The Previously Unseen Joy of Cascading Tables

January has sucked. Cash has sucked. Tournaments have sucked. I will save the real whinging for the monthly review. After three weeks of epic run bad I decided it was time to change tact and to do something I haven't done in a long while... that is to go bonus whoring. There are some good offers out there right now with people still trying to capitalise on the fall of Full Tilt. It is also January, the traditional month of poker sites trying to reactivate old accounts and gain new custom. So to that end I have a shiny new poker account that offered me a 400% match bonus up to a maximum bonus of $2,000. The rake requirements seem a little steep but once you factor in the VIP system of the site you can quickly envisage it as the equivalent of 35% - 50% rake back for the period of the bonus. Which is tasty.

Now I didn't deposit more than I needed to so I will have to spin up a roll to get the most out of it. To this aim I have been wanting to play a lot of tables at low stakes to get me started. Now traditionally I have always been a fan of tiling when multi-tabling, probably because I spend so much time on PKR. Even if playing 12 tournaments on Stars I prefer to have the tables tiled across my two screens. Except on some networks the software is just hideous for trying to play this way. When a table doesn't start flashing or beeping madly when your clock hits 5 seconds, and you have no time bank, you are going to end up folding a lot of hands without realising it.  A lot of hands. So for the first time ever I have really got my teeth into cascading the tables. The Ipoker software is clearly better built for this. Basically all your tables overlap slightly and it brings up tables to the foreground in order of the decisions you need to make. I'm now wondering why I never really did this before because I am finding a whole new world of benefits to this process. I have been 16 tabling, the maximum you can open, and I have been playing it comfortably.

Mmmmm... 16 tables :)

Clearly this is always going to be a slightly mechanical process. You cannot spend more than one second on a general decision or more than one second glancing at HUD stats. Clearly this would leave you open to being exploited at mid to high stakes unless you had 'mad skills'. You are not going to be aware of the general trends of what a fish at the table is doing unless the HUD makes it obvious. Beyond this though the benefits are huge. Firstly the sheer number of hands you are seeing instantly tightens your pre-flop range up.  It stops you getting bored and playing 10 5 suited in a spot you know you really shouldn't be.  It doesn't stop you bluffing but it does make you have a set of rules in your head for finding spots to attempt this.  I have been getting in 1,000 hands an hour with ease, this allows for some monster monthly volume figures should you wish to generate them. 

The best benefits for me are the following two.  The speed allows for a real zone of zen poker.  The first reason for this is that you rarely ever see the outcome of a hand during the session unless you specifically pull it up on HEM.  Think about this.  The number one fault most poker players have is that they are too results orientated.  They get bothered about losing a hand and it upsets their concentration.  If you cannot see the outcome all the time suddenly you are being focused on what you should be focused on... the decision making process.  Playing like this you are merely making decision after decision after decision and you are doing it in an emotionally neutral fashion.  There is also the added benefit of this process forcing you to spend more time reviewing your session afterwards.  Once you have finished the playing you can then review your decisions without the emotional attachment of the moment.  It makes it easier to be objective and easier to learn from your mistakes.  This has been a very liberating experience.  I will be focused on clearing the bonus for at least the next month, it will be interesting if my feelings about playing cash games on different sites have been permanently altered by the end of this experience.

The Hero's Journey

In 1949 Joseph Campbell published a book called 'The Hero With A Thousand Faces.'  In it he carefully sets out how a lot of different cultural mythologies going back to our earliest memories as a species share the same archetypes and patterns.  He showed how these still resonate very deeply with us to this day.  Hollywood in particular has proven skilled in using the ideas of the hero's journey to help audiences connect with films.  A whole host of cinema taps into this mythological well with 'Star Wars' and 'The Matrix' being several of the most classic examples, detailed in the Christopher Vogler book 'The Writer's Journey.'  If one plays poker for long enough you will see a group of players who never improve, never grow but always keep playing.  I have been trying to fathom what people get out of it to continue playing in this manner.  It recently struck me how the psychological resonance of the hero's journey fits in well with many of the levels of enjoyment people gain from playing poker.

Joseph Campbell

Whilst watching poker on TV can be fun the essential pleasure of poker is that you are a direct participant and control all the key decisions.  In this respect it is not unlike a video game.  Many people prefer this kind of 'active' entertainment to more 'passive' ones like watching TV.  So in your own poker journey you are very much the 'Hero' and control all the decision making of what that will entail. It is psychologically interesting  that when analysing hands the opponent is always referred to as the 'Villain.'  Normal life can be quite a drudge sometimes.  Getting up and going to work day after day to earn what small pleasures you can obtain can be hard. This is especially true if you don't enjoy your job, or are troubled by other issues of the sort that life enjoys throwing at people along the way.  Against this 'Ordinary World' background poker can seem like a big exciting challenge, a 'Call to Adventure'.  There is drama, intrigue and exotic locations.  There are superstars and there are parties.  When people first discover poker it can be like finding out a little bit of the Wild West still exists, that ordinary life can take extraordinary turns.  It can be Rock and Roll, and you don't even need to be able to play the guitar.  Of course the daily reality for most us that enjoy the poker lifestyle is anything but, however the image and the perception is strong and occasionally little bits of the magic are genuinely there.  The dream of winning the World Series of Poker Main Event is not unsimilar to those who dream of winning the lottery.  It is an escape, it is freedom, it is adventure... and above all it does actually happen to a lucky few.

It Could Be You ;)

The idea of being the hero in your own poker adventure is very much tied into the concept of ego.  It is easy for bad players to carry on when as a species we are very good at being egocentric.  Most people have a strong view of themselves, some are better at self analysis than others.  There is a small percentage who see themselves in a way that is quite at odds with reality.  There are always examples in the forums I frequent of players who burst into their first post decrying a flurry of bad beats.  'The site is rigged', they would win 'if it wasn't for the donks'.  They 'never have any luck'.  99% of them have never even stopped to consider that what is holding them back is their own play, their own lack of ability, attitude or understanding.  Their own sense of ego and bloated self worth stops them from questioning this.  They may have only been playing poker for three weeks but they are the next Phil Ivey.   They will play Tom Dwan heads up for rolls.  They will win the WSOP Main Event this year.  Self belief is important in this game but it must be moderated with either a large dose of hard work, or of pure enjoyment, to keep the ego in check. 

Poker is getting tougher all the time, smart people are developing the game with smart concepts and analysis.  I am not ready to jump ship just yet though.  Whilst the good players get better there are too many egotists out there on their own hero's journey too unwilling to engage with reality.  It is why there is still so much value in the fields at the WSOP.  It is why Chinese business men are throwing away millions of dollars to the high stakes pros in Macau cash games.  It is why poker is not yet dead.  Enjoy poker and be the hero in your own adventure.  Unlike the egotists though pay attention to other facets of the hero's journey.  Make use of 'allies' and 'mentors' to develop your skills.  If you receive a 'boon' or 'reward' make the most of it, do not squander it.  Eventually, if you are really lucky, you might be able to return to your ordinary world from your adventure with knowledge that will make a difference to your day to day life.  Maybe you will be more confident, maybe more zen, or perhaps you will just have won yourself enough money for a really cool holiday.

PKR Cash Game TV 8th November 2011

Ahhhh PKR Cash Game TV.  The eternal wonder of what Ashley Hames is on about and whether he will get sued by the end of the episode :) ...  Once again the hand selection taunts me by missing out the three hands I played extremely well and showing the one I spent the most time questioning myself about following the end of the session...

http://www.pkr.com/en/community/news-events/pkr-tv-14-01/

This was an interesting session for a number of reasons.  You can sit down with a starting stack of 250 big blinds on the the Cash Game TV tables which makes for a much more interesting game and allows for more complexity of play.  I sat down with the standard 100 as the table was full of tricky opponents and I didn't want to go nuts, especially as I was in a lot of tournaments at the time.  The table dynamics were interesting as in Destacker and ForFoxSake you have two excellent tournament players who play very little cash.  mudbone is awkward and tricky at the best of times.  Elz442 is dangerous regardless of the format.  PokerrPro is one of the most solid low stakes cash gamers on PKR.

Clearly there are often shenanigans present in these TV games that don't exist at a table normally but some very interesting hands came out of this session.  The mudbone/Destacker hand is a corker for teaching purposes.  There are very strong cases to be argued that both players played the hands brilliantly and that both played terribly.  Neither line is something you would suggest a beginner to be taking with 4 2 and A K but neither of these players are beginners.  They end up in a spot where you either look like a genius or a donkey depending on the outcome.  If Destacker folds on the river then Mudbone has the moral victory.  If Destacker calls the river bet and it turns out he has the worst hand then his line looks a bit silly.  Destacker ends up looking like a genius in the hand but on the flop and turn he really could be anywhere.  The turn bet is quite small though so having called the flop bet it is difficult to not call the turn one.  Then the river doesn't really change a lot so I think it makes the call easier.  I do wonder if Destacker finds a fold if Mudbone shoves the turn or the river?  I think definitely so if done on the turn.  I think Destacker might still call if it was done on the river.

The hand between myself and Destacker is an intriguing one.  I have raised A Qo and Destacker has flatted 10 7 in the blinds.  On the K 6 A flop he has flopped the flush and I have top pair, top kicker, with the nut flush draw.  Both hands are monsters at this point. Normally I would be quite happy to get a lot of chips in on this sort of flop but the whole hand became unusually interesting.  When Des leads out I know that I am either way in front or way behind.  I don't think raising achieves much for me.  He is likely to fold out worse aces and worse flush draws, and definitely all his air ball bluffs, if I raise, but he is going nowhere if he has flopped the flush or a set of sixes.  The turn card is an absolute brick and changes nothing so again I flat the bet.  The river is the best spot.  It is another brick... and then he over bets the pot.  I don't think he did this at any other point in the two hours.  It absolutely polarises him between bluffs and made hands he is turning into a bluff versus a super strong monster hand.  On reflection I think the over bet puts it more firmly in his value range than his bluffing range so I dislike the call.  It is a tough one though.  Either he is trying to extract value from sets, two pairs and smaller flushes or he is turning a hand like A 10o with the ten of diamonds into a bluff.  I don't hate the call as the strength of my own hand has been somewhat hidden but I do think I should have erred on the side of caution.  This hand also shows exactly how a session can revolve around one hand.  I finished with a $14 loss and if I had found the river fold I would have finished with a $74 profit for the two hours.

These sessions are good to play once in a while, they get you thinking to a degree you often do not have to bother with in a standard low stakes cash game.  It isn't profitable playing good players all the time but in small doses it is beneficial to your thought process.