Emotional Control

by Damian M. Moorman, Dayton2Vegas.com

One of the most underrated aspects of the game is the emotional side. Whether or not a player will fall victim to going on “tilt” can make or break him. There are only a few of the top players who do not have full control over their emotions at the poker table. Look at the control Johnny Chan, Chip Reese, Doyle Brunson, and Allen Cunningham display the next time they are on television. These players have many reasons why they consistently win year after year and emotional control is one of the bigger ones.

What does it mean to have “emotional control”? Players who can control their emotions are simply ones who can play each and every hand free of negative feelings caused from past hands. Many people, including published poker authors, tell players to play each hand as if it is a brand new one. These books tell players to forget about everything in the past and try to make the best possible play each hand. While this is good advice for beginners, the authors of these books are leaving out a few very important things. The best players do not look at each hand individually, standing apart from the rest. The best players, like the ones mentioned above, carry with them important information from past hands. It is the betting patterns, non-verbal cues, and key decisions from opponents in past hands, that if stored correctly, help make the “correct play” stand out more clearly in a game of incomplete information. Bring with you only the positive from previous hands.

So how can Phil Hellmuth, Jr. always be on tilt and still win so many tournaments? He can’t. The side people see of Phil Hellmuth, Jr. losing control is one blown up by the media to build a persona, and more importantly build ratings. Phil Hellmuth, Jr. does lose his control many times; providing moments of entertainment with his selfish and childish remarks, but he very rarely allows it to affect his play. Do you remember Hellmuth dropping to his knees after he was knocked out of the 2003 United States Poker Championship when Toto Leonidas’ hit a five-outer on the river or when ESPN cameras covered his tirade backstage at the 2004 Tournament of Champions after he lost heads-up to Annie Duke? These famous outbursts, along with other “Poker Brat” tantrums, take place while he is away from the table. These moments of complete frustration would affect his play too much for him to win the amount of tournaments that he does. If a player cannot gain control of his thoughts while still in a tournament or at table, it is best to get up and walk away. A player can feel upset and angry as long as it does not affect his play.

If a player loses his temper, his focus will soon follow. Paying close attention to the players, whether you are in a hand or out of one, is very important. It is crucial to stay “in the zone” and in the flow of the game both while playing live and online. Staying in the flow of things live is a little easier than online because the players are right in front of your eyes and often wear their emotions on their sleeves. The comments they say along with the faces they make give away their emotional state. Just as it important to be in control of your emotions, knowledge of your opponents’ emotional state will help you make the best possible play later when confronted by them.

It is also important to look for changes in your opponents play and attitude. Which player is starting to loosen up? Who looks like they are on tilt? Is someone getting drunk? Sometimes it is as easy as watching a player finish beer after beer, while other times it is harder to pick up on the changes in their emotions. These are the observations from the past that players should carry over with them to new hands. A more in depth definition of emotional control then would be the ability to logically analyze the current hand while eliminating negative feelings from past hands, such as a bad beat or players’ remarks, but still recalling important information on opponents. Work on caring less about things you cannot control, such as luck, and more on making the correct play. If you continue disciplining yourself by not letting outside forces affect you negatively, your emotional control will become better and stronger.

And the Oscars go to...

Best Picture:
"NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN" "Atonement," "Juno," "Michael Clayton," "There Will Be Blood"


Best Director:
JOEL COEN AND ETHAN COEN for "No Country for Old Men"
Julian Schnabel for "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly," Jason Reitman for "Juno," Tony Gilroy for "Michael Clayton," Paul Thomas Anderson for "There Will Be Blood"


Best Actor:
DANIEL DAY-LEWIS in "There Will Be Blood"
George Clooney in "Michael Clayton," Johnny Depp in "Sweeney Todd the Demon Barber of Fleet Street," Tommy Lee Jones in "In the Valley of Elah," Viggo Mortensen in "Eastern Promises"


Best Actress:
MARION COTILLARD in "La Vie en Rose"
Cate Blanchett in "Elizabeth: The Golden Age," Julie Christie in "Away From Her," Laura Linney in "The Savages," Ellen Page in "Juno"


Best Supporting Actor:
JAVIER BARDEM in "No Country for Old Men"
Casey Affleck in "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford," Hal Holbrook in "Into the Wild," Philip Seymour Hoffman in "Charlie Wilson's War," Tom Wilkinson in "Michael Clayton"


Best Supporting Actress:
TILDA SWINTON in "Michael Clayton"
Cate Blanchett in "I'm Not There," Ruby Dee in "American Gangster," Saoirse Ronan in "Atonement," Amy Ryan in "Gone Baby Gone"


Best Animated Feature Film:
"RATATOUILLE"
"Persepolis," "Surf's Up"

Happy 22nd Birthday Rachel! =P

My fiancée turns 22 today! We went to the Neon last night to watch the Academy Awards and to start the celebration. Alright, it's not a terribly significant birthday but it's still a birthday! By correctly guessing Daniel Day-Lewis to win the Best Actor Oscar, she won a basket of candy, chocolate, and FREE movie tickets. It was great way to start her birthday! =)

Since there's still snow on the ground and below freezing temperatures here in Dayton, my gift for her at Dayton2Vegas.com is a picture of Angel Falls and a promise to go there one day. Angel Falls is twenty times higher than Niagara Falls! It's the world's highest free-falling, freshwater waterfall at over 3,200 feet! She wants to go over it in a barrel with me... I guess we'll see about that. I know we can't vacation to Venezuela during school, but at least we can dream.

Happy 22nd Birthday Rachel!

Angel Falls

The 80th Academy Awards!!!

For an indepth analysis on the Academy Awards last night, check out MSN.com's Oscar Recap or The Best, Worst, & Weirdest Moments!

Folding is a Weapon

by Damian M. Moorman, Dayton2Vegas.com

“I didn’t come here to watch,” grunts the loose-aggressive middle-aged man as he cold calls a raise pre-flop out of position. This man has been playing $3/$6 Limit hold 'em at the same table for a little over two hours and has been forced to rebuy four times just to have enough chips to play. He wins the same amount of pots as everyone else, but he loses more. He doesn't have the patience or the discipline to fold. He doesn't want to miss out on the action. It is clear he didn't come to the casino to watch, he came to lose.

Folding appears to be a passive and defensive play to the naked eye but in reality it is the opposite. Every time a player folds a hand pre-flop, he eliminates the chance to lose money. Every time a player lays down a hand correctly when other players wouldn't have folded, he wins money. When a player folds pre-flop with a bad hand, he's not sitting out a hand but rather making the best play available to him.

Still this concept of eliminating a chance to lose does not excite many players. They see folding only as eliminating a chance to win. It's very unlikely that many people at the poker table, minus the professional, enjoy waiting for the right hand to get paid off. But at the same time, it's also very unlikely that anyone besides the professional is consistently winning money. Coincidence? I don’t think so.

How these people can continue to sit down at the table and play so poorly doesn't make any sense. Unless they have come to the casino in search for entertainment, they would have a hard time defending their play. “Nick the Greek” Dandalos may have summed it up best when he said “the next best thing to gambling and winning is gambling and losing.” Many of the players you encounter at the casino are only there to gamble. Do not fall into this trap. Go to the casinos not just with the goal to win, but also the patience and discipline to make the right plays.

The next time you play poker, whether it is at the casino or online, use folding as a weapon. Just as if you would enjoy making the correct call with ace-high, or winning a big pot with a well-timed bluff, try to focus on thinking of folding not as a defensive play, but as an aggressive one. You'll win the same pots with your good hands as everyone else at the table and you'll save money by avoiding playing second-place hands, which as we know in poker don't pay too well.

Last day for the "Best Poker Player" poll!

Only a few hours remain...

Results/rankings will be posted at the conclusion of the poll!

Poker: Where Anybody, even a Nobody, can be Somebody

by Damian M. Moorman

This is a new project I'm working on. A book full of poker history, entertaining stories, and unique insight into the game today.

-Stay tuned for more information on the project as it develops! =)

WSOP 2008 - Writers Wanted

Gain Valuable Reporting Experience This Summer as an Intern for Card Player at Poker's Largest Event

Is covering the largest and most important poker tournament of the year something you’re interested in doing this summer?

Check out CardPlayer.com to find out more information...

http://www.cardplayer.com/poker-news/article/10857/card-player-accepting-applications-for-2008-wsop

If I wasn't a poker player...

I'd want to be a lawyer. I could take the LSAT, sit out a year, go to UNLV (top 100 school in the country), and then drop out and play poker. Damn, maybe I can't do anything but play cards.

I'd also like to be a psychologist. There's not too much money in the field but it's the most interesting subject in school. I could be a teacher, professor, theorist, counselor, etc. Maybe I could add some mathematics into play and then I could be a great poker player. I could solve complex situations by applying logical thinking such as analytical/mathematical/reasoning while adding in intuition/subjective analysis/verbal & non-verbal reading abilities. Wait, I do.

Shit, I don't think there's anything I can do better than play cards. Now, once I graduate this summer from UD, no more talking the talk, it's time to walk the walk.

September 1st, 2008 = Vegas, baby!

Come along for the ride... not literally, but figuratively speaking. I will post daily when I am alone in my apartment in Nevada. Oh yea, I guess I could write for a living. Maybe about music, movies, but I think I'll stick to poker... which reminds me. I got paid again by Predict 'em for my articles. A three-figure check for my in-depth insight of poker. Stay tuned for them to get published online at Predictem.com!

In the meantime, I have to get to work. Four tests from now until Tuesday! Ahh! Good thing I have this blog to vent, UD to party, Rachel to love, UltimateBet to make money, and Argosy this weekend to live the high life. Anyone else want in on a trip to the casino? Let me know.

Peace,
Dames

My fiance' Rachel and I on New Year's Eve at her sister's apartment in Columbus, OH.

Gus Hansen's official blog has just launched!

Gus Hansen has just started a blog at CardPlayer.com. I read the first article "Card Player, Gambler or Business Man?" just a few days ago and it is very interesting. He writes very well compared to many blogs online these days. I would strongly suggest checking it out!

Visit Gus Hansen's poker blog!

Wild things on Ultimate Bet

UltimateBet.com update:

I bought into a $1/$2 NL table (cash game) Saturday for the max of $200. After stuggling through Wild Things with my good friends Hoyer, Spotz, Preslan, and Greg S., I managed to build my stack up for $1,160! Not bad for an hour online. I gave zero bad beats in the two-hour run. I had the best of it and it held up. What a beautiful game!

Argosy trip in store this weekend! This will be my first time playing live (at the Casino) in 2008! I'm also going to be celebrating the end of this week. I have four test from Wed. - Fri.! I better get back to studying!

Young Actors Part II

And the best young actors are...

1. Adrien Brody (The Pianist)

Academy Awards:
-Won Best Actor for The Pianist (2002)

Golden Globes:
-Nominated for Best Actor for The Pianist (2002)

2. Leonardo Dicaprio (Blood Diamond)

Academy Awards:
-Nominated for Best Actor for Blood Diamond (2006)
-Nominated for Best Actor for The Aviator (2004)
-Nominated for Best Actor (in a supporting role) for What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993)

Golden Globes:
-Nominated for Best Actor for Blood Diamond (2006)
-Nominated for Best Actor for The Departed (2006)
-Nominated for Best Actor for Catch Me If You Can (2002)
-Won Best Actor for The Aviator (2004)
-Nominated for Best Actor (in a supporting role) for What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993)

3. Ryan Gosling (Half Nelson)

Academy Awards:
-Nominated for Best Actor for Half Nelson (2006)

Golden Globes:
-Nominated for Best Actor for Lars and the Real Girl (2007)

4. Jude Law (Cold Mountain)

Academy Awards:
-Nominated for Best Actor for Cold Mountain (2003)
-Nominated for Best Actor (in a supporting role) for The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)

Golden Globes:
-Nominated for Best Actor for Cold Mountain (2003)
-Nominated for Best Actor (in a supporting role) for Artifical Intelligence: AI (2001)
-Nominated for Best Actor (in a supporting role) for The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)

5. *Heath Ledger (Brokeback Mountain)

Academy Awards:
-Nominated for Best Actor for Brokeback Mountain (2005)

Golden Globes:
-Nominated for Best Actor for Brokeback Mountain (2005)

6. Joaquin Phoenix (Walk the Line)
Academy Awards:
-Nominated for Best Actor for Walk the Line (2005)
-Nominated for Best Actor (in a supporting role) for Gladiator (2000)

Golden Globes:
-Won for Best Actor for Walk the Line (2005)
-Nominated for Best Actor (in a supporting role) for Gladiator (2000)

*All actors listed below are currently 35 years of age or younger (Heath is deceased).

(Check out "Young Actors" post on Monday, January 28, 2008 to see the full list of candidates.)

Giant Thriller!

The New York Giants win Super Bowl XLII!

Read "Ten things we learned from the Giants' Super Bowl win" by Jeffri Chadiha (ESPN.com)

*I made a bet in week nine that the Patriots would have an undefeated season. I was offered 10 to 1 so let's just say it wasn't a terrible payday. However, I made zero bets on the game this year so I didn't care who won. I leave the sports betting up to people who know it a lot better than me, like Predictem.com or Wayne Gretsky's wife.