How to make poker less fun - play tight
It might be GTO but taking the gamble out of your game might make it less fun for the recreational players you want at your table.
We are so desperate to emphasize the skill element in poker that we often bury our heads in the sand about the gambling side (I have friends who even refuse to say the word gambling and call it ‘the G-word’ instead). This is a short sighted and unappreciative take on the great game of poker. The very reason why poker is fun, profitable and an enormous industry is because of the gambling aspect to it. Without it, it would be a boring form of chess. The fact that anyone can win, at any time, but the best players win more often, is precisely why poker is so popular.
While I would never advocate making decisions you know to be bad, there is something to be said for taking the higher variance option now and again. Recreational players want action and playing too nitty can really make for a dull experience.
There is a stereotype of the typical online professional poker player, that they are a ‘bot’ playing 20 tables and only playing premium hands. This might actually be a sound way to play, but it’s no fun to play against. It sucks enough to lose, but playing against people who are folding all the time just makes the hands before the inevitable bustout even more tedious.
Learn from the nosebleed games
You only have to look at why shows like High Stakes Poker were so popular to see why it helps to gamble a little. Here we had some of the best players at the time taking very weird lines, straddling, playing pure gambling table games, running it twice and so on. None of these things were ‘GTO’ but it was a way to keep the game fun for the amateur players.
In the early days Brian Townsend famously did not get invited back to play after his one appearance because he played too tight. It may have been ‘correct’ but it was boring to watch and boring, no doubt, to play against.
Create more action
Remember that casual players are there for fun and if you only played four hands in an evenings session, you will be remembered as not having contributed to the fun. Talkative players can get away with playing tight because they seem more involved in the action, as can players who make side bets away from the poker action.
Again, I’m not saying purposely make bad decisions, but if you are in a live game or playing against people you see regularly, taking the looser of two options might make the game more enjoyable for all (and also help you create a ‘crazy’ image to exploit with the regulars). You will of course lose a few more pots playing looser (and hopefully take down bigger pots when you do win), but win or lose those higher variance pots are what the casual players enjoy playing the most.
Do you think a loose game is the best for all concerned? Let us know in the comments:
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