A Style of Play - The Ebb and Flow of Poker

[BobiJo]

Those of you who have played with me probably wonder about my style of play. I certainly may seem to play strangely - especially when I cannot figure out what hand I even have on Omaha Hi Lo - and I play that game as if it were a Bingo game! I just throw the chips out there and hope my numbers come up. Well, sometimes it is true that I am playing Bingo, and I do not always understand the value of my hand when there are more cards than hold-em. And I don't figure out the math - or know or care about the odds or how many 'outs' I might have.

So I guess you could say that I am not really a poker player - and yet...

A friend of mine playing a home-game with me - who does not know much about poker - said something I never forgot: "The odds of each hand are 50/50 - you win, or you lose". I suppose that is true - no matter what the odds are over a thousand hands - each individual hand can win or lose - no matter what the 'real odds' or 'outs' are - and we have all seen this. OK - if you are playing for the long-haul - then playing right, and playing the odds, and knowing how many 'outs' you have makes sense. However it is clearly not the way I play.

I suppose you could call my style of play the Ebb and Flow of Poker. I basically go with the flow when I am getting cards and/or hitting my hand. No matter how bad or good my cards look at first - if I am on a roll - and if I have sufficient chips - and if the bet amount is an amount I do not mind losing - then I will go for it. If I lose , say 2-3 small or 1-2 medium size bets - then I back off and become like a tight, hard, stone. No one notices when I keep throwing my hands away - it's when I play a hand and raise or call and fish and catch that people remark about how lucky I am! (The great 'Suckout Queen'.)

So when things go right - I can take chances - and make some very strange winning hands. When it starts to turn, then pocket pairs, AK or AQ may not be worth much if I do not expect to win with them based on the Ebb and Flow at the time. I might try a good hand, just to see if it is flowing back in to me, but only if I have enough chips to spare - or I am willing to be gone if it does not flow back.

My strange style of Poker is now explained. May you Ebb when I Flow, and may I Ebb when you Flow. Now let's go enjoy our Bingo-game!

[Brown_k11]

i love the post but maybe your firend was forgetting one thing with the 50/50 theory, you can always chops so i guess every hand u are a 33.3%/33.3%/33.3% you win,you lose, or you chop.

[BobiJo]

Thanks Brown, for reading the post and for your response. I never thought of that, and I guess you are right - except depending on the Chop - you might come out of the hand better or worse than you went in - so I guess you could say you win or you lose? But I suppose there is a way to come out of a hand exactly with the chips you had when you went into it - so then there is a third possibility. Poker players sure are smart!

[Brown_k11]

oh so what happens in hi/lo when u get half the lo and all the hi or maybe half the hi and all the low. what are the percentages then? lol just some food for thought.

[jsawe]

BobiJo, there is an old adage in poker that if someone describes how they play, they probably play differently. While you may not understand pot odds, oust EV, Madrigal and other concepts of the game, you seem to have excellent "inutition" and observational skills. There are few others I would place in the bingo category, but I suspect you have a much better idea of what you are doing than you are willing to admit.

[BobiJo]

Originally Posted by jsawe

BobiJo, there is an old adage in poker that if someone describes how they play, they probably play differently. While you may not understand pot odds, oust EV, Madrigal and other concepts of the game, you seem to have excellent "inutition" and observational skills. There are few others I would place in the bingo category, but I suspect you have a much better idea of what you are doing than you are willing to admit.

Thank you jsawe! I think you are right - that I really do know more than I know I know. It is just that I don't think it all through logically and consciously - I kind of get in a groove - (an ebb and flow tide) and when I focus on the game - I just play with what feels like 'intuition' but is most likely the result of observations and reactions to input I get at some lower level of conciousness. People ask me to explain what I am doing, and this 'style' I wrote about seemed like a good way to describe it. Of course, when I get tired, it all goes away, and I just let go of my chips and don't care about anything but going to sleep. I agree that I probably have - at some level - a better idea of what I am doing than I feel like I do. In any case, your assessment is a really great compliment to me, and I thank you. I hope I continue to know more than I know I know. (I just read all this double-speak and think maybe I should be a politician.) Anyway, thank you again.

[JenniferNL]

Can I say i'm not touching this subject! I don't play bingo but you bingo players hit. WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Bobbi Jo - anyone who calls you the "suckout queen" must be playing you for the first time and maybe it was your B'day! You are one of the best players in the league - next time someone says that just tell them to go check the league standings. Some may dismiss that as results oriented thinking or diss instinct players but at some point results do matter! - nuff said.

[BobiJo]

WOW - Thank you all - Whenever I might feel a little low (after a lot of ebb-tides) I will refer to all your kind words! This league has been a great joy in my life for quite some time. Thank you all my NDB-friends!

[UIIIU]

great post Bobi and to tell ya the truth i feel i need to mix in some of the "Flow" aspect to the game i never really find myself paying attention to the idea if im running hot or not and tend not to open up as much as i would like when i have the chips i would say its a definite problem and im glad you posted this becuz really as of late i havent been doing to well annd havent even taken this into consideration.