Tuesday, May 06, 2008 Poker: Not just an ordinary gambler’s mind game By Rachel Cloe Palang & Karen Nacario UP Mass Comm Interns
POKER is more than just a gambler’s game. Or so, the poker players say.
The 1 million peso guaranteed poker tournament in Bravio, the first real deep stack tournament in the Visayas according to the organizers, has taken the “luck factor” out of the competition to focus on player’s skill.
Bravio’s Vice President for Marketing, Richard Sharpe said that since the tournament is a “freeze-out,” players with more skill will have a better edge in winning rather than those who have more money.
“Once all chips are gone, your game is done,” he said.
Some of the poker players present in the tournament also explained the major misconceptions of their chosen game.
Vice President for Operations and poker player of five years, Marquis Clyde Dionson, said that the most common misconception of poker is that it’s merely gambling.
“It’s not just gambling. It’s also about skill,” he said.
And it’s not only the men who dabble on the card game.
Sunshine Samson, 24, and a champion of one of the poker tournaments in Manila said that another common misconception is bluffing.
“Bluffing is a common mistake. They equate poker with bluffing. But it’s just one strategy in poker. You should only do it once else other players find out,” she said.
If it isn’t just gambling and it isn’t all about bluffing, what more is there in this complex card game?
Three skills
Poker enthusiasts say players need to master three skills to play the game—ability to compute percentages, to rid one’s mind of stray thoughts and to read other people.
“You must calculate percentages. The amount of money you have versus the percentages of the hand you got,” Sharpe said.
“Poker is an investment in return,” Dionson said, “You must know how to calculate your odds. Know how to use your common sense.”
Aside from the ability to crunch numbers, poker players need to have the ability to get rid of stray thoughts from their mind and the ability to read other people’s nuances.
Samson recalled her experience when she lost in competitions.
“If I don’t focus, if I don’t clear my head from work and such, my play is different and I lose,” she said.
The third and most essential skill is the ability to read people. “It is how you play people,” Samson said.
Being able to observe minute details of an opponent is a highly-recommended skill.
“Through actions, you are able to get information out of the player,” said Sharpe.
This skill in “reading people” is so essential in the game that some players dress up to conceal. Thus, the poker uniform: shades, a cap and sometimes a hooded coat.
However, this doesn’t make any difference in skill. “Some of those who wear shades are the worst players,” Dionson said. “It really doesn’t matter.”
Whether it’s the mental math or the caps and shades that make poker more than just gambling, all poker players agree on one thing.
As Dionson puts it, “In Poker, I don’t play the cards, I play the person.”
