Poker, and driving standard transmission
by PokerAnon ~ August 7th, 2008. Filed under: Philosophy and approach, Poker pieces in life.
* Modified August 24th, 2008 *
A couple of things recently, that kind of tied together.
First, we got a new car. New to us, anyways, but 4 years old.
All the vehicles I’ve owned have been manual transmission until the previous one. Before that, we had an Eagle Vista, which is essentially the same as the Dodge Colt, and was the result of some joint venture with Mitsubishi. It was a great car for us; very basic but cheap on gas and fun to drive ’cause you could feel the road, the bumps as well as the hills.
That’s the thing about manual transmission, and especially with small cars with small engines. You feel the road, you feel the turns, you feel the engine when it strains up a hill, you feel the engine when it strains to slow the momentum when you go downhill and you’re using the engine to help control your speed. As a driver you have much more connection to the road. By comparison, driving automatic feels like pointing and aiming rather than driving.
The Vista got crumpled in a parking lot incident when a Dodge Caravan backed into us at a small strip mall. The front left corner got bent and the headlight and surrounding area was pushed in. Still drivable, but the insurance company wouldn’t fix it because the cost of repairing it was more than the book value of the car. Just at that time my parents knew someone who was selling a Pontiac Sunbird cheap. Lots of mileage, but highway mileage. V6, four door, automatic. Ideal family car, for the average person, I guess. We bought it because it was cheap and because we wouldn’t have to shop. It was a reliable car, and we kept it for longer than I had planned but eventually it came time to replace.
So now we drive a 2004 Pontiac Sunfire. Slightly smaller car, 4 cylinder, 5 speed! It’s taken us a little while to re-familiarize ourselves with driving manual transmission again. After a few weeks, I’m at the point where I’m aware that I have a plan as I drive. I look ahead at the road, taking into consideration traffic volume, status of upcoming traffic lights, anticipate hills, set tentative plans for gear shifts based on current speed and acceleration.
~
In the comment section in the previous post Patron asks about how to play a certain type of flop, but my response is probably not what he’s looking for. Rather than give a recommended or my own preferred line I say to take all the courses of action, evaluate the circumstances, and choose what is likely to be the best choice. And this comes out of a post that looks at a hand and my plans and options depending on my opponent’s actions and the cards. To me this is the same as driving standard transmission.
In the car I’ve got five forward gears to work with, though I rarely use 5th driving in the city. Plus, I have periods where I’m in neutral and brief periods where I’m not in a gear because I have the clutch engaged. I rarely skip a gear accelerating, but sometimes will skip from 4th to 2nd as I’m braking. I like using the engine to control my speed coming downhill and to help braking, but I’ll often coast in neutral for periods when the ground is level or slightly downhill and I see no need for accelerating as perhaps there is a traffic light two blocks ahead. But this depends on the traffic because if the traffic is heavy I won’t coast and will keep tighter control over my speed.
You need to plan your poker hands much the same way. You’re dealt AQ in the CO. Obvious raising hand/position combination. UTG limps in, so now your raise needs to be higher. But wait, middle position makes a raise to 3BBs. Not a good raise, given one limper already in, but it’s not a min-raise. Your turn; what do you know about the raiser and the limper? AQ is not a great hand, but against some players AQ from the CO is worth 3-betting. Are one of them short stacked and might shove over your raise? Might the limper re-reraise or shove if you just call the raise? You opt to call, and UTG limper calls as well.
Now, what range of hands do you put the limper on? Most likely would be a middleish pair, now set mining. Other possibilities might be two big cards like AT/KQ that he couldn’t bring himself to throw away, but it depends on the level that you’re playing and your reads. What about the middle position raiser? Most likely AK/AQ type hand or close, but the raise was a poor size. Does that imply AA/KK that wants action, or just a poor player?
Flop comes Q95 rainbow. You’ve flopped TPTK on a very dry flop and are behind only overpairs or a set. You’ve also got position. What’s your plan? Not just for the flop, but you need to have, at least in the back of your mind, some thoughts as to your turn and river actions depending on the outcome of the flop actions. You’re not the preflop raiser, but you have position. Shift gears now by raising a c-bet, or wait for the turn? If no one bets at the flop, wait another street, or get off the line now by taking a stab that might be seen as a positional stab and get checkraised? If you get checkraised, will you come over the top, or call and try to get more money in that way?
Like driving standard, you’ve got to know your gears, your options, have a plan for your circumstances and situation, but be flexible to the board and the table.
~
Later edit: Well, a week after this entry, and now I’m to the normal state of barely thinking about the gears on a conscious level as I drive. It just happens. I guess that’s the case with poker too, especially if you multitable and if you stay at the same level for a long time. It’s all “automatic”.
I was noting this elsewhere, where I can multitable no limit hold’em but have more difficulty with PLO because I can’t determine at a glance the relative strength of my hand relative to the board. It’s not just because I have four cards instead of two, but because I’m unfamiliar with seeming the permutations and it’s not as “automatic” for me.
