Poker: A Guaranteed Income for Life

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PART SEVEN

POKER NOTES

XXXIV
Poker Notes--1968 to 1980

This chapter compiles and summarizes some poker ideas and concepts accumulated since the Advanced Concepts of Poker were first published.

1. Who Is Buying the Poker Manual?

The Poker Manual exposes the rationalizations and self-deceptions of chronic losers. It strips away their excuses and facades. Many losers resentfully reject the identifications made throughout the Manual. As long as they reject the identifications, they will remain losers. Yet, any loser who owns the Manual can become a winner if he chooses to apply the Advanced Concepts of Poker.

2. What Will Happen When All Players Own the Poker Manual?

The answer to the last two questions is no. The potential earnings of good players should increase as the circulation of the Poker Manual increases. This paradox is explained by examining the nature of the game, the good player, and the poor player, in the following four paragraphs:

Thousands of players around the world already own the Poker Manual. By clearly identifying the total nature of poker, the Manual is gradually but permanently changing the game and its players. The Advanced Concepts of Poker are dispelling the myths that have always worked against the good player in his efforts to create faster-paced, higher-profit games. The Manual eliminates most objections to profitable poker innovations such as hold 'em, split pots, twist cards, and lowball variations by disproving the myth that such pace-increasing variations change poker from a game of skill to a game of luck. As the distribution of the Poker Manual continues, the more profitable, fast-paced games will become increasingly acceptable and easier to introduce--thus allowing the good player to increase his profits at faster rates and to higher levels.

But will the dispelling of other poker myths (e.g., the validity of luck) improve the performances of poor players and chronic losers, thus decreasing the edge odds for the good player? On the whole, the answer would be no. A few poor players (those who would work to steadily improve their game even without the Manual) will benefit from the Manual. But most poor players are static players who will not use the Advanced Concepts of Poker or do anything to improve their game. Why? Consider the nature of chronic losers: Most chronic losers have deeply entrenched habits that militate against the ingredients of good poker--discipline, thought, and then control. The Advanced Concepts of Poker demand intensive discipline and continuous thought--the very efforts that chronic losers seek to avoid. In fact, they build elaborate rationalizations or excuses to avoid any such discipline and thought. They play poker to "relax" their minds. Applying the Advanced Concepts of Poker would contradict and threaten their rationalized excuses for losing.

Revealing the Advanced Concepts of Poker to chronic losers is similar to revealing the logical advantages of being sober to chronic alcoholics, or revealing the unbeatable casino odds to inveterate gamblers. Few chronic losers will change their self-destructive habits when confronted with their errors.... On reading the Advanced Concepts of Poker, some chronic losers temporarily become wary of the good player and alert to some of his techniques. But in most cases, their alertness soon fades and their awareness sinks even lower because of a tranquil confidence that develops from now "knowing" the good player's techniques and from "being savvy" to his tricks. They quickly let themselves forget that his techniques and deceptions continue to extract money from them.

Yet any loser at any time can choose to use his mind[ 44 ] to make himself a winner. The mind is the instrument required to use the Advanced Concepts of Poker Winners make themselves winners by choosing to effectively use their minds. And losers make themselves losers by choosing to default on the effective use of their minds. Responsibility for the results of poker rests squarely and solely on the individual.

3. Why Does the Author Reveal the Advanced Concepts of Poker?

1. Compared to playing poker and extracting money from a limited number of players, the potential profit is greater for selling the Advanced Concepts of Poker to 47,000,000 poker players domestically and to an estimated 75,000,000 poker players worldwide.
2. After writing the Manual and identifying the nature of winning poker as a highly profitable but time-consuming, nonproductive activity that requires bringing out the worst in opponents, the author stopped playing poker.

Furthermore, in poker, the good player must strive to surround himself with losers--with people who are constantly defaulting on the use of their minds--the opposite kind of people whom the good player could respect and enjoy. That poker is not a very satisfying or rewarding way for him to consume large, irreplaceable portions of his life.... The good player, therefore, may be the biggest loser in the game.

And the superior professional player is perhaps the biggest loser in poker, especially in public poker. Constantly surrounded by losers, he consumes his intelligence and time in a situation that provides a guaranteed income, but offers neither an interesting nor a productive future.

4. John Finn's Notes on Private Poker

1. Beat opponents through their personal weaknesses- through their irrationalities. Smoking, for example, is a self-destructive irrationality that represents a vulnerability--a lack of discipline and control. If an opponent constantly hurts himself through irrationalities such as smoking (or drinking excessively, chronic gambling, mysticism, dishonesty, or physical unfitness), he can certainly be manipulated into hurting himself through a much more subtle irrationality such as poker.
2. Probe all opponents for weaknesses that can be manipulated in order to extract maximum money from them. Also identify and eliminate your own weaknesses (or at least guard against losing money through your weaknesses). Constantly strive to identify and correct your errors--and then capitalize on corrected errors (i.e., by springing traps on those alert opponents who were capitalizing on your past errors).
3. Be alert to changes. Opponents can undergo drastic changes during a poker session. In a few minutes, an opponent can change from a tight, careful player to a loose, reckless player--or vice versa. To maintain the best investment odds, constantly monitor and adjust to all changes in all opponents.
4. To evaluate more accurately the quality of poker played by any individual, analyze his game in two separate segments--his statistical game and his strategical game. The statistical game is the shorter-range card-playing and money-management aspects (the mechanical aspects) that depend on an understanding of the odds or probabilities and on discipline and control. The strategical game is the longer-range imaginative aspect that depends on alertness and on independent and objective thinking effort. The good player usually beats professional players and cheaters with a superior strategical game.
5. Concentrate on areas that provide maximum advantages. For example, in a game with weak players, concentrate more on opponents' play and do more manipulating. In a game with strong players, concentrate more on your own play and do less manipulating (which can give away your hand and intentions). Better yet, avoid playing with strong players.
6. Breathe deeply to release tensions, especially in the neck, shoulders, and buttocks. Tension-free relaxation makes a player more effective for extracting money from opponents. Also, being physically fit (especially being aerobically fit via regular roadwork) can make a significant contribution not only to your stamina, but also to your ability to concentrate and implement the Advanced Concepts of Poker.
7. Use hypnotic motions and whispered chants to condition and train players to react favorably-- to "obey commands" (e.g., to fold, bet, or raise).
8. Often you can profitably check strong hands from deeper positions than most players realize (e.g., you can profitably check four sevens from a deeper position than two high pair). Not too serious if no one opens after checking a strong hand, since opening against all non-bettors would normally result in a small pot with few, if any callers--and they would be weak callers. The rewards of winning larger pots by check raising are greater than the risks of losing smaller, passed-out pots. But also avoid underbetting hands-- especially strong hands.
9. Opponents holding openers or good hands tend to be more alert. Players who suddenly start policing the game usually have at least openers. Players glumly staring at their cards will seldom open. Players who are tense and not looking at their cards (but are alertly looking at the pot or other players) will usually open.
10. By learning to read opponents' hands accurately, the card odds become less important as the manipulation of opponents and bluffing become easier and more important.
11. Predicting cards and odds becomes increasingly accurate--especially in stud games--as the hand progresses. For the more dealt cards a player knows, the more accurately he can predict what cards remain in the deck--or how rich or lean the remaining deck is for any particular card. (The good poker card-counter has a much greater winning advantage than the good blackjack card-counter, whose maximum advantage is less than 1 percent.)
12. By knowing how rich or lean the remaining deck is in various cards, a player can predict with increasing accuracy both his own and his opponents' probabilities for drawing specific cards as the deck diminishes. Furthermore, the observant player can often discover the actual value of cards being dealt in two ways: First, he can often see the cards flash while being dealt or while being picked up and handled by opponents. And second, he can discover the value of cards about to be dealt from markings on their backs that occur during normal play--such as spots, creases, nicks, folds, and stains.
13. Since neither total inconsistency nor total consistency is possible, all hands of all opponents potentially can be read by the observant player.
14. Usually the more an opponent tries to hide the strength or weakness of his hand, the easier and more accurately his hand can be read The player who never looks at his cards until his turn to bet is often the hardest player to read, but he leaves himself with less time to plan strategy relative to his cards.
15. Evoke giveaway reactions from opponents by hesitating before betting. Pretend the pot is light and then count the chips to induce giveaway reactions. Also evoke card-reading or giveaway reactions with surprise moves, unusual acts, or point-blank questions. To extract useful information or reactions, ask opponents point-blank questions about their hand, their bet, or what they plan to do.... Be careful not to give away your own hands or intentions through those tactics.
16. Most losers look hard for excuses to bet or bluff. When holding winning hands, provide those excuses for them.
17. Reading bluffs of opponents offers major moneymaking opportunities. Players often reveal pat-hand bluffs by not looking at their cards long enough to assure themselves of pat hands. When bluffing, many players try to project confidence and strength with fast bets or by feigning relaxation or cheerfulness. Also, players who back out of bluffs early in a hand will often try to bluff again within the next few hands.
18. The purpose of every bluff should be to win the pot. The advertising value of a bluff is only a secondary benefit.
19. In early developed bluffs, make players believe that they must improve their hands to win. In general, cancel bluff plans if opponents do improve their hands.
20. To reinforce a loose-player image, never admit to folding good hands and generally show weak hands that win. Never reveal poker skills or the ability to read opponents' hands by betting too confidently, by folding too quickly, by giving "lessons," or by explaining strategy.
21. Fiction and movies like The Cincinnati Kid offer cliched and misleading views of poker, cheating, and good players. In reality, prosperous good players are not flamboyant "big-man" types. Instead, they strive to appear mundane. They are nonfamous. They are Clark Kents. They are stealthy and clandestine. Moreover, they play wide-open, fast-paced games--not five-card stud. And they never need to look under tables or examine overhead lamps to protect themselves from cheating. The stereotyped, fictionalized, and romanticized views of poker and good players provide helpful covers for the real-life good players as they surreptitiously extract all available money from all opponents.
22. Usually the good player benefits more by focusing his concentration on playing sound poker than by diluting his concentration on acting. But in games with several good players or world class professionals (games that the good player would normally avoid), the faking of carefully planned tells (behavior patterns that give away a player's hands or intentions) can make a good player essentially unbeatable against superior competition. In fact, the better his opponents are, the more easily they can be drawn into traps by subtle, preplanned tells. Because both good players and experienced professionals look for, detect, and use tells projected by each opponent, they are vulnerable to fake or set-up tells. A variety of effective set-up tells also distracts observant opponents from detecting unintentional tells projected by the good player. Indeed, a good player can beat other good players and dramatically win major professional poker tournaments with a series of preplanned, well-executed tells that "give away" good hands, poor hands, and bluffs. The good player beats superior competition by systematically training his observant opponents to react to his set-up tells and then reversing or faking those tells for the crucial, big pots.... But again, such faking or acting is generally not worthwhile against poor or average poker players.
23. Poker is actually a game of discipline and effort--not luck or skill. Almost any novice armed with the Advanced Concepts of Poker and a few weeks practice can with sheer discipline and effort beat experienced poker experts. By contrast, activities requiring skill such as tennis, violin playing, and brain surgery take years to develop the skills and experience needed to compete with the experts. Once those skills are developed, however, the effort required to properly execute them diminishes. But in poker, no matter how much experience a player gains, the discipline and effort required to execute good poker never diminishes.
24. No-limit, table-stake games offer the most advantage to the good player. In such games, his tools of aggressiveness, manipulation, psychology, and bluffing become much more effective for outplaying opponents. On the other hand, the most lucrative losers often stay away or are quickly driven from such no-limit games. So ironically, the best long-term profit opportunities for the good player usually exist within limit stake games that he can control. In such limit games, the good player can extract increasing amounts of money from his opponents, game after game, year after year.

5. Neocheating -- The Rising Menace to Poker, Blackjack, Bridge, and Gin

The maneuvers of Neocheating are so subtle and the mechanics so easy that they can be invisibly executed with relaxed confidence. Guaranteed winning hands such as four aces can be routinely obtained. And more than one powerful hand can be dealt at a time to ensure a big score (e.g., in poker: four aces to the Neocheater and four jacks to the victim). Yet, the Neocheater seldom arranges such powerful hands or goes for big scores (although he easily can). Instead, he casually uses just enough of his power to give him constant, unbeatable advantages. His steady, hidden attack lets him win consistently and comfortably in poker, blackjack, bridge, and gin.[ 46 ]

Neocheating is not like classical or traditional cardsharping that requires years of practice or a dangerous reliance on aids such as marked cards and hold-out devices. Neocheating requires no special skills, gall, or devices; it requires only a special knowledge and a few hours of practice.

Many card players would cheat if not for (1) their fear of being caught, or for (2) the time and effort required to learn how to cheat effectively. But Neocheating eliminates both deterrents. And as this easy, invisible form of cheating spreads, it will not only increasingly menace players of poker, blackjack, bridge, and gin, but also tempt players to Neocheat in all games played for money or prestige.

This is what John Finn says about the Neocheater:

For the first tine, good players need to worry about getting wiped out . A new breed of player is invading the card tables. He is the Neocheater. And the Neocheater does not lose.

Neocheating is invisible. How can it be stopped? The Neocheater is impossible to catch in the act and hard to get rid of. In fact, all honest players unaware of Neocheating are in financial danger. The Neocheater is the most dangerous threat to ever invade the card tables.

What can stop Neocheating from spreading? Publicly revealing the techniques of Neocheating may initially cause a cheating spree that could create chaos at the card table. But ironically, that same knowledge, as it becomes widely known, will begin to expose and nullify Neocheating. Players no longer need to be helpless or doomed when confronted with Neocheating. Instead, they will be able to counter and eliminate that menace.

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[ 44 ] The effective use of the mind is not related to intelligence. A genius can (and often does) default on the effective use of his mind to make himself a loser. Conversely, a man with mediocre intelligence can elect to use his mind effectively--to beat competitors of superior intelligence.

[ 45 ] Productivity is defined as adding to the sum total of mankind's material, intellectual, physiological. psychological, or aesthetic well-being. Humans earn genuine self-esteem and happiness through the pursuit of productive goals.

[ 46 ] Reference Neocheating--The Unbeatable Weapon in Poker, Blackjack, Bridge, and Gin, by Frank R. Wallace, Mark Hamilton, and William S., 192 pages, Neo-Tech Publishing Company, Las Vegas, Nevada (1980).

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