This is the second and final installment in a two-part series on leaks. While you expect to find a host of leaks in unskilled and undisciplined poker players, many world-class players leak money away in other forms of gaming. Being a successful poker player requires a host of skills, and the best have them all. Top players all know their probabilities, they know strategy, they know how to manage their bankrolls, and they play sensibly. You won't see a top player draw for a flush that will be filled only one out of three times unless the pot is offering more than that in return – though weak players make this kind of mistake all the time.
But the key skill that world-class poker players all possess is this: They know how to play their opponents. In the lowest-stakes games, cards rule. At the middle levels, money counts. At the highest limits, you play people. To play at this level you must love the action, have no regard for money, be possessed of an immense ego, and be able to psychologically outmaneuver your opponents.
So, why do many top-notch poker players leak money away in other areas of gaming? It's neither a lack of knowledge nor an absence of skill. Do you see the problem? When these world-class, high-stakes poker players go to the sports betting parlor, the racetrack, or the craps table, they take their full complement of skills, talents, and personality quirks with them. Their knowledge of statistics and probabilities is useful, but their lack of concern for money, their massive egos, and their dependency on reading their opponents are daggers in their hearts.
A thoroughbred horse doesn't give a fat flying fig who you are or how inflated your ego is. You can't intimidate a pair of dice with an all-in bet. A tipped pass in overtime will doom your bet on the Cowboys no matter how big your wager. The psychology of the poker table is utterly different from other gambling domains. The drive, and the ability to read people, outthink them, and win the wheels-within-wheels psychological maneuverings that comprise the bluffs and counterbluffs that work so well at the poker table are useless in other gaming venues. You'd think these folks would figure this out and give it up, but they don't. You see, they don't care about the money and their egos goad them on. They win at poker, but they can't let go of the belief that eventually they will beat the horses or their bookie. They never consider that they won't, of course – unless they can shift their psychological stance and style of play.
In all of our years of wandering through this fascinating world, we have met very few gamblers who are both world-class poker players as well as successful sports bettors or horseplayers – though there are probably some exceptions whom we haven't yet run across. We know a few folks who can play poker and successfully count cards in blackjack, and some who have moved to the poker table from other venues but never seem to rise to the top of the game. They tend to be decent middle-stakes players, but they do not succeed in the highest-stakes games, and they rarely, if ever, become top tournament players. We also know a couple of excellent sports bettors who also count cards and play blackjack successfully, but are terrible poker players.
So, for the average recreational bettor, is there any advice to impart here? Yes, and it's pretty obvious. Most recreational gamblers lose more than they might because they play games with large negative expectation. They play the slots or make bad bets like hard-way wagers in craps, or else they haven't honed their skills sufficiently enough to have any chance at all of beating games like poker or sports betting.
If you like to play what we call in our book Gambling for Dummies "Type L" games – games in which the odds are immutable and stacked against you, and at which, in the long run, you will lose – stay with the least damaging bets. You'll still leak, because you can't beat games like craps and baccarat even if you make the best bets available at the table, but if you're careful, the leaks can be reduced to a trickle.
If you play "Type W" games – games that can be beaten by skilled, knowledgeable players – focus on the ones you know, the ones you're best at. Become expert at one game of poker before trying others. If you like betting sports, stick with one sport and master it before betting others. If you love the horses, learn to handicap the thoroughbreds before trying to beat the trotters. You want action? Fine! We've got no argument with that. But take our advice and get it within the confines of a game you know. Developing a leak is one of the surest ways to erode your bankroll.
Are there solid poker professionals who don't have leaks? Sure. In a future column we'll take a look at one of them, and see if we can figure out what makes this guy tick, how he manages to avoid having to call a plumber, and what we all can learn from his approach to the game and to life.
Note: My guest co-author for this column is Arthur Reber. Our book, Gambling for Dummies, is available at your neighborhood bookstore. Both my and Arthur Reber's other books are available online at www.ConJelCo.com and www.Amazon.com.