Certain players often say that poker is the most difficult game to learn how to play because it involves a lot of factors that you control yourself. However, the game does not need complex rules as much as it has complex situations. One of these situations is associated with the famous David Peterson case in which a champion poker player who thought he had pocket deuces committed a rare mistake that ended up reducing his whole stack to nothing. This case study discusses the results of the Peterson staker tournament and how a $1,100 bankroll was reduced to $600 in just a matter of several hours.
The bulk of the case study takes place between Harrington and Dan Harrington, where both played the last 6 or 7 tournaments at the exact same level before the Peterson issues. Here is the table:
Game Event Affiliates pc-dealt Seller1 6/04/2007 polo11 6/04/2007 bondingo1 11/03/2007 Banksuit12 11/04/2007 WesternSurf13 11/05/2007 iebaig1 12/03/2007 Ballylong details 12/04/2007 Hollywood4 12/05/2007 Torpentine4 12/06/2007 Monte Carlo5 11/09/2007 Norway Casino6 11/10/2007 prosper casino
It is interesting to note the positions of all the players as they were the same at the last hands played, and at the same time, each had the same amount of time as Harrington and Peterson. This produced a situation where each player least and most benefited from the same type of scenario, which happens often. Once you know what to do, you can win even with simple cards. Here are the results:
- Poker Result: #24Harrington VS. #7Dan Harrington – Harrington won the hand, $630 to #7Dan’s $300.
- Poker Result: #24Boogieallowed VS. #15Boogie -Boogie lost the hand, $450 to #15Dan’s $ 230.
- Poker Result: #24Ballicrate VS. #16ballicrate -Ballicrate lost the hand, $630 to #16Dan’s $ 300.
How are we measuring this anyway? Simply, we are guessing. These hands will flip back and forth across the table as Harrington either stays in the hand, gets scared, gets lucky, or gets unlucky. It’s pure luck and nobody knows how they will play the hand, so a combination of factors may happen. Some of these possible scenarios may be:
- Harrington Folds, Winning Pros Overcome Luck – Even the best poker players in the world come to realize that getting lucky is inevitable. Of course, they have their moments where they can be lucky, but in the long run, they will struggle to profit from being lucky.
- Harrington Wins a Pot, Getting Played For Money – Harrington won a pot, and made a lot of money for being lucky. Getting played for money is less luck, and more skill.
- Harrington Wins a Tournament, Making a Good Goodbye to His Play – If you ever heard Harrington speak, you would think that this is how he goes about winning a tournament: By building my stack and controlling the game. True, it was pure luck that kept him in the game the entire time. Getting lucky does not translate into making good decisions, good decisions into winning a tournament.
The games are the same. Pure skill and luck. That’s what makes you a good player. The problem is that you need both of the Above mentioned cards. You need to get lucky to win a tournament, and you need skill to make a good decision about when to get more lucky.
When I analyze games, I never think about luck. I always think about the decision that I will make when I get a good hand. Statistics say that when I get a good hand, I will make that same decision again no matter what cards I have. What a brilliant psychology. But nowadays you cannot avoid that high risk of losing your entire stack because you did not have the discipline to get out when you had a chance to get out. Learned nothing?
Discipline and patience.
I am sure that you know what need to do when you have a good hand. Whether you are a kicker or whatever, you have to remember that most of the time, you will not be the one that wins a tournament. When you can, and when you are really bored with the game, you can call all in when you are sure you have the best hand, and you will definitely lose all your money.
Bankroll management.
If you do decide to go all in, forget about the money management. You are playing pokerace99 not for the money, but for the excitement.