Switching Gears

Dear Danny,

With my final of three graduations on the horizon tomorrow, it makes me think of this idea I've wanted to expand upon for a few days now. For those of you who aren't ask poker savvy as Feuer or Alex, the concept of which I'm thinking about these days is switching gears. Now this concept is a metaphor within a metaphor within a metaphor. So let me try and go at it simply.

When you play poker, there are different styles that you can chose. You can be aggressive which usually means betting frequently, a lot of bluffing, usually loud at the table. You can be conservative, which is of course, the opposite. Sitting tight, waiting for hands to come to you and not usually bluffing. When you ask some of the poker greats, they say you have to mix up your play. Sometimes you need to be firing away so people know you're willing to bet your chips and sometimes you need to let people try and bluff at you. Knowing when to speed up (become more aggressive) or slow down (play less hands) is known as switching gears. This is a skill that only the real pros have down, and still have trouble with with everyday play. It can be hard to know what the table is dictating, especially in tournament play when guys are coming in and out and you're just trying to survive. It can be even harder online when you have to rely on reads based on betting patterns and feel more than reading an actual player.

I'd like to bring up a hand I talked about briefly a couple weeks ago. It was my 37s vs. AKs, which I won when I hit my flush. I had said I played the hand completely wrong, which I did. But it came at a time when I was in a faster speed. Granted, I still should have folded preflop and misbet every step of the way, but I was in a more aggressive gear and wanted to play it out so people knew I could be reckless, so when I shut down I could induce more bluffs. It just so happened that I hit my flush and he hit his ace and I could profit from it.

So it all has me thinking. What gear am I really in right now? Am I speeding up towards graduation and eventual "real life"? Am I slowing down after a really fast aggressive session? Are my dreams of leaving the country a safe play or are they playing the 37s? Is my grant proposal submission a slow play or a bluff? Is there a play here at all? Maybe because there's no opponent to get a read off of, there is no answer. In "Psychology of Poker", it talks about being able to overcome yourself first and foremost before you can read anyone else. So I guess it's just a matter of using 3rd level reading on myself. 3rd level is the I know he knows I know I can read him...so what does he have?

I will leave you with this thought, or rather, my favorite poker quote --

Whether he likes it or not, a man’s character is stripped at the poker table; if the other players read him better than he does, he has only himself to blame. Unless he is both able and prepared to see himself as others do, flaws and all, he will be a loser in cards, as in life.

-- Anthony Holden