Plus, successfully making the transition from play money to real money games
A lot of players write in to this site to say the switch from play money to real cash seems to throw their game out of the window.
The brash winning aggression which comes from not being able to lose actual cash during free-roll play suddenly finds itself with the handbrakes on. The concept of losing real money makes ninety percent of us more cautious and the most telling fact of poker is that aggression pays off more than fifty percent of the time. Really good poker players make the transition quickly. The right way to do it is to wait for a good hand, look at the odds, and then find your initial confidence right then and there.
In reality nothing has changed between play money and real money, apart from your attitude. The faster you can connect with this single fact, the quicker you'll get your game back on track.
Q: As a new player can you advise me why I should choose a full ten-handed (max-handed) poker table over a short-handed game? What are the pitfalls?
A: In a ten-handed game, you are only going to be asked to post the blinds (make compulsory bets) every eight games and of course there's likely to be more potential money to be won. Clearly in a short-handed game you'll be posting the blinds more often. Another major characteristic of short-handed games is that a much higher percentage of them are won by bluffing and a lot of new players aren't immediately adjusted to the art of bluffing. It's kind of an acquired ability, a bit like going on stage for the first time. You get better at it. For this reason alone we'd tend to advise full table poker games at the outset. Finally, you're going to have to play more hands per round to get value from your blinds in short-handed games, which is another vote for a max-handed or full-table game.
WORLD HEADS UP CHAMPIONSHIP SNAPSHOT
Watching the final of the World Heads Up Championship reveals the benefits of aggressive play. The final pitched young Swede, Peter Gunnarson, against the talented Brit, Simon Nowab, who recently finished runner up in the London European Poker Tournament. After less than half an hour, Nowab was down to just twenty five percent of the total chips in play. The kill came when the Swede (holding K-10) made a brave call to Nowab's big all-in on a K-5-2) flop. Nowab, left holding a K-6, went down like Crockett at the Alamo, his wounds slightly addressed by the fifty thousand euro second place prize. Gunnarson's aggression was duly rewarded by a cool hundred grand for less than an hour's work.
All The Aces daily poker colum: Tuesday, September 13, 2005: Short-handed versus max-handed poker tables
