FULL TILT POKER BLOG

Posted by jgreenspan | Filed under Uncategorized

If you’ve read any of the popular poker literature, you’ve no doubt heard about the importance of playing only your best hands. You know, A-K, high pairs – the Group 1 hands. You’ve read about the “gap concept,” and know that if there’s an open-raise you should be very careful about playing the likes of A-J, K-J or other easily dominated hands.

Phil Gordon, in his Little Green Book, covers these concepts in depth, and Chris Ferguson discusses these matters in his lectures.

But here’s the thing: after watching Gordon, Ferguson, Cunningham, and many others play for weeks on end, you come to understand that these are guidelines that the pros feel free deviate from.

Yesterday, I watched a reasonably large pot go down between Ferguson and Mark Vos. Ferguson open-raised from late position, and Vos called from the cutoff. The board was filled with Aces and paint. When the two finally showed down their hands, Ferguson showed K-3 and Vos K-J; they chopped the pot.

Gordon, late in a $1,500 event, raised under-the-gun with 6-4, suited. (He was poised to win a huge pot with it, but took a nasty beat on the turn after getting all his money in good on the flop.)

This sort of action is rock-like when compared to the play of Gavin Smith, Mike Matusow and Erick Lindgren.

So what lessons can be learned when you see that the pros feel free to deviate from their own teaching? I think the message is something like this:

The basics are vital, but they are just that: basics. Many situations are more complex than anything that can be covered in the literature. You’ll be playing great poker when the rules and lessons fade into the background of thought and you’re truly in the moment.

Day 2, Part B starts today. Stay tuned.

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