Poker is Juggling, But With Money Instead of Chainsaws

Played a $5 SnG last night and won. I worked hard on the job of Getting Off A Losing Hand. It made a huge difference. Instead of chasing ill-priced draws, I folded and waited for a better situation. My poker friend, Alex, once said, "Why do you want to even consider playing that 56 into an A98 board? A better hand is just a few minutes away."

The other secret to winning last night was the old play tight in the beginning, establish a table image, then play the fox when the table thins out to 5-6 players. At four players (the bubble) I went into a tighter mode, asking myself the question: "okay, i'm thinking about raising this hand. Am I willing to take a re-raise with it? No? Then throw it away." A key secret to SnG's is to simply make the money. Or, as the guru says, "Take the Hill!" The payout structure of a typical 1 table sit and go pays third place 20% of the pool. That more than makes it worthwile to simple squeak into the money with a short stack. (In contrast, a big multi-table tourney, with an exponential pay out structure, requires a more aggressive strategy; simply making the money is not generally cost beneficial.)

Oh, and Bret said something interesting the other day. He thinks playing consistent poker is a lot like juggling. In both cases, you have to pay constant attention to the details. You can't take your eyes off the balls for even a moment. If you let even one ball fall and hit the ground, the rest aren't far behind.

My own analogy I like to use is that of comparing playing poker to dieting. To be successful, you have watch every little thing. It takes a lot of time, patience, and diligence to build a bankroll, just as it does to lose weight on a diet. But you can give up all those hard-won gains in a single afternoon at the table (poker or restaurant alike) if you slip.

All-in for now...
-Bug