It’s Monday - one day before the flight to Las Vegas.  Time to take inventory:

• Beard trim: yes.
• Nails trimmed: yes.
• Money for trip: yes.
• Haircut: maybe later today.
• Dark suit and tie: at the dry cleaners to be picked up after 5.

Why is this important?  It’s because poker is as much about psychology as it is about probability, and the right  table image gives me an edge in many important situations.

You’ll note that I did not say that poker is also about luck. That’s because it isn’t.  

As I observed in my 2019 blog, anyone who thinks it’s a game of luck is pretty much “dead money,” meaning that they will curse me for having better cards as they leave the table, not knowing that I only played the winning hand because I knew it could beat them in that particular moment.

And yes, sometimes you get beat by an improbable better hand, but unless you made a dumb play, that’s just a statistical variance rearing it’s (very) ugly head to send you home.  And smart tournament players hedge against that by not being greedy - if you don’t have to put all your chips at risk, you don’t.  Take the small pots and wait for the monster hands.

Back to table image.  I have worn a suit and tie to these tournaments for years because it projects confidence and competence, an intimidating veneer that makes people think twice about whether they should call my bets.

Other people may want to use casual clothes to camouflage their true character as a poker shark, but I think that’s a mistake because (1) it’s easily sussed out by your play; and (2) it can lead to people playing aggressively against you, which is not a good place to be in poker.

Here is what was an early revelation to me when I started playing seriously: in most hands, none of the players have a good hand and they are all primed to fold to any bet.  So a decent-sized bet, large enough to deter a player from trying to draw a better hand, will usually take down a pot.  (And yes, sometimes a player in the hand has better cards, but that’s why you don’t make an oversized bet - a quick little probe tells you where you are and if you get some resistance, you have room to retreat.)

So, if you look vulnerable, people fire at you to see how strong you really are.  But if you look formidable, they might think twice.  That’s why it’s worth the effort to look good.

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I skipped my regular Monday workout today to get some stuff done around the house before the long trip.

This apparently did not go over well with two of my investors, Art and B.:

I know where they are coming from.  For years, Art’s mantra has been, “Health before wealth,” shorthand for the premise that work obligations should not trump a scheduled workout.  And I agree with that, but not today - there is too much to do and a long week ahead.  As such, I am treating today like the rest day before running a marathon.

Hmmm.  Maybe the Viking cap would be a good look for the table.  

Maybe not.