Forget Pre: play deep and concentrate on Post   #PokerNugget #preflop.

Reasons to be Beerful.

This is a short article on the joys of pub poker. If you enjoy it, there are a few more at https://medium.com/@d0minick. 
Pike HaxtonEveryday Pokermedium.com

Why You Should Play in a Pub League:

1) It’s not a casino.

Casino poker, at low-limits, can be pretty excruciating. There are generally two types of players: the 16 year old kid that got in on his older brother’s ID, headphones surgically attached to his head and berating you for every move he considers non-GTO. And then there’s the 70 year-old guy who learned Hold ‘em in 1967 and has entered precisely 3 pots since. Needless to say, this is a very tedious set up. You are made to feel about as welcome as Howard Lederer. Add to this the overpriced food, tips to the staff and frankly extortionate rake (Our local Sunday game is £15 with a £5 reg fee, how is that even legal?) and you begin to see where I’m coming from.

…And in a pub there’s no Roulette, no Blackjack and no Three Card Poker. (Seriously, which bloodsucking shyster invented that‽) So there’s a slim chance you might get out with some of your winnings intact.

But all this would be just about bearable if they had something resembling a half-decent format. I can’t bring myself to use the word “structure” as that would suggest somebody somewhere had put some thought into it. The last time I made a final table, I was chip leader, with 10 big blinds. If I’d wanted to play Bingo, I’d have gone to the Gala up the road. At least people seem to enjoy themselves there. Which segues nicely onto…

2) You will have fun.

Remember that? Actually enjoying the game? Before the days of grinding microlimit nit-fests or 10 hour MTTs on Stars? When players used the chatbox to state something other than the hope that your mum dies of cancer and when a c-bet would get through more than once a week? Well that happy-go-lucky attitude still exists — in pubs up and down the country. Although you’ll still be lucky to find a c-bet flatted in fewer than 3 spots.

I cannot over-emphasise the importance of this point. You will not win at this game unless you are playing somewhere near your best and you won’t get close to that if you’re not enjoying yourself. Online poker can be a lonely and tedious world; and the forums full of navel-gazing solipsism. Get out there and meet some real people. Poker doesn’t discriminate. You will find people from every walk of life. And poker people are fun. You will encounter some of the best characters you’re ever likely to meet. Word will get round and your game will grow. And then you’ll meet even more of them. And then one day, Joe Stapleton and Mark Convey will turn up and put bounties on themselves. Well, they did for us…

 

 

If you can’t find a half-decent game, start one. There’ll be some teething problems while you work out what stacks and structure best suit your group (I’d suggest 10,000 starting stacks and 15 minute blinds to begin with. with a quick break every hour, 15 to 20 players should be done in about 4½ hours. Start at half 7 and you’ll be done by closing time). You won’t make a fortune. Even if you do win, pubs are severely limited in the stakes they can offer and if you’re like me, you’ll have spent a good few quid on beer but the upsides are more than worth it.

3) Your game will improve.

How much of an upside do you want? If you’re not having fun and you’re not improving, what - in the name of Humphrey Hellarse - are you doing? I’ve been playing poker for nearly 14 years now. The first 10 were completely in the dark. I’d read the odd book but none of my friends played so there was no-one to bounce ideas off: no chatting hands, no thinking about table image, no sense of community or shared improvement. Learning in this kind of vacuum is slow and laboured. Then one day (again back when people put more than just abuse in the chatbox). I found myself playing online against someone a couple of miles down the road. A few weeks later I was playing a sit n go in his pub.

I learned more about poker in the next two years than I had in the previous decade. And in the following two, more still. There is no substitute for an environment than engenders the fun, learning and support network that a good old British boozer provides.

I’m lucky. I live in a busy town. Our little group expanded from 2 nights a week to 6, across 5 venues. Plus home games and inter-pub tournaments. On Monday alone, there are at least 5 pub games within 3 miles of my front door. Not everyone will have that I know but scratch the surface of your local area and you’re sure to find something. And if you can, try to find a pub where the landlord plays. Poker where you get a free shot for a royal flush is great. Poker where the guy stacking chairs is looking at his watch and tutting loudly… not so much.