One of the best aspects of poker is that it rewards those who can make the most astute observations and then form connections. Manuals about the game can help - they increase knowledge of plays, talk about probability and hand you a superb set of starting requirements. Indeed, the latter is the probably the best help you can receive – most leaks can be plugged by a simple reappraisal of opening strategies.
However, assuming a table full of players who understand the basics, it is the one that is most observant who will take the money in the long-term. Essentially, poker is game of character and manuals will never cover the full range of nuances. Awareness of people and the world around you can equate to skill at the poker table.
Take the wonderfully named Herbert O. Yardley.
His memoir, The Education of a Poker Player, has a gushing forward by Ian Fleming. (It is distinctly possible that the Bond author was able to use Yardley’s book a source for his novels.) As Fleming recognised, the book was less a manual of instruction (it does contain a few pages) and more a collection of real-life anecdotes. These stories made Ian Fleming a better player.
How?
Well, let’s look at the journey of the poker player.
Yardley was born in 1889 and inherited $200 upon the death of his mother. At the time, he was sixteen and claims he ‘did pretty much as he pleased’. Although he was Class President, editor of the school paper and football captain, he came alive when he played poker. It utilised his aptitude for mathematics and his ability to make shrewd judgements.
It also introduced him to Monty.
A God at the tables, a giant with his own gambling-den, Monty is the kind of character that can fold jacks-full in a hand that ultimately causes a young farmer to have a fatal heart-attack whilst trying to win a producer’s circus.
Yardley wins himself a position as Monty’s understudy by spotting one of the latter’s tells. It is classic stuff. He walks into the joint, past the stove polished by Dummy, the town idiot, and sits down for a game of Five-Card. The spittoon gleams.
He takes three huge pots from table-thumping Monty and then cracks that one of them was an outrageous bluff. The spittoon dings.
He later tells Monty how he was able to do it: every time the left-handed Master bluffs, he holds his cards in his right hand. Monty then grants him lessons but Yardley has already displayed a great talent: observation.
Monty admits he made a mistake and reads from The Purloined Letter, a story by Edgar Allen Poe. The character wins at a game of even and odd by correctly guessing if his opponent is holding an odd or even amount of marbles.
How?
As Poe writes, ‘It is merely an identification of the reasoner’s intellect with that of his opponent.’
In bloated, over elaborate, ways, that advice is in poker manuals – all it means is that if you over or under value an opponent’s brain you are likely to go broke – but it is better gleamed from Poe, or (even better) Monty or (best yet) direct observation.
As the memoir demonstrates, awareness of the wider world will improve your game and that is why it made Fleming a better player. Read the manuals, read Yardley but most importantly, just think and keep your eyes open.
However, assuming a table full of players who understand the basics, it is the one that is most observant who will take the money in the long-term. Essentially, poker is game of character and manuals will never cover the full range of nuances. Awareness of people and the world around you can equate to skill at the poker table.
Take the wonderfully named Herbert O. Yardley.
His memoir, The Education of a Poker Player, has a gushing forward by Ian Fleming. (It is distinctly possible that the Bond author was able to use Yardley’s book a source for his novels.) As Fleming recognised, the book was less a manual of instruction (it does contain a few pages) and more a collection of real-life anecdotes. These stories made Ian Fleming a better player.
How?
Well, let’s look at the journey of the poker player.
Yardley was born in 1889 and inherited $200 upon the death of his mother. At the time, he was sixteen and claims he ‘did pretty much as he pleased’. Although he was Class President, editor of the school paper and football captain, he came alive when he played poker. It utilised his aptitude for mathematics and his ability to make shrewd judgements.
It also introduced him to Monty.
A God at the tables, a giant with his own gambling-den, Monty is the kind of character that can fold jacks-full in a hand that ultimately causes a young farmer to have a fatal heart-attack whilst trying to win a producer’s circus.
Yardley wins himself a position as Monty’s understudy by spotting one of the latter’s tells. It is classic stuff. He walks into the joint, past the stove polished by Dummy, the town idiot, and sits down for a game of Five-Card. The spittoon gleams.
He takes three huge pots from table-thumping Monty and then cracks that one of them was an outrageous bluff. The spittoon dings.
He later tells Monty how he was able to do it: every time the left-handed Master bluffs, he holds his cards in his right hand. Monty then grants him lessons but Yardley has already displayed a great talent: observation.
Monty admits he made a mistake and reads from The Purloined Letter, a story by Edgar Allen Poe. The character wins at a game of even and odd by correctly guessing if his opponent is holding an odd or even amount of marbles.
How?
As Poe writes, ‘It is merely an identification of the reasoner’s intellect with that of his opponent.’
In bloated, over elaborate, ways, that advice is in poker manuals – all it means is that if you over or under value an opponent’s brain you are likely to go broke – but it is better gleamed from Poe, or (even better) Monty or (best yet) direct observation.
As the memoir demonstrates, awareness of the wider world will improve your game and that is why it made Fleming a better player. Read the manuals, read Yardley but most importantly, just think and keep your eyes open.
You’ll soon have all of the school’s marbles.
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