the week it is.

So, I’m certainly not going to remember how ‘the young, balding, heavy-set guy from Hammond, Louisiana plays pre-flop’, or the fact that I actually should have known that his name is Andrew…since, at one point, we introduced ourselves to each other.

This being true, my improvisation has been built around a small notebook (3″x6″, in an 8-ring binder).

• I maintain all of my player notes in this book…and, not unlike the semi-complicated on-line note taking system I employed many years ago when I played for 60 hours a week on the Internet, the notes recorded in this binder are seriously complicated.
• I want physical and logistical information about players in this book.
• I want codes that represent their playing style…pre-flop, pre-turn, pre-river, and post-river in this book.
• I want their betting habits described in this book.
• And, I want their physical, verbal, and behavioral tells fully documented in this book.

Should all of this sound somewhat cumbersome, let me be the first to tell you that when you begin the process of recording notes, you’ll find yourself believing that the task is…yes, is…cumbersome.

But, once you’ve worked your way through the initial difficulties, you’ll eventually realize that it’s no more than a routine task to which you’ve become acclimated. You meet someone, you find out the name, you observe physical characteristics, you learn where they are from, and you make an entry in your notebook.

• The binder can be structured around a name sequence, a location sequence, or a physical characteristic sequence; meaning, you’ll need to choose the order in which you maintain your entries within the binder.
• I use a name sequence. It’s always easy for me to apologize to someone for having forgotten their name, and then initiate a re-introduction.

And, if possible, you’ll want to make all of your player note entries while you’re away from the table; the process of allowing others to witness your note taking efforts would be a pretty big mistake.

Therefore, it’s best to use smoke breaks, coffee breaks, rest room breaks, food breaks, and/or phone breaks to accomplish your recording goals; don’t be like Greg Raymer…. openly recording notes is going to scare people away.

Be consistently mindful, when you’re recording notes, of the need for complete accuracy; any mistake in your notebook could end up becoming very expensive. And, that type of costly mistake would only be attributed to your carelessness; no one else would be to blame.

Then, once the sequential order of your notebook is established, and once you’ve begun to enter the ‘physical and logistical’ data concerning your competitors, you’re ready to begin making actual ‘poker play’ notes.

Yet, time, space restraints, my book publishers’ legal authority, and other factors will not permit me to detail a coding system for you. Moreover, I’m compelled to believe that each of you are in possession of the where-with-all to develop the actual codes to be used in your own notes….it’s not as though each of you has just fallen off the donkey cart; you can do it, I don’t need to do it for you.

What I will do…in this Article…is present a guideline, a structure, for the notes you’ll be recording.
This should provide all the assist you’ll need to get your ‘player notes’ started.

And, when you have an accurate set of ‘player notes’ filling the many pages of your binder, coupled with the ability to use those notes during cash game play, you’ll have a vastly improved ability to move a considerable number of your opponents chips to your stack….so much so that you will have firmly ‘rooted’ yourself as a consistent winning player.

• Additionally, beyond the physical and logistical notes that we need in the book, as previously stated, we also need a way to record playing styles…pre-flop, pre-turn, pre-river, and post-river.
• Plus, we need a method of recording our opponents betting habits and tells.
• Clearly, this appears to be a very difficult, time consuming, and mentally challenging task.
• And, while I would like to tell you that the whole process will be easy, I can’t.

Nothing you’ve worked on in an attempt to improve your game play will be as difficult a task as will the work you’ll need to successfully conclude regarding Player Notes….the task of accurately recording Player Notes is an effort of significant magnitude.

Absent the necessary time and effort on your part will be cause for large amounts of money to be deposited in your opponents bank accounts….not your accounts.

So, first, we’ll label the sections of our individual player pages in the notebook:

1. ‘F’ for pre-flop playing style.
2. ‘T’ for pre-turn playing style.
3. ‘R’ for pre-river playing style.
4. ‘X’ for post-river playing style.
5. Then, it’s ‘B’ for betting habits
6. ”C’ for tells and body language

The ‘F’ (pre-flop), ‘T’ (pre-turn), and ‘R’ (pre-river) sections should, for the most part, all use the same coding elements.

• You’ll need to develop a set of codes that keep you informed about the way in which your competitors play.
• And, again, I believe that each of you are quite capable of establishing these codes….providing, of course, that y’all possess a willingness to do the required work.

As an example, you might code a very aggressive player as ‘VA’, you might code a tight and conservative player as ‘TC’, you might code a calling station as ‘CS’, you might code a player who won’t fold a premium pocket as ‘PS’ (premium station), and you might code an extremely good player as ‘XG’.

Now….keep going; code a timid player, code a chip flinger. Can you think of more? Of course you can!

Personally, regarding the entire note taking process, I use approximately 225 codes; although, I will cautiously admit, there are times when I think that I record more data than is actually necessary.

Yet, the work I do in recording notes is now instinctive, it’s natural….I don’t think about it, it just occurs in the normal course of playing my game. Importantly, the same will be true for each of you one day in the not so distant future.

The ‘X’ section, post-river playing style, needs to be somewhat different.

• Here, we want to make ourselves aware of any players propensity for bluffing
• Plus, we’ll want almost all of the types of ‘playing style’ information as used in ‘F’, ‘T’, and ‘R’.
• Yet, the bluffing component to the ‘X’ code is of paramount importance.
• So, if you’ve observed a player’s propensity for aggressive post-river betting, where the bets are almost always an attempt to steal the pot, get a code into your notes to remind yourself of that players bad habit, or habits.
• One of the codes I use is ‘PB’. It tells me that when all 5 cards are exposed on the board, this particular player has a penchant for making a bet that is no more than a bluff.
• And, occasionally, I get to capitalize on the data recorded in my notebook.

Next, is the ‘B’ section…betting habits. And, we need 4 subsets to the ‘B’ section:

1. One that correlates to pre-flop betting.
2. One that correlates to pre-turn betting.
3. One that correlates to pre-river betting.
4. And one that correlates to post-river betting.

Plus, we should only be interested in notes that describe bets when the player is actually a contender in the hand; and, we certainly can’t delineate a note if the players’ pocket cards are not revealed to us at the end of the hand.

As an example, If the player routinely bets 3 times the BB when he’s holding his version of playable pre-flop cards, we would be interested in capturing notes on his betting habits; something like ’3P’ for three times the big blind when he’s holding pocket paint, something like ’8A’ for eight times the big blind when he’s holding pocket aces, or something like ’6K’ for six times the big blind when he’s holding pocket kings; providing, of course, that he does, in fact, make those bets.

Plus, going a step beyond, we’ll need something like ‘RA’, ‘RK’, or ‘RS’ when the player re-raises a pre-flop raise; where ‘RA’ means he’s holding pocket Ace/Ace, ‘RK’ means he’s holding pocket King/King, and ‘RS’ means he’s holding pocket Ace/King (the ‘S’ part of ‘RS’ translating into Big Slick).

Last, is the ‘C’ section for tells and body language….it’s identified as ‘C’ only because of the influence that Mike Caro has had on my game, the games of many of the exceptional players I know, and the games of just about all the full-time professional poker players; most of whom each of us would be able to quickly recognize.

I use codes like ‘NF’….fidgets at the table when holding a ‘nuts’ hand, ‘NS’….silence at the table when holding a ‘nuts’ hand, and, ‘NT’….talks at the table when holding a ‘nuts’ hand. Or, ‘TT’….constantly talks at the table with whatever he’s holding; essentially a non-tell.

Better yet, ‘TR’….talks at the table only post-river, and only when he holds the ‘nuts’ hand (see article 7 for a great example of this one in play)

Additionally, the ‘C’ section is broken down into 4 subsets….

1. One for pre-flop.
2. One for pre-turn.
3. One for pre-river
4. And one for post-river.

And, obviously, the four codes cited in the preceding paragraph apply only to the post-river subset. Yet, you’ll need a variety of codes for each of the 4 subsets.

Principally because most of the available tells at different stages of the hand can be vastly different.

To demonstrate this, consider the player who is dead silent pre-flop, remains dead silent pre-turn, continues the dead silence pre-river, but then becomes openly vocal post-river….as was the case when the quad eights bested my quad fours (as described in Part 7 of this series of Articles).

When that happened, I should have been extremely pleased with my code ‘TR’….without it, I could have easily lost $2,200 more than my losing hand had actually cost me.

Yet, I don’t recall having experienced any euphoria. No! None! Mostly because the recording of player notes is simply a routine task for me….and, that being the case, the proper use of that one particular code was no more than a routine play; albeit in a fairly dramatic hand.

So, the player notes, and the codes you are going to use, have now put you in the position where you have some work to do.
In fact, I would suggest that it’s not just some work, or a small job, I would suggest that you’ve got a substantial amount of work to do…and, I’m not doing it for you; all I’ve done is lay out the guideline for you to go about the process of accomplishing the task.

However, I will go into considerably more detail about the subject matter of ‘Player Notes’ within the next two Articles….numbers 9 and 10.
Again, though, the burdensome task of developing a coding system, and learning to record notes, is going to be yours; not mine.

Plus, given the fact that Articles 9 and 10 will not be posted for a period of at least two months, you’ll have ample time to work-up the codes your going to need, and you’ll have ample time to teach yourself to properly record those notes in practice sessions.

Begin the process….the only person to be rewarded, monetarily rewarded, will be you.
Sure, you, I, and anyone we speak to about this work effort is going to understand that this is a daunting task. But, the end result of successfully completing the work will be well worth the challenge, time, and effort. As motivation, I’ll share a piece of personal information.

My player notes bring me an average of two large pots for every 6 to 7 hour session I play at the B & M felt.
Annually, in playing somewhere around 150 sessions, the total amount of cash that takes up residence in my wallet, as a result of using player notes, far exceeds the median income of the American employee.

Get started! It’s your turn to win some money.

Now, slightly altering the subject matter, have you ever seen a really good B & M poker player, tournament or otherwise, sitting at a table, who looked at the pocket cards he or she were dealt before they watched every other player look at their cards?

• Have you ever seen that very same poker player look at the flop as it was being spread by the dealer…before watching all of the other players?
• Have you ever seen that very same poker player look at the turn card as it was exposed by the dealer…before watching all of the other players?
• Or, have you ever seen that very same poker player look at the river card as it was flipped by the dealer…before watching all of the other players?

I’m suggesting that your answer is “No”…unless ‘all-in’ bets had been made. And, why?
The answer lies in each of the sentences within the above paragraph. The really good B & M player is NOT looking at pocket cards, flops, turns, or rivers…he or she is looking at every one else at the table.

He or she wants to see what reactions are made visible by each of the opponents seated at the table. He or she wants this information in advance of knowing how the dealer’s action affected their own hand. Obviously, for good reason.

Any one, or more, of the competitor’s could be yielding a ‘tell’. And, if he or she wasn’t looking, he or she would never get to see the clearly visible tells that are constantly presented at the table.

This being so, you’ll need to do the very same thing…you’ll need to read tells through your opponents facial expressions, body language, spoken words, and/or lack thereof, with an ability that equates to ‘professional expertise’.

And, if you’ve yet to learn how to do this, I’m suggesting that you quickly begin the reading assignment previously mentioned multiple times in this series of Articles; the book I reference is authored by Mike Caro…you’ve got to read what he’s written.

It’s worth your effort….he’s the very best at describing a host of easily discernible tells at a poker table. And, absent an ability to read your opponents tells will be cause for your earning power at the poker table to be dramatically diminished.

Plus, absent an awareness of your own tells will be cause for your donations at the poker table to be dramatically increased.

Best of Luck at the Tables

Michael

(c) copyright 2009; no reproduction, all rights reserved by D. M. Vadnais

NB – If you’re thinking OMG I can never do that don’t despair! Go back to article 1 in Building a Bankroll and read the whole series by poker master pro D.M. Vadnais on the NoPayPOKER.com blog then go practice your free texas hold em poker online on the main NoPayPOKER.com site. As our maestro says in previous articles, you can win real money playing real free poker on NoPayPOKER.com and with that fund your bankroll for the real deal when you go up to the B&M bigs.

I have frequently made reference, within each of the preceding Articles, to the major differences between tournament play and cash game poker play. So, I’ll not let this Article pass without presenting you with an additional difference.

And, this particular difference will provide you with enough information about an accepted strategy…such that you might immediately dispense with any attempt to utilize what I believe to be a distinct negative during any cash game activity on your part. A distinct negative, I should add, that needs to be rapidly removed from your possible routine at a cash game table.

Tournament play, with its’ constancy of escalating blinds, with it’s constancy of table seating changes, and with its’ constancy of stack to Big Blind ratios, is quite properly aligned with what most of us have come to call Power Poker (the term, to the best of my knowledge, having been introduced by Mr. Brunson).

Moreover, tournament play fits well with a basic component of Power Poker; something we’ve all come to describe as a Continuation Bet.

Where, once you’ve raised the bet, without regard to the result of the Dealers’ next action (flop, turn, or river), you’re aggressively betting into the pot…again, it doesn’t matter if the cards, or card, exposed by the Dealer has helped you or hasn’t helped you.

• A Continuation Bet is simply an alternate way of describing very aggressive play.
• And, of significance, it is most often rewarded at a big money tournament table….especially a game played by professionals.

Not so at a cash game table. Any type of aggressive play at a no limit ring game table better have the ‘goods’ to back it up…else, you’ll be sharing your stack with all of the others at the table.

There is no room for the principles of Continuation Betting in our cash game strategy.

• In candor, almost all of Mr. Brunsons’ Power Poker regimentation can be cast aside while playing in a cash game.
• What use could we possibly have for it?
• Our strategy is primarily designed around calling and betting when we hold what we know to be the current ‘nuts’ hand
• ….or, when we are getting incredibly high Implied Odds on a draw to a ‘nuts’ hand.

Fittingly, let’s get something set into concrete right now. We don’t gamble…we bet when we have an advantage.

• And, there is no toying with semantics on my part in making that statement; plain and simple, if we don’t have an advantage, we’re folded out of the pot; we’re not gambling.
• Now, with that thought in mind, the whole idea of Continuation Betting, and its’ inherent use of aggressive play, can’t possibly accrue to our benefit in a cash game.
• It just doesn’t fit with the fundamentals of our game strategy.

Now, that’s not to say that we can’t be aggressive at times. Surely, when ‘calling stations’ and ‘weak players’ are seated to our left, and we hold a dominant hand, it becomes a situation where we would have ample cause for aggressive play; clearly, this would be to our advantage.

Yet, to simply subscribe to the Power Poker belief that Continuation Bets are going to inundate our small space at the felt with some, most, or all of our competitors’ stacks would be no more than idiotic.

I think the constant that we need to be focused on, as it relates to competitors at our tables, isn’t the pursuit of Continuation Betting, rather, it’s the arrival of the crowded bus that brings us new cash game players every day.

This focus augments well with the….’don’t gamble’, ‘play when you hold an advantage’, ‘dispense with Power Poker’….overall style of play that each of us will regularly bring to the tables. If we consistently have a new group of cash game players routinely delivered to our table, all of whom knowing absolutely nothing about the way we play the game, we’re best served by our conservative approach to the game.

And, as important, is the fact that these players arrive with a wad of currency in their pockets, sitting down at a relatively low stakes no limit game ($5/$10)…as opposed to the multi-millionaire professional players who repeatedly join one another in megabuck tournaments.

Power Poker will serve the needs of the professional tournament players, but it won’t serve our needs.

• Continuation Bets will serve the needs of the professional tournament players, but it won’t serve our needs.
• And, almost any type of aggressive play will serve the needs of the professional tournament players, but it won’t serve our needs.

Yet, the patient, methodical, contrived, robotic, and almost boring style of play that we bring to every table will forever serve our needs.

• And, what are our needs?
• Well, they’re pretty simple…
  • We need to take our competitors’ money
  • We need to do it with a frequency that parallels the every day profiteering of just about all U.S. politicians.
  • Heck….if they can outwit the taxpayers and regulatory authorities, we can outwit the ‘Farm Animals’ and poker establishment.

I have mentioned in a number of my prior ‘scribblings’ that one of the hallmarks of a truly good player is his or her ability to lay down what was once a dominant hand in the face of clear evidence that the hand they held has turned into a bushel of ‘rotten apples’.

In order to do this, a variety of skills need to be at your disposal.
And, while it’s certainly true that you’ve been introduced to many of those skills, I’m now adding six more….these six, in combination with the knowledge you’ll gain through reading Articles 8, 9, and 10 (all of which will deal with ‘Player Notes’) will conclude the process of preparing you for consistent long-term B & M winnings.

1. You would do well if you had an ability to mentally or physically record accurate player notes
2. You would do well if you had an ability to precisely break down the way in which a hand has been played out
3. You would do well if you had an ability to decipher an opponents way of thinking
4. You would do well if you had an ability to play the competitor and not the cards
5. You would do well if you had an ability to indifferently wave goodbye to money that has already been placed in the pot
6. You would do well if you had an ability to put all of the pieces together in a somewhat rapid fashion while seated at the table.

Now, any one of these abilities is hard to come by. In combination, all six of these abilities are near impossible to come by…much like a climb to the top of Mt. Everest might be near impossible.

Yet, the word ‘near’, twice mentioned in the last sentence, not only suggests that it can be done, it essentially tells you that it has been done. And, in that I describe myself in private as a reasonably intelligent person, in that I would describe most of you as reasonably intelligent people, we too can, and will, get it done.

Frankly, I’ve already done it…and, you’re going to follow in my footsteps; the majority of you will likely far surpass my footsteps, y’all could easily attain a level that I might not ever achieve.

I say this primarily because many of you are, or will be, in possession of a much larger motivation than I have. The bulk of my accomplishments are behind me, and, even though I play to win money, I don’t need the money…I am very comfortable in my retirement.

For those of you who have yet to reach the accomplishments that occupy your horizons, and for those of you who would be better positioned with a new source of revenue (the cash winnings from B & M play), a motivation exists that can’t be matched by me.

And, I’ve always believed that motivation is the single most important ingredient in almost all success stories. If someone is devoid of any form of motivation, you can almost guarantee that particular someone a full-time residency in the dungeons of life’s’ unhappy basements.

Clearly, not my wish for you. I wouldn’t be writing these articles, and sharing tid-bits of usable information, if I didn’t want to be told of your ultimate successes at the tables. Yet, I doubt that I’m the first to tell you of the synergy that exists between motivation and work ethic.

Motivation gets you started, then work ethic brings your list of pending successes to fruition. No motivation, no work effort…and, simply stated, the translation is failure.

Now, let’s take the opportunity to put the six abilities I just mentioned into an example.
It’s a true story from my own personal experiences at a no limit table; a tale that I shared with all 54 of my 2008 NLRG students late last year. Their commentary to me, at the time, was both interesting and complimentary; although there was no need for the complimentary remarks. I could have just as easily given the compliments to them, since they likely would have played the hand the very same way I did.

• I was in late position at the table, and I had been dealt pocket 44.
• There were 2 limpers to the $10 Big Blind, I called, the SB limped, and the BB checked (a total of 5 players).
• Pre-flop the pot was $50.
• The Dealer exposed a flop of 4/4/8.
• I sat expressionless, but 60′s music and thoughts of a ‘great time’ danced in my head; the words ‘let the good times roll’ echoed throughout my heart and soul.
• Here in Cajun country it’s “laissez les bon temps rouler”….or, maybe the rush I felt was like the day-long feeling one has on Fat Tuesday in New Orleans.

A $50 bet was made by a player in early position…a very good player, a player that I have observed many times at a cash game table, a player for whom I hold extensive mental notes on his style of play, his betting habits, his risk tolerance, his table talk (or lack thereof), and his money management skills.

• I was the only caller.
• Yes…I only called; my intent being to give this player as much rope as he needed to hang himself with.

The turn card was a King, the board now showed 4/4/8/K, and two of the cards were hearts; the potential flush draw, however, had no meaning to me.

• I was playing with quad 4′s. He bet $100 post-turn.
• And, as he bet, he said silently, eyeball to eyeball, “You can’t win this one”.
• Not words, mind you….it was said eyeball to eyeball.
• I then waited for what may have seemed to be an eternity to everyone else at the table, again absent any expression, and called the bet.
• I said nothing; nor did my eyes.
• The pot now held $350.
• The Dealer buried a card, and proceeded to expose the river…a black 8.
• The board now showed 4/4/8/K/8.

Without a moments hesitation, he moved a $350 bet onto the table. I turned to the Dealer, and asked for a little time to make a decision.

• Step by step, I let everything that happened in the hand run through my thoughts.
• Step by step, I let everything I knew about my opponent run through my thoughts.
• Step by step, I let every possible pocket card combination that could be held by my opponent run through my thoughts.
• Step by step, I let his lack of table talk run through my thoughts.

Finally, I looked at him, and asked “Will you show?”

• Without a facial movement, other than the movement of his mouth, while staring me straight in the eyes, he said aloud the words “No. No way”….again, he said the words aloud, he actually spoke them.
• This three word utterance gave me all the validation I needed to support a decision I had given only minor consideration to….the thought was present, I just didn’t want to believe it earlier.

I then said “Take it down”, and turned over my pocket fours; exposing them to the table.

• And, as the Dealer pushed the chips in the winners direction, he, the winner, glared at my fours, said “I’ve never seen anyone lay down quads”, and jumped up from his chair.
• He proceeded to lean over the table, and put forth some mumbled words….to this day I don’t know what those words were.

He extended his right arm, and showed his pocket eights. And, we all know full well that quad eights beat quad fours.

Yet, had I not brought all 6 of the abilities described a few paragraphs ago to the table, I would have been out at least another $350…if not the entirety of my stack.

Which, when that hand ended was $2,200 (after a $1,500 buy-in).

I left the table shortly after that hand, cashed out $2,150, and drove home. But, the ride home wasn’t about winning $650, the ride home was about saving $2,200.

• The overwhelming majority of cash game players would have gone home ‘broke’…I didn’t.
• And, I’m going to project, providing that all of you allow the materials presented in this series of articles to become something of a ‘poker bible’, that all of you would also end up driving home a $650 winner for the day…or, a $2,200 saver for the day (call it what you will).

Now, was this a bad beat? Sure…I would have to answer “Yes”; even though I think that it’s absolutely meaningless…who cares? Could the hand have been played differently by me, such that the outcome had me winning? Possibly, but not likely.

Reflect back on the flop, and you’ll realize that he held a full house post-flop. So, any aggressive bet on my part certainly would have been called by him.

The same is true post-turn…he still held a full house; although I could have represented pocket Kings with a very large bet. Suggesting to him that my full house was better than his.

Yet, I seriously doubt that he would have folded. And, that would have been the ONLY play that could have potentially taken the pot away from him.

Clearly, though, if you’re holding quad fours, I can’t imagine any situation where you wouldn’t want someone to be betting into you…essentially feeding a pot that you fully believe will ultimately land in your private space at the table.

Plus, he was doing exactly that. If anything, post-flop, I was wishing that his bet would have been much larger, I was actually hoping that he would have made an all-in bet.

In the end, I can be very happy that he didn’t make that all-in bet.
Yet, all of this isn’t about who won, or who lost…or, an all-in bet. No…it’s not remotely close to being about any of that.

It’s all simply about a lesson that needs to become a routine part of our game. A difficult lesson? There’s little doubt that the answer is “Yes&”.

It’s a lesson far more difficult than the lessons tied to low pocket pairs, contrived deceptions, and the proper use of Implied Odds. None-the-less, it’s a lesson that we’re all going to have to learn.

The lesson? It’s Player Notes….

• Recording them, maintaining them, and using them.
• And, it will be the subject matter of Articles 8, 9, and 10 in this series.
• Plus, for your edification, I want you to know how I knew that I had to fold my quad fours.
• And….Yes! It was from my player notes.
• And, yes, he gave me the information I needed in order to fold.
• My notes told me that this player, an extremely good player, never speaks aloud during a hand….except, he almost always speaks aloud whenever he’s holding a post-river ‘nuts’ hand.
• A terrible tell that I won’t ever offer to fix for him….even though we know each other very well.

Developing the ability to know when to lay down premium cards is paramount to mastering the game; it’s a fundamental component of your cash transport mechanism.

You’re never going to be labeled a long-term winner at the cash tables by the poker room manager, or more importantly, by yourself, if you can’t make the right lay downs; and, the poker room manager won’t be tossing any ‘comps’ in your direction unless you’ve gotten him to be a believer in the quality of your play.

Or, if you so choose, you could toss aside all the lessons, fling money around at the tables, and you’ll find him regularly handing you ‘comps’; albeit for the wrong reasons.

Select the former, learn the lesson, add it to the other lessons already put into your game, and join me in the winner’s circle; you’ll find an abundance of money there. And, I honestly believe that much of that money is truly destined for your wallets or purses.

NB – Over your head a bit for now? Don’t worry! Read the whole series by D.M. Vadnais on the NoPayPOKER.com blog then go practice your free online poker skills on the main NoPayPOKER.com site. As our maestro says in previous articles, you can win real money playing real free poker on NoPayPOKER.com and with that fund your bankroll for the real deal when you go up to the live poker room bigs.

Article 6, and you’re not bored? Even better….Article 6, and you’re still at free poker NoPayPoker Either way, I’m pleased that you’re possibly being dealt pocket cards at a B & M, and I’m pleased that you’ve maintained an absence from the ‘real money’ Internet poker sites.

Let the morons who possess no regard for money….no regard for an honest game….continue their string of losses at ‘PokerForSuckers’, while you continue to put together strings of cash wins in card rooms, and strings of penny wins at NoPayPOKER.

And, I want to quantify those wins.
The wins that will be cause for very large sums of money to move away from most of our competitors, and for that very same large amount of money to take up residence in our wallets.

These wins will have very little to do with Pot Odds; they will have almost everything to do with Implied Odds. Take a moment to distinguish between the two;

• Pot Odds relate to the chips that are lying in the middle of the table…in front of the dealer.
• Implied Odds relate to the chips that are individually stacked by our competitors…in front of each of them.

Most often, Pot Odds, are a defensive tool in our game play….and, we’ll get to that later in this Article. Yet, Implied Odds are a major offensive weapon in our game play.

Thus, it’s no less than mandatory that we develop a complete understanding of Implied Odds; a command so pronounced that it will ultimately provide us with a Return on Investment (ROI) that compares most favorably with the ROI associated to the way in which we play the lower pocket pairs (recall, as it was described in Part 4 of this series of articles, the low pocket pairs ROI was about 128%).

To make our introduction to “a complete comprehension”; of Implied Odds, let’s look at a hand where we hold KQ off-suit.

• The board, pre-river, is showing us Tc/Js/4h/2d.
• Our King is a Spade, our Queen is a Diamond.
• The current pot holds a total of $600.
• We’re in late position, the other two players remaining in the hand are both in early position.
• The first of the two players makes a $200 bet, and the second of the two players calls.
• There is now $1,000 in the pot, and it’s our turn to fold, call, or raise.

The four exposed cards clearly indicate that no one holds a full house (the board’s not paired), or a flush draw (the board is a rainbow).

• The cards also suggest that there are 2 different straight draws…with the T/J, and with the 2/4.
• Moreover, either of the two players who just put $200 into the pot could hold any one of 4 different sets.
• So, if we were to catch any Nine, or any Ace, on the river, we would end up with a ‘nuts’ hand.
• We have 8 outs to this ‘nuts’ hand….the four nines, and the four aces.

Yet, if we were to call the $200 bet, we would not be getting the correct Pot Odds ($1,000 in the pot versus our $200 gives us 5 to 1 odds).

• We need Pot Odds of at least 5 to 1 for our $200 to be a ‘dead even’ bet
• …and, we’ve already decided that we’re not playing this game to end up ‘dead-even’; we’re only playing this game to win….actually, to win big.
• Therefore, in this situation, the Pot Odds tell us to fold. But should we?

Maybe not. If we dispense with Pot Odds, and consider Implied Odds, we might not want to fold.

• Remember, Implied Odds relate to the stacks of chips sitting before the two players who individually put $200 each into the pot.
• The first player has a stack of $3,200.
• The second player has a stack of $2,800.
• And, if they’re holding sets, or if they’re holding 2 pairs, any Nine, or any Ace, on the river, might not take them out of the pot (they could easily ignore the possibility that the Nine or Ace created a straight).

Even better, if they’re holding a pocket Ace, coupled with a pocket card that has already paired the board, like a Ten or a Jack, an Ace on the river will be cause for them to begin tossing chips around like freerollers do during the initial round of an Internet tourney.

• Frankly, even if one, or both, are only holding the high pair (without a pocket Ace), a Nine on the river might not be enough to take them out of the pot.
• Plus, it’s even possible that an Ace on the river also wouldn’t be enough to take them out of the pot (remember, they could have each been holding 2 pair pre-flop).

So, it’s certainly time to perform some quick arithmetic regarding Implied Odds.

• The first player’s $3,200 stack is giving us Implied Odds of 21 to 1 versus the $200 we would have to put into the pot (his stack plus the $1,000 already in the pot).
• The second player’s $2,800 is giving us Implied Odds of 19 to 1 versus the $200 we would have to put into the pot (his stack plus the $1,000 already in the pot).
• And, the combination of both of their stacks ($6,000, plus the $1,000 already in the pot) is giving us Implied Odds of 35 to 1 versus the $200 we would have to put into the pot.

We have a 1 in 6 chance of witnessing Lady Luck, through a fortuitous act, deposit any one of the four Nines, or any one of the four Aces, on the river (8 outs divided by 46 equals 17%….or, a little better than a 1 in 6 chance).

Plus, we’re getting 35 to 1 in Implied Odds (and, 5 to 1 in Pot Odds).

• At this point, I’m wondering if there is any need for any questions about participating in the hand.
• Doubtful! But, I’ll ask anyway.
• Who’s the Rocket Scientist amongst us? Or, do we really need one?

I’ll bet we all agree that he or she can stay at NASA…we can handle this ourselves.

• Sure, the Pot Odds are wrong. But, good Lord, the Implied Odds are far from wrong.
• At worst, the Implied Odds are 19 to 1, at best the Implied Odds are 35 to 1.
• And, none of us needs a consultant from the space program, or a Mathematics Professor, to tell us that we likely belong in this pot.
• We have a 17% chance of dragging a ‘monster’ pot; a pot that could be worth as much as $7,000.

Is it sensible to put our $200 into the fray? It’s a call that carries with it the potential to take down a 7K pot. I would hope that we uniformly concur…I would hope that we’re all saying “Yes”. And, why shouldn’t we be?

If this opportunity were continually presented to us, we would be winning approximately 1 out of every 6 hands, at a total cost of $1,200; yielding an ROI that would be outrageously high; probably far higher than the 128% that the low pocket pairs produce.

Certainly, and this is extremely important, caution has to be an ever-present constant regarding our use of Implied Odds.

In just about every draw situation, we’re likely to find a way to justify our involvement in the hand.

For example, if we had a gut-shot straight draw, where only four outs would produce a ‘nuts’ hand for us, we have about a 1 in 12 pre-river chance of making our straight. And, if three players were currently in a pot that was going to cost us $100 to call (a call that would allow us to see the river card), where the combined stacks of all three players totaled about $4,000, we would be getting Implied Odds of greater than 40 to 1.

And, while those odds appear very tempting, keep in mind that we’re going to lose at least 11 out of 12 times.

• Now, should the 11 losses occur before any one win occurs, we’re out a minimum of $1,100…or, we’ve lost more than two-thirds of what was likely a $1,500 buy-in to a $5/$10 cash game.
• This, the fact that we’re out $1,100 at a minimum, is completely unacceptable.
• Not necessarily because we lost the money, but because we’ve essentially eliminated our ability to take down a large pot that could result from an all-in bet by another opponent when we hold a ‘nuts’ hand.

Clearly, we need to establish a fairly rigid set of guidelines for the times that we should be looking to use Implied Odds…guidelines, I might add, that will insure a very high ROI. I’ll suggest that you use mine; they’re very simple.

There are only 3 rules:

1. I need to be in the best table position; I need to be last to act.
2. I need to have at least eight outs to a ‘nuts’ hand.
3. And, 3)…I need to be presented with a minimum in Implied Odds of 30 to 1.

Also, I want you to know that I rarely deviate from these rules…plus, just to make the whole subject of Implied Odds all the more interesting, I’d like you to know that I’ve been witness to Implied Odds that were greater than 75 to 1; and, on more than one occasion, the 75 to 1 was present when I held 12 or more outs to a ‘nuts’ hand. Could you honestly not envision me participating in such a hand?

Yet, while we would all likely play when Implied Odds offer us 75 to 1 in a draw situation whenever we’re sitting with 12 or more outs, I need to reiterate the strong cautionary warning regarding the potential to utilize Implied Odds on a frequent basis.

Therefore, all 3 of the rules I cited above must remain in the forefront of your thoughts.

1. You’re at the B & M table to win money.
2. You’re at the B & M table to decimate your competition.
3. You’re at the B & M table to invoke Emotions Management problems for your opponents.
4. So, allow a controlled use of Implied Odds to accomplish the preceding goals.

Remember, our play is not about ego, it’s about money.
When we walked through the B & M’s entrance, whatever ego we had in tow was dropped by us at the doorway…it had to be; we never bring an ego to the table.

Plus, during the course of our labors at the table, keep something in mind. The game is very serious, our involvement in the game is very serious, our quest for opponents cash is very serious, and our attentiveness to the disciplines we’re all learning is very serious.

Earlier, I briefly mentioned Pot Odds…from a defensive perspective.
That is, when we hold what we believe to be the current post-flop ‘nuts’ hand, we would want to make it extremely difficult for an opponent to draw against us.

And, generally speaking, a pot size bet accomplishes that…he’ll be getting Pot Odds in the area of 2 to 1.

Thus, when you can project with some degree of reasonable certainty that your opponent has seven or less outs in connection with his draw, you’ll want to bet the pot.

• His seven outs require Pot Odds that are at least equal to 7 to 3; and, all that would accomplish for him is a long-term ‘break even’.
• If he had six outs, he would need Pot Odds of 3 to 1…again, to ‘break even’.
• If he had five outs, he would need Pot Odds of 4 to 1…again, to ‘break even’.
• If he had four outs, he would need Pot Odds of 5 to 1…again to ‘break even’.
• And, if he had three outs, he would need Pot Odds of 7 to 1…again to ‘break even’.
• Therefore, we should have a propensity for pot size betting.

However, if he has eight, nine, or more post-flop outs, the picture changes dramatically.
And, the action we take adjusts to correlate with the vastly altered picture. We no longer want to be the bettor. We simply want the cards to fall as they may…let Lady Luck dictate the outcome of the hand.

Why? Well…unless we overbet the pot, our opponent is getting correct Pot Odds on a pot size bet. And, I for one, have little inclination to ever overbet a pot (with the exception of only those instances where a ‘deceit’ has been set-up).

His nine outs, with a pot size bet, give our opponent Pot Odds of 2 to 1. And, he has a little more than a 1 in 3 chance of hitting any one of his outs. Moreover, if his nine outs to a flush draw also include a draw to a straight, he could have 12 outs to a flush and ‘gut shot’ straight draw, or, 15 outs to a flush and ‘open end’ straight draw.

With 12 outs, he has almost a 1 in 2 chance of catching any one of his needed cards. With 15 outs, he has almost a 2 in 3 chance of catching any one of his needed cards.

These are not situations I want to be risking my money on…I would much prefer to simply play the hand with a very passive approach. In this instance, what I’m trying to get all of you to understand, is that I will rarely put money at risk when I don’t hold a distinct advantage.

And, I’m putting a form of ‘pen to paper’ to get you to do the very same thing. If we’re only playing hands when we possess an advantage, there’s absolutely no doubt that we’re going to end up with a bevy of cash…cash that once belonged to others at the tables.

Last, at least for this Article, you need to know that:

• There are times when ‘slowplay’ can be used to our advantage...think of a low pocket pair turning into a post-flop set.
• There are times when ‘aggressive’ play can be used to our advantage…think of betting pocket Aces into one or two ‘calling stations’.
• There are times when ‘passive’ play can be used to our advantage…think of making a small and timid bet into a large number of players when the flop has given us a current ‘nuts’ straight or flush.
• There are times when ‘calculated’ play can be used to our advantage…think of calling because Implied Odds provide us with an astronomical Return on Investment.
• And, there are times when a ‘semi-bluff’ can be used to our advantage…think of under-betting the pot when we hold the high pair combined with a flush or open-end straight draw.

However, excluding deceit set-up situations, don’t ever think that there is a time for a ‘real bluff’...what reason would we have for leaving ourselves exposed to an opponents possible power hand? None! Don’t do it.

In the end, there are any number of good reasons for us to be mixing it up, for us to be regularly changing our playing styles. And, like almost everything else I’ve discussed, the ‘good reasons’ relate to money…our opponents money, and the shifting of that money from them to us.

It is our primary goal. You might say it is our only goal; everything else is either supportive of, or subordinate to, our plans and plays that are intended to make their money, our money.

Thus far, with the combination of ‘scribblings’ from all 6 Parts of this series, we’ve developed some vastly different individual approaches to No Limit cash game play…each of which show us an ROI of greater than 100%:

1. The use of low pocket pairs.
2. The use of the three deceits
3. The use of Implied Odds.

I would hope that all three become a major part of your game. You’re going to need them. Like me, you’re prone to an error here and there…none of us are perfect; in my case, I’m far from perfect.

My imperfect B & M cash game career-long ROI average is approximately 65% for each 4 week period of time that I play.
That clearly suggests that if there was an absence of numbers 1, 2, and 3 as listed above, I would be playing with a rather substantially reduced profit; possibly an ROI as small as 29%. I’m not able to accurately quantify the exact effect of any of the three 100%+ ROI ‘approaches to the game’…low pocket pairs, deceptions, and Implied Odds.

But, if I simply estimated all three in terms of their effect on my monthly ROI, then my best estimate would be that each of the three represent about 12% per month; totaling 36%….thus the reduction in profit to 29%.

With that being so, what makes up the balance? The other 29%. I’m convinced that the answer should have popped right out of your head. If it didn’t, I don’t think I’ve done a good job in conveying my suggestions and examples in these past 6 articles.

Yes…the answer is patience. Or, yes, the answer is the Playable Pockets Matrix (PPM). Or, yes, the answer is both patience and the PPM…it being the basis for our use of patience in cash game play.

Listen, could you have possibly thought that I would put forth an article, or render a lecture, or teach a class, without making mention of patience?

Not a chance. Patience, to me, represents approximately 50% of the necessary skills that we each bring to the table, every table…without it, we’re no more than a lone duck floating on the water with 9 impatient hunters hidden in the blinds ready to blow our heads off.

Make no mistake about this, if you’re not bringing patience to every table you sit at, you’re bound to be the featured entree on that evening’s dinner menu…here in southern Louisiana you’d likely be fried oysters, boiled crabs, duck gumbo, or cajun crawfish. All four are very tasty, but I don’t think you’d want to be the main ingredient.

So, let tonight’s main course be a really good steak. And, with patience as your mainstay, you’ll easily be able to afford the $24 a pound for prime beef, or the $324 a pound for Kobe beef. Maybe money can’t buy happiness, but it sure as heck can buy a good steak.

Best of Luck at the Tables

Michael

(c) copyright 2009; no reproduction, all rights reserved by D. M. Vadnais

NB – Over your head a bit for now? Don’t worry! Read the whole series by D.M. Vadnais on the NoPayPOKER.com blog then go practice your free poker online on the main NoPayPOKER.com site. As our mastro says in previous articles, you can win real monet playing real free poker on NopayPOKER and with that fund your bankroll for the real deal when you go up to the B&M bigs.