I'm talking about poker here.
The word is complexity.
When you examine closely the thinking in the top players' game, it is startling to think it is the same game that can be played by a complete novice with 5minutes preparation. Of course, poker is also a great leveller and we also know that all the analysis in the world will not prevent the heartache of a bad beat from time to time.
Mind you, I have no time for those (some very good, some who just think they are good) players who endlessly bemoan the fact that they lost out to a bad play or a bad beat from some 'donkey'.
Firstly, I think it is vital that better players accept that they benefit overall from the bad plays. Secondly, the fact that the right luck at the right time can see anyone beat anyone is intrinsic to keeping bad players in the game and new players coming in. It's a unique characteristic of poker.
Coming back to complexity: if one reads a detailed exchange on a poker forum about some particular hand, then provided the narrative does not descend into name-calling and general moaning, it can show very plainly that there are countless ways of looking at the particular situation and that so many factors have to be weighed. The actual cards held are some way down on the list.
Even more compelling are some of the professional analyses. I want to get Gus Hansen's new book "Every Hand Revealed" in which he takes us through his victory at the Aussie Millions hand-by-hand.
In the meantime, I want to spend some time watching Nik Persaud's video on his win in a recent Full Tilt MTT - it's on the G-zone on gutshot.com but there is a clip of it on youtube - here.
Nik is a very good player indeed (I heard he now tops the European rankings) and I know he has developed a very analytical approach to tournaments (but does not lack in the people skills at a live game). I am imagining the full video is a kind of video equivalent of Gus's book.
I can't seem to get hold of the book in the UK, actually, but I do plan to watch Nik's video before I go to Vegas !
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