The Making of a Poker Player

Author: Matt Matros
Publisher: High Stakes
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6 THE MAKING OF A POKER PLAYER

bid I get two wild cards-then a single natural pair gives me four of a kind! Natural hands only make you money in wild-card games when your opponents play them.

2.    It takes a much stronger hand to win in a game with wild cards. Really, this is just another way of making my first point, but it's so essential that I make it again. If eight or more cards in the deck are wild, it's not uncommon to see five of a kind versus a straight flush at the showdown, which usually leads to an argument over who gets the pot (most would say five of a kind beats all other hands). Even if just deuces are wild, four of a kind is a fairly typ ical winning hand. Do not draw to straights and flushes in wild card games-they will only get you broke. Holding wild cards with pairs is the only way to show down a winning hand consis tently.

3.    Don't be afraid to fold without looking at your hand. Sound stu pid? One of our variants was called Seven-Card No Peek. Each player got dealt seven cards facedown but could not look at any of them. When all the cards were dealt, the first player turned over one card, and there was a round of betting. Then the next player had to turn over cards until he could beat the first player's hand. So if the first player turned over an ace, the next player had to turn over cards until he found a pair. Let's say the second player eventually turned over a pair of tens, and after the next round of betting, the third player turned over his cards one at a time, and they were seven, seven, seven. He now has trips al ready, and there is another round of betting. If he's smart, he'll bet the maximum. You haven't seen any of your cards yet, but of course you shouldn't call! Your opponent has trips in three cards, and he is a huge statistical favorite. How can you fold a hand where you haven't even seen any cards? Simple, take your hand, throw it in the muck, and count all the money you saved as every one else keeps dumping chips in the pot.

None of the points I just made, about general strategy or wacky-game strategy, were obvious to me in my high school days. But poor intuition notwithstanding, I was smitten with the game. I chose to write a poker-playing program as my end-of-semester project for a