THE POKER PLAYER GAME
STRATEGIES FOR BEGINNERS
Arthur J. Stovall, Ph.D.
BookPubCo
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Bloomington, IN 47403
© Copyright 2015
Arthur Stovall.
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.
Published in eBook format by eBookIt.com
ISBN-13: 978-1-4566-2575-7
DEDICATION
I dedicate this unique book, “The Poker Player Game Strategies for Beginners” to all beginners in the game. Further, these strategies are for women who want to learn this game; and for those who want to constantly win at the poker player game. I further dedicate this unique set of ideas to those “players” with aspirations of making this a professional sport person’s game; just as pool shooters and chess players looking for strategic sources to enhance their game.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
With sincere gratitude, I thank all my friends out there who play the poker player game; to those that understand this game, Hank Stovall, Lee and Carrie Johnson; and Cheryl Rhymer, a dealer who has read many poker books and became concerned about the content being too complicated and suggested that I should simplify the content of this book. With your help I have made the contents easier for beginners to understand the concepts that identify the difference between gambling and playing in rhythmic balance. Also your input has help to make this an informative source for those new to the game. As an analysis, I share with you my insight on the poker player game so that you too, may pass these strategies and concepts on to friends in your circle of players.
INTRODUCTION
The contents of this book serve as an anecdote to the widely held views that the gambler is always the best chip manager. Employing the rules of the poker player game and strategies in this book will enable the novice player to become a chip manager that rivals even the professional who plays the poker game as a sport. The player that uses an aggressive betting attack designed to: a. counter the gambler’s inappropriate aggression and b. change the sequence of a gambler’s actions, which should cause the gambler to throw his cards in the dead card stack. Strategies in this book, when applied successfully, allows a player the privilege of taking a principal position that provides the advantage of the last betting action. These betting strategies reduce the gambler’s probability of a positive outcome and increase the probability of a positive outcome for the player. Though there can be more than one gambler in a game; these rules of engagement are presented for beginning players so they can improve their potential for profits. The difference between the gambler and the player is that the gambler tends to take unnecessary risk without regard for the probability of a positive outcome. The player on the other hand is self-disciplined and patient, while waiting to go after the highly populated pots with many chips. He or she waits for the gambler to come after them when the poker odds favor their high probability of a positive outcome.
In this unique book Dr. Stovall discusses some of his significant experiences as a “player” in the poker player game as well as how to convert from being a gambler to a player. He presents rules of engagement that if followed will enhance one’s chance of earning a profit, as a player. The author provides charts suggesting the ideal best two starting cards in descending order and when to hold-em and when to fold-em. He discusses the relationship between the probability of a positive outcome and an appropriate aggressive defense of the best two starting cards. Also, the author details a brilliant strategy and a planned approach for playing the poker players’ game which aims to make the beginning player a successful and profitable chip manager on any poker table.
I am a woman who has never played a live table game as a poker player before. I can tell you though; by reading this book I was able to not only master the strategies of how to play the game, but I was able to sit at a poker table and visualize it from a player perspective. With a reasonable degree of competency, I now understood why the table is arranged with ten players and a dealer; and why when the dealer’s button is placed; the small-and-big-blind are respective positions to your left of that button. I learned an assortment of information about how the table is organized, which two best starting cards to attack with, when to attack an opponent’s betting pattern. Also, I learned the value of building rapport with an opponent in-order to set them up for winning over their chips.
There have been many books written on the mechanics of no limit hold-em, but this book surpasses all others in that it provides working elements to deal with the game and the humanistic input of the people playing. The elements are physiological responses to stress, personality types and response to losing, structured and/or aggressive players, and structured and/or passive players. Furthermore, this book deals with the affects of compulsive gambling experienced by some players while actively in the process of playing the game, signs of problem gambling, and finally the “three phases” of gambling addiction.
Carrie C. Johnson
Editor/Publishing Coordinator
CHAPTER 1
WINNING FUNDAMENTALS
An Analogy
The greatest boxer of all time understood the rules for engagement of his trade. He trained before every fight in which he was a participant; and he was victorious in the majority of them. During his training he learned the rules for engagement of his trade and applied them with every fiber of his being. He always followed the boxers’ rules of engagement, which were bobbing, weaving, punching and rope-a-dope. He bobbed and weaved when he was under attack and rope-a-doped when he was being bombarded. He punched when provided the probability of a positive outcome. Although he failed to prevail over his toughest opponent the first time around, he continued to follow the rules of bobbing, weaving, punching and rope-a-dope. Because he never stopped following the rules of his trade, he was able to prevail over his toughest opponent the second chance around. Following the “rules of poker as a player” is similar to the great boxer’s strategy of using the rules of the fight game. When under attack from an opponent and you do not know what to do, I employ you to think about bobbing, weaving, punching and rope-a-dope. The greatest boxer consistently looked for the opportunity to catch his opponent off-guard and when the timing was right, throw a knockout punch, thus increasing his chances for the best probability of a positive outcome.
Basic Fundamentals
One basic fundamental is the casino always sets the rule for the “Blind”, meaning Poker is a structured game. The Blind is determined by the casino and are “forced bets” to start the action (for example a $1.00 or $2.00 in chip are placed on the table by each of the small and big blind participants); then player and gamblers make additional bets if they are so inclined. The next basic fundamental of playing the “Poker player’s” game, is where the player and the gamblers, each receive two cards dealt faced-down; these two cards are referred to as your “Pre-flop” starting cards. After a round of betting three cards are dealt faced-up in the center of the table and referred to as the “flop”. After another round of bets, a 4th flop-card is dealt faced-up and referred to as the “turn-card” and is also followed by another round of betting and/or raising the bet. The 5th and last flop-card, which is dealt faced-up, and is referred to as the “river-card” is then followed by the final round of betting and/or raising the bet. The faced-up cards in the center of the table are community-cards. They are used by the player and the gamblers in conjunction with their