Again, and I cannot stress this enough, I am NOT a professional poker player, nor am I declaring myself an expert. I am a guy who likes to play poker and a few friends who know nothing about the game asked me to give them some edumacation. There are literally millions of players out there better than I am.
So far so good…
I can say that I have had very few losing trips to various poker locations, such as Vegas, or the Caribbean, etc. (At this writing, only really 2 in the last 15 years or so.) This is not an accident, I study the game in reading, and especially at the table. I listen (and weigh) advice given by people who are either better than I am or smarter. My wife and I really haven’t had to pay for a vacation in the last 12-15 years as I can win enough at the poker tables to pay for that trip and usually the next. And we travel quite a bit. Usually 4-5 trips per year. My one stipulation is: there needs to be a poker room. So we go to the Caribbean, Tunica, Phoenix, Wheeling, and especially the motherland, Las Vegas.
When asked why I don’t play professionally…
The answer is: it would then make it a job and not something I do for fun. Also, as a full time pro, you need to be able to weather some serious swings in your bankroll. If I were single, with no responsibilities and a large bankroll, maybe. Married, an RV mortgage, and (waayyyy too) close to retirement with a wife who requires stability, not so much. And hey, I may not be good enough. There is something to be said for a regular paycheck. I’ll let you know when I get one.
Writing It DownConcepts for Texas Hold’em
When a few friends asked me for some pointers (and I had a bunch of notes laying around), I wrote Concepts for Texas Hold’em. It’s about 70 pages and available on Amazon.com and LeftHandPublishers.com. It’s geared toward players who know the basics of the game, but want to up their knowledge of strategy and casino poker etiquette. It’s not a book for beginners who know nothing of the game.
The Only Real Rule in Poker…
The one thing that you really need to learn from all this is that in poker, EVERYTHING is SITUATIONAL. There are no hard and fast rules that apply all the time. Everything depends on who you are playing, the amount of money in front of them, in front of you, your tolerance for loss, your temperament, theirs, how your luck is running, and a million other things. Take any free advice anyone gives you (especially from me) with a grain of salt. Ultimately, you are risking YOUR money. Good luck and have fun!
About Paul Metheney, the poker player…
Paul K. Metheney is the author of the novel Posse Whipped, Concepts for Texas Hold'em, That Boy Ain't Write in the Head collection of his best short stories, the coauthor of Two Minds, No Waiting, and various short stories for the Left Hand Publishers anthologies. He has also designed numerous book covers over the last decade. He has worked in the online marketing and web design industry for the last 30 years and travels the country living full-time in an RV with his loving wife and neurotic dog.