Who are those donkeys anyway?

I have been hanging out in too many bars lately playing poker and running tournaments. All this leaves me kind of bewildered and numb because there is so much poker information that is available that few seem to take advantage of.

I have been involved in league poker in bars for well over two years now and it amazes me that some of the people I have seen play poorly then are still, for the most part, playing poorly. I wrote my first post (see below) when I returned from a Las Vegas national event with my poker league and was inspired by the level of play that we all experienced there. Now however, back in the poker trenches, so to speak, everyone seems to have forgotten how they managed to put on their game faces in Vegas. I have had several conversations in the past few months with people who are disturbed by the level of play in these leagues. Many things have been said in jest or otherwise but one thing that continues to rise to the surface is that plenty of people think they are so good at the game that the local poker scene just isn’t cutting the mustard any more.
I love the game of poker; it allows everyone a level playing field to effort a win or two in each season. I have seen people that I consider to be solid poker players do just that. I have also seen some of the worst poker players pull off astoundingly dramatic wins. Who are those donkeys anyway?

At the latest Regional event the head of the league stood up and said that we should all look around the room and see all of the friends that we have made just as a result of being involved in this silly card game. I would be lying if I were to say it wasn’t so. I have heard it said that poker isn’t a game of cards played by people but rather, a game of people played with cards. I have heard it said numerous times that if you are up against someone you consider to be a less than equal opponent you have to adjust your game so that you can come to take full advantage of the others weaknesses. I know this works on some level. I don’t think I am that great a tournament player but I can be as solid as the next guy in a ring game. On the other hand my wife has always preferred the tournament style. She loves the strategy of the event and relishes winning and has done exceptionally well in the league’s format. My son has done well also. Otherwise I have seen many people that you would never have believed could play poker sit at bar tables covered with a green felt with the league logo peeling off and in a flash of brilliance play some of the best cards of their young lives; or not.

Poker gives everyone the same chance to arrive as a young flash in the pan only to have their butts handed to them over time. It apparently never occurs to these folks that the adjustments have been made by others and their game may be stale. Instead they would prefer to complain that they were bad-beat or never got cards or they were sucked out on the river or... you get the point.
I tried to establish a side game between tournaments at local events that I was involved in trying to get folks to slow up some from another stunning loss at the hands of those donkeys and try to reevaluate the game they play. Several people got with the program and made an effort to change up their game and play better. Some read books to get different views on the same thing hoping that it can help their perspective. Some went to play in poker rooms on line to try to improve maybe hand selection or counting outs or some aspect of their games. Others just continued to play their tired tournament game and never left square one. I wonder why you wouldn’t want to be different knowing that it was as available to you as it was to everyone else.
Luck in poker is in fact insurmountable. There is nothing worse than getting sucked out when you had the best hand going in. If however, this happens more than once in a while shouldn’t you see the light at some point? In his book “The Theory of Poker” David Sklansky speaks of poker as a scientific formula and how to counterfeit that formula when it becomes necessary. I have heard that Doyle Brunson once said that if he was always last to act he could take away your tournament life without having to look at his cards. These things fill me with wonder as I continue to hear the same people say the same rotten things about their poker friends. It could be funny if it didn’t happen so often.

Much as I would rather not say it but I think Phil Helmuth said it best in his book that the difference between good poker players and lucky ones is the game they play. At the end of a home game many would agree that “Jim sure was lucky tonight.” But in a poker tournament luck can not be relied upon to pull you through. This doesn’t mean that luck WON’T pull you through on occasion, much to the dismay of your fellow poker players, but you shouldn’t expect that every event is the occasion to rely on luck. Does this make sense?

I know of one person in particular that everyone says is a numbers guy. He does some real estate stuff and he has a head for the numbers. I tried to explain to him once that a fair guess at where you stand in a poker tournament would be to figure out how much money was on the tables when you started, the buy-in multiplied by the number of people that started the event ($5000 each for 40 players is 200,000 in chips). Later you use the same amount as the beginning (200,000 in chips) and divide that number by the remaining players (200,000 split between fourteen players would be a tad under 14300) and if your stack is larger than the quotient you should feel okay about your chances. As I explained it to him I could almost see his eyes glaze over. He asked me to give him a suggestion for a book to buy that would help him become a better player. I suggested the Theory of Poker. I would have been more honest and probably closer to his skill level if I had suggesting that he just read the bible. The bible isn’t much of a poker book but some people must rely on it for their game from the way it looks.

I have tried to convince folks that they can become better poker players if they simply apply themselves to the learning process. I must admit at this point that part of the reason I prefer ring games is that in tournaments a misstep could cost you your tournament life. In a ring game if a mistake is made you screw yourself back down, fold more hands and try to recoup you chips/cash. I don’t like to play bad cards but on the other hand if I was playing there wouldn’t be bad cards. What I mean to say is this: bad poker players play cards better players learn that competition is the mother of poker wisdom. You have to get kicked in the gut once in a while. It still happens to those guys that we see on television, they just don’t broadcast the losses like they do the wins.

In summation poker friends IF and I do mean if you choose to become a better poker player just do that. Read go online watch the poker shows and try to take it all in. The more you learn, yes these shows can assist you in the learning process, the better you will become. Consider this a labor of poker love. You should want to be a better player so you can raise the level of play where ever you go. The reward for all of this is that others will come to respect you at the tables, well some anyway. It may take time but sooner or later it will hit that note and stick in your head until you need it and WHAM!!! You win!!!
In the trenches of local league poker patience will make you better and training will bring you as close to invincibility as you can get on the felt.

What Now (please read the other post 1st)

I hope everyone that stops by reads the entries in order. That is why I went back and added the (please read the other post first). I want to set the level first. I want to tell everyone where I want to be now and for the future.

I want to come to the place where poker is and have control of the tournament at hand either at the front of the room or at the tables. At the tables is a debatable thing because I haven't played so much in the past year and I am rusty. In the front of the room however, I should be in control. Either way I want to have a good time. If everyone was committed to playing the best they could and having a good time it would follow that everyone SHOULD have a good time.
I would think that the people who come to play would want me to be in control. I think some of them DEPEND on my being in place. I say "me" but I mean anyone who has agreed to assume the role of Tournament Director.
In my mind I have a set of rule that define a Tournament Director from a player that is running a game. This would be a good time to define the difference and explain WHY I feel the way I do.

Tournament Director

In my mind a tournament director should have knowledge of the players in the game they are in control of. The players are the tournament. If a director doesn't understand this they are fighting an uphill battle. Understanding players is essential because you should have an idea of why they think the way they do and how they may react to different situations. WTP is played in bars where alcohol is being served. This will ALWAYS be a factor. A bad beat after a few hours of Coor's Light could be like walking in a mine field. Most of the players I am exposed to are people I know. There are always new folks coming around so I feel it necessary to keep tabs on them. It is my duty because I don't want these unknowns to become known for the wrong reasons.
In my mind the tournament director can never be a player and a director at the same time. There is just too much responsibility to be consumed in an all-in situation and be needed to make a critical decision at the same time. I know the WTP situations are "usually" friendly but you may be surprised how many times people have approached me and complained that other players have seemed overly aggressive. Maybe it is a small part of the game strategy but in this situation it is mostly uncalled for. If you were there for the Regional event at Cheers bar and grille a few seasons ago remember how that whole situation fell apart so quickly. In that situation a real tournament director would have intervened and held that aggressive action to a minimum.
A tournament director should know the game. I don't necessarily mean you have to know how to play as good as the players we all see on television but you should have a working knowledge of the mechanics of Texas Hold'em. How the cards should be dealt, the flop should be completed and the how's and why's of the game at hand. Everyone has heard some know it all player say "it's in the rules." Who knows? Last week when we were in Las Vegas I heard of a situation that was completly new to me. The tournament director there actually had a dealer reshuffle the cards after the hole cards had been dealt. I'll explain that later. Anyone that has been in attendance at an event where I was in control may know that I carry a rule book with me. I don't just carry it around so I can say "Show me where it is in the rules." I have read this book so that I can make a better informed decision when asked to do so. I have also supplemented this with a copy of "Robert's Rules of Poker" which I found online took the time and expense to read and print myself for the good of poker in Baltimore.
In short a good tournament director should be committed to keeping all the games they run either tournament or ring style, fair, exciting and fun for everyone involved in them.

My commitment is clearly stated in the previous writing so if you didn't read it please go back and check it out. If you have a tournament coming up think about these principles and try to apply them to the play at hand.

By the way:
the reshuffle was done because a bet had been made before the flop which the dealer missed (they are only human after all) and after he threw the flop a player complained so the tournament director had the dealer return the burn card and the flopped cards to the deck and reshuffle them. No big deal, the cards were returned to their randomization.

The Afterglow of the WTP Open at Binion's 2007

Hello to everyone who happens by. I have been back from Las Vegas for about a week now and some of the things that didn't seem to have any meaning are beginning to gel now.

I have to say I LOVED my time at Binion's Gambling Hall and Hotel. Poker brought me to Las Vegas. Not so much my own play but the play of my family. That's okay though because for the two years I have been involved in poker I have loved the game. I have had a friend come to my house to prepare my wife and I for our big splash into the murky waters of poker. I really, REALLY want to improve my game. I have been acting primarily as a Tournament Director in the local poker league and as a result my game has suffered.

Enough about that; back to Binion's. When I completed my reservations for the trip from Dundalk to Las Vegas I began to anticipate going to the land of poker. I wanted to see the Poker hall of Fame. I hoped to see a star or two but that wasn't the point.

I was in the land that all gamblers yearn to visit. I was there in LAS VEGAS, NEVADA.

I watched daily as round after round of cards flew through the air to all who would dare to sit down at the tables.

I could do this I think to myself. I could take one hundred dollars from my pocket, sit my tired butt down and play real live event poker with the modern grinders like a modern day gladiator or bull fighter.

"That's bull," I thought to myself shortly after the fantasy reeled through my head. These guys aren't here to play league poker for points in a bar in Baltimore. These guys are playing for their mortgage money, their gas and electric bills their car payments. The old guys might even be playing for cash to pay for the perscription the doctor just ordered.

Now that I have had time to let all this settle I have to admit that although we kid ourselves into believing that we can play poker most of the people in Baltimore haven't got a freaking clue what it would really be like to grind it out for lights in your house or gas in your car or maybe the choice between your next six pack or drinking water for the evening.

I forced myself to take a hard look at what was going on at the tables as the week progressed. As a tournament director in my league and being a bit anal about things like rules and directions I realized that I was at least partially to blame. I watched as the Directors in Binion's drew cards for the players that were registered each assigned a table and seat completely at random. The players each moved to those assigned seats without question, comment, or whining about not liking to play against so and so. As the play began everything went off seamlessly. When players were taken out of play the dealers would call out "open seat on seventy-two." The directors would report to that table and remove the seat card for the next table to be broken.

If I had known perhaps things would be different now. Now that I DO know I promise I will make the changes to assure that the tournaments I am in control of are operated in a more professional manner. I am open to suggestions on how to make my tournaments better (read more professionally).

I want to make a written commitment to everyone that knows me in Dundalk and in the city of Baltimore:

I am fully committed to bringing big league style poker to this area. I want to commit myself to being the absolute best Tournament Director in this area. When I am not in the act of directing I plan to do the very best I can to play as professionally as this limited environment allows.

Stick with me this could be a great ride. Even if the results aren't so great right off the bat the games will still be a great time.

Have a great time and enjoy the draw.

Tom Dishon Sr.
Tom_from_Dundalk