Back To Blogging....

It's been a long while since I blogged about poker, but I'm not playing particularly well as of late, and so I guess it's time to use this blog for what it was intended - self deprication...
No, that'll have to wait for some good material.

The main reason for my blogging revival is that now I actually know some people personally who have poker blogs, and I'm actually following them and deriding value as I do. That is a good thing because just as I am able to better digest my internalized ideas and thoughts by writing them down, so are others, and the whole cathartic process of reading and writing is extremely valuable. Much more so when an audience presents itself for the sake of real humility.

As part of my endeavor to become a better poker player, I accepted an invitation by Alan Schoonmaker to join a group of poker players who meet on a bi-weekly basis to discuss, learn, and enjoy no limit Texas Hold'em poker.  Collectively, we are called the No Limit Discussion Group. Original, no? YES! It's the only one, I'm pretty sure. Some discussions are organized and focused on a topic, involving up to thirty participants, and sometimes only three of us show up, and it becomes an ad-hoc Q and A of each other. No matter what happens, I learn something great every time I show up.

In the last meeting, I learned something of particular value to me, as it relates to the portion of my game that I am currently attempting to improve. I am currently struggling with a conceptual problem in my game, and that is balancing bet sizing techniques for value, protection, and exploitation, while not being so obvious as to be readable over time.

A thing that was mentioned at the meeting, which happened to be specifically focused on bet sizing, was that there is actually a semi-Newtonian relationship to every action in poker. That is to say that for every action, there is a reaction. The reaction may rarely be equal or opposite, and the reaction may not even be immediate, but for every move a poker player makes, there is a reaction. For every pre-flop raise put in by the Hero, the Villain takes note and adjusts, whether consciously or unconsciously. For every time the Villain runs a successful bluff, the future changes just that little bit based on that action/reaction relationship. When cause and effect combines with a game of incomplete information, the ordered chaos that inevitably ensues is beautiful. Even Godlike. Ok, now I'm just being ridiculous. Or am I? Duh duh DUUUUHHHH..... Whatever.

But that's only the half of it. The corresponding concept that I took from the discussion was that not only is there a reaction to every action, there is also a positive AND negative effect of every action. An action taken could have a positive result immediately, but could also lead to negative results in the future. Simple examples could include correct aggression paying off in the near term and being exploited later. Exploiting a current table dynamic could have meta-game implications for observant opponents ten sessions down the road. A fold to a small river bet now could spell doom for the light value-bettor when another has the check-raise shove in his arsenal.

These are not concepts that I have not considered in the past, but since I last considered them, I have applied considerable effort to improving my game. Now, with my increased understanding of no limit Hold'em, these concepts offer much more dimension for consideration, and I believe will be extremely valuable in the decision making process when I'm sitting at the virtual table. Every meeting of the NLDG that I've attended has resulted in a revelation for me. Some greater, some lesser, but always valuable. So long as a meeting doesn't break out in a fistfight, I'm sure it will be good.

Now I'm going to buy some new pants. It's going to hit 60 degrees soon.