Tuesday, February 06, 2007
Future Poker SuperStars
You’ll all be glad to know the future of poker is alive and well.
I had about 25 teenage boys at my house this Sunday for a Super Bowl party. Besides the main attraction, the Super Bowl, I was able to offer a foosball tournament, darts, bumper pool, ping pong, and a poker tournament.
These kids are pretty ‘high energy’ so sitting for 3 hours to watch the game would be a stretch, but I still thought that the Super Bowl would be the main attraction and the other games would be mostly for half-time and during time-outs.
As it turns out, poker, by far, was the most popular activity. I was planning to run just one single table tournament at half time. The kids were just too impatient. They ran one tournament on their own before I could kick off the ‘official’ tournament.
Seating for the main tournament was in high demand. I was able to accommodate 9 players and had to turn down about 10 others.
Surprisingly, most of these kids know how to play Texas Hold’em. They knew how to post blinds, how to read the board, how to act in turn, etc…
It was a pretty fun tournament. Just so you know, I did not ask them to kick in an entry fee (that might be considered corruption of a minor). The prize pool was completely donated by the Husker House Casino management staff.
Play Critique/Recap:
(1) They play way too passively. I saw one player check and call all the way to the river with Kings and win a nice pot. On the last hand of the night, the eventual 2nd place winner check/called with Aces on the flop and turn. He was beat when the tournament winner rivered a 5 outer to beat him.
(2) Poor chip management. Players didn’t really seem to understand how many chips they had left in relation to the blinds. 3 players actually had to post a short blind because they left themselves with too few chips to post a full blind.
(3) Overcalling. It was not unusual to have 3 over callers on the flop. On one flop, the Small Blind led out and got 5 callers. On the turn, he led out again. Once again, 5 callers. On the river, he led out again. This time 4 callers. The fifth would-be caller was sitting right beside me. He was agonizing about calling. He sort of looked at me for some advice. I said, “I don’t know what cards you’re holding, but there’s really no chance in hell your hand is any good here. He finally folded.
(4) Weak bluffs. I was kind of surprised that, as a group, the players were so passive, but we saw a surprisingly high number of bluff attempts. The problem was that the bluff attempts were pretty weak. For example on one hand the post flop betting was $100, call, call. On the turn, it went $200, call, call. On the river, it went check, check, $50. This was probably a good spot for a bluff, but $50 was just too weak.
I don’t have any useful strategy insights from dealing for these teenagers. But, I did listen recently to a good podcast from Annie Duke on playing in a charity tournament with a bunch of beginners. She discusses her idea of optimal strategy in playing with beginners. I’m convinced it would have worked like a mint in this situation. If a player had used her advice, I’m certain they would have won the tournament. You should check out this podcast.
The only useful observation was that it looks like there is a whole new crop of Poker Superstar wannabes entering the pipeline. Hopefully, they’ll work at McDonalds and Foot Locker, earn a few hundred bucks and then re-distribute these dollars throughout the poker economy. This will not only ensure the continued popularity of the game, but with any luck, I’ll actually be able to collect a few of these dollars as they flow through the system.
Comments:
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Are you sure this wasn't the game at 'Tavern on the Main'? They have a weekly game there that plays out like this....
(And yes, I occasionally play in it).
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(And yes, I occasionally play in it).
# posted by 
: 7:29 PM
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