Poker Veteran of 50 years: 'Counter Intuitive Going Against The Flow'

Most poker players are familiar with poker champion Doyle Brunson and his best-selling book, Super System -- considered by many to be the bible of poker -- where he talks about which hands to play and how to play them, or David Sklansky’s books on statistics and poker math, outlining every conceivable possibility and outcome. 

These books make perfect sense. However, their subject is a game based on limited and incomplete information combined with variables which hinge on a great unknown: the flop, turn and river. 

The books also advise if you are playing at a table where the play is tight, to play loose, and if you’re at a loose table, to play tight. To go against the flow.

Going against the flow in Poker

So on one hand, these poker gurus offer guidance based on rational suggestions and sound advice, while also asking you to participate in an opposite world. Keep in mind, Doyle Brunson won two World Series Championships playing 10 2 of all cards, at least one of them was suited.

I’m sure you have experienced what Lemony Snicket calls “A Series of Unfortunate Events”-- including bad beats, harrowing losses to one or two outers, and suckouts that make your hair stand on end. These experiences, which are attributed to “bad luck” or “variance,” make you want to quit the game and never look back. 

You can stop reading this article right here and now if you are happy with your game, and don’t want to try something new and revolutionary. 

I suggest that you transport yourself into the world of the spawning salmon, who migrate and start swimming upstream with uncanny precision, in order to reproduce and complete an important cycle in their life.

If swimming against the flow works in nature, specifically for the salmon’s survival, then I say it should work for the poker player trying to outswim all the sharks at the table who want to bite off chunks of your chips. Let’s give it a shot.

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"If every instinct you have is wrong, then the opposite would have to be right."  -- George Costanza (from the hit sitcom Seinfeld)

Counter-intuitive instincts and contrary inclinations can be very effective, but you have to know how and when to apply them. Yes, they’re challenging to execute, as they generally test your first inclination and go against the grain.

No, I’m not recommending that you go overboard and fold aces pre-flop or go all-in with 5 2 off-suit.

I am suggesting you start playing contrary to the way you have always thought -- by playing hands you wouldn’t otherwise play and, what’s more, even raising with them. Say you’re in the cutoff with two callers before you. You look at the “dirty diaper”, 2 3 off-suit for example. I suggest raising 2 to 2.5 times the blind. You’ll probably end up head’s-up going to the flop.  Your opponent might have a face card, connectors or even a weak ace. Say the flop comes 8-3-5 rainbow— you’re probably golden. They check, and then you make a strong continuation bet, maybe pot size, which should take down the pot. 

Adding to the types of hands you play and how you play them makes you a more formidable opponent. You will feel liberated from only playing “broadway cards.” Remember, if you don’t hit, you can always fold. Mixing it up should be a big part of your game plan.

Also, any pot that has considerable money in it should also attract your attention.

When the famous bank robber Willie Sutton was asked why he kept robbing banks, considering the risks involved, his answer was, “because that’s where the money is.”

The same holds true for poker. I say fight off your instincts and start playing more pots that are money-heavy. Who says you have to have a premium hand, or, for that matter, ANY hand to bet or raise or re-raise—or even go all in?

After all, less than 40 percent of all hands make it to showdown, which means 60 percent of the time you can get players to fold—with the right size bet—without ever revealing your hand.

No, you don’t need to change your game entirely, just add a few nuances. After some practice, you can increase your arsenal of strategies, which will make you an even stronger player.

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