Mailbag: Staying Sharp

Q: I’ve been thinking poker again with the exciting DoJ news at the end of last year. I’m sure many have.

While actual regulated play is probably still far off (with the exception of Nevada), I’ve been wondering how best to prepare myself for online poker’s eventual return [to the US].

My long term goals don’t have much room for poker as a career. However as a financial buoy while pursuing other goals it is most welcome. It’s fun too.

How would you advise someone hoping to keep their poker chops intact? I have access to local casinos, but limited to no bankroll… [and] my modern day job takes up so much time.

I’ve been reading some. It’s not as fun to read about when it’s near impossible to put new ideas or plans into action. That probably shouldn’t be a deterrence though….

While it’s probably a bit soon to be dusting off the external monitors and wireless keyboard, poker will be back. And I want to be ready!

A: Good question! I’m sure you’re right that it’s on the minds of many Americans.

I’m not in a position to make any predictions about when to expect legislation in the US or what it will ultimately look like, but I do have one bit of advice: don’t expect anything to happen quickly. Our government moves a lot more slowly than the private sector, which means that the more heavily it gets involved in online poker, the slower you should expect change to happen. Even if some sort of federal legislation passes, it could easily take years to to establish licensing procedures and the like.

I think you’re looking at this in a smart way. You aren’t staking your financial future on the return of online poker, but you want to be in a position to take advantage of it should it come along. So how best to do that?

You’re going to have to find time and money to play. I don’t think there’s a way around that. There are a lot of ways to study the game away from the tables, but virtually everything requires practice at some point. If you don’t play, you are going to get rusty.

If you live near legal card rooms, that’s a good option. The catch is that there aren’t micro-stakes games available, and even grinding $1/$2 NLHE requires a bankroll of several thousand dollars.

If you know that you’re a winner in those games, I think this is a reasonable alternative to a savings account, at least if you’re young. You ought to see a much better ROI than any money manager could give you, and to the extent that it also gives you valuable practice, it is literally an investment in your future earnings potential.

Finding a backer is another alternative. Of course you’re giving away some of your profits, but again you’re getting practice in addition to your immediate winnings.

You also say that finding time is an issue. Do you go to bars? Do you go to the movies? Do you hang out with friends? Surely you find time for entertainment and recreation in your life. Poker may not be as fun as those things, but it should be something that you enjoy. If it isn’t, then I wouldn’t recommend investing time in trying to get better at all. If is, then you may have to divert some time from other activities you do for fun in order to play a few hours every other week.

As for what to study, some skills require less practice at the tables than others. Hand reading in particular comes to mind as something that you can study theoretically and practice just by observing games or looking through your database. No law prevents you from watching games on PokerStars (just don’t try to log into your account), so you can open a table as an observer and practice your hand reading. I’ve written and made videos on the subject, and though I haven’t read it yet, I’d be that Ed Miller’s new book is a very good resource as well.

Books dealing with the mental and lifestyle aspects of poker, such as Tommy Angelo’s Elements of Poker, Travis Steffen’s Peak Performance Poker,  or Jared Tendler’s The Mental Game of Poker offer skills and advice that go beyond what you do at the table. Not only can you practice mindfulness or healthy eating habits any time and anywhere, but they’ll be useful to you even if you never play another hand of poker!

Before you spend a penny on those books, though, scratch together a bankroll and put in some hours at the live tables. There’s no practice like practice.