Using A Poker System and Why They Do Not Work
Being registered with many poker sites has its benefits and its disadvantages. With a huge selection of games to play, different inducements and competitions, I could be online 24/7 and always find a game to play, major tournament to qualify for (Ha! Ha!) and try to increase my standard. The downside is that I get a stack of junk email.
Some of these communications ask me to part with $20 upwards to invest in spend on a book that will revolutionize the way I play on the tables and pledging me riches beyond my wildest dreams. Headlines such as “Invest in the Whacky System” inform me that, for a small outlay, I will get the innermost secrets of professional poker players. In reality, these are all training courses which are mostly free online and bear most of the knowledge that one gets from simply playing – “When a man with money meets a man with experience, the man with experience leaves with money and the man with money leaves with experience.” Anon.
Nonetheless, after a little investigation, I though I would try one out. One of these companies (who I will not grace by advertising their name) declares that you bet a “reasonable” amount when holding pocket pairs TT or higher, AJ, AQ or AK, and when holding suited connectors (5d 6d for instance). The “reasonable” amount was a bit vague and this hardly represented advanced hand selection. But I carried on, determining that I would bet the pot rather than go all in every hand and see how it went. Three SnGs later, this is what passed
Game 1 started with AA in mid-position. Was this a signal that I had chosen the right direction for my future poker play? I bet the pot. The flop came down, I was raised and bet the pot, which was re-raised and 4 us ended up all in. An A on the turn and I collected. Thank you system. Would I have got such a catch if I had gone all in at the beginning? Hmm? So, I carried on only betting on cards that fell into my criteria and folding everything else. The hands in which I was not playing provided a useful time to conside my opponents and the way they played. Who was aggressive. Who was passive. How table position affected the way that some people played and not others. I felt that I should be doing this more frequently, so in one respect it was time well spent.
After 30 minutes, just three players remained. Some of my bets had won, some caused the table to fold and I just amassed the blinds. Then I hit AA again and lost to two pairs. The ensuing hand I was out when, following the system, I ended up all in on 3s 4s. Third place and an education – not bad, although I would have got at least third place, I felt, with the cards I had been dealt.
Game 2 was all over in two hands. 3d 4d, followed by 6d 7d
In game 3, I did not obtain the cards to play a hand for the first 20 minutes, by which time four players had already exited and I was sitting 3 of 5. More time to learn about my opposition. I got AK, was raised to all in and picked up with two pairs. Several hands later, I am sitting 3 of 3 after my raises brought folds from my opposition and two had knocked themselves out. My stats at this point were; played 5 of 32, won 1 hand at showdown and 4 without.
The chip leader took out the third player, and we were heads up. I continued playing to the system and he completely “sussed” what I was doing (if, in fact, he didn’t know already). There would have been an inevitable situation where I would have finished second as he was folding to any raise I made and I was folding any cards that did not correspond to the system. The blinds would have wiped me out ultimately. So, I abandoned the system, played my regular game and won.
My conclusion is that systems don’t work alone. You have to incorporate them into your regular strategies. Combining a system with luck will enable you to pick up a few runner up rewards but, is that what you really want?
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