Revolutionary Tactics

It never ceases to amuse me how some poker players attack a poker room when they come to play.

Granted, all of us are different, especially when it comes to money and gambling. When you sit 10 people down at a poker table, some will buy in for the minimum while others will buy five times the number of chips they need in order to qualify for that table.

This is partially dictated by the individual personality of the player. Some players are bullies by nature. They plan to try to bully the table into submission. The more chips they have, the bigger bully they can be. At least, that is how they think and they play according to that strategy.

My personal approach to poker is to look at it as war. I served in the U.S. Army and spent 19 months on a Nike-Hercules Missile Site in Southern California. While our primary purpose was to oversee missiles with nuclear capabilities, we also were taught the tactics of war, a carry over from our basic military training at Ft. Ord and other Army training facilities.

I have a great admiration for the strategy used by General George Washington and his rag-tag Rebel army during the revolutionary war. While the rebel soldiers were outnumbered, they had the spirit of freedom in their souls and willing took on the better equipped British Army.

Like the Apache Indians and other tribes that fought the westward movement of American settlers in the early days of the Western frontier, they fought by stealthl. They concealed themselves in trees, behind rock and in trenches, using concealment and lightning attacks on the red-clad British troop who fought in a more conventional style.

That is one of the reasons I nearly always buy in for a minimum of chips. I like to be outchipped by my foes at a poker table. I use my chips like bullets and try to make each of them count when assaulting my opposition.

Not having as many chips to lose makes me less fearless when it comes to attacking the enemy. If I lose, I can always buy in for more. And when you are all in, you can hang around to see the final card.

Now I am sure there are poker players out there who will disagree with my tactics. That's fine. They play the game their way, I play the game my way. In a major pot, they stand to win more because of their tactics, but they can also lose more. I feel very comfortable being under-chipped, especially when it's showdown time.

Now I am certain General Washington would have preferred to have superior forces when facing the British redcoats. But since he didn't, he had to make up for his lack of forces by thinking smart. Washington was an intelligent leader and a powerful statesmen, and it paid off. He and his tattered army won the revolutionary war and created a new nation clothed in freedom and containing an independent spirit that prevails today 250 years after shots were fired at Valley Forge.

,In a poker tournament, off course, all this changes. Every person receives the same number of chips and then the tournament begins. The idea behind poker tournament strategy is to survive until you make the final table. That is when the real game begins. And rest assured, that will be the subject of one of my future columns

In the meantime, pick out your favorite tree, bush or rock, make sure your gun iss loaded, and get ready. The British are coming. Make every shot count and the victory, my friend, will be yours.

Author: Geno Lawrenzi Jr.

(Geno Lawrenzi Jr. is an international journalist, magazine author and ghostwriter and poker player who lives in Phoenx, AZ. He has published 2,000 articles in 50 magazines and 125 newspapers. If you want to share a gambling story or book idea with him, send an email to glawrenzi@gmail.com ).