Yorky Pud

In a little over three weeks I will become the ripe old age of 30, something Mrs P frequently takes the piss out of me for with her only being a baby at 22-years old. Approaching my more mature years shall we say, has got me thinking of late and something that popped into my head was school.

I don't even know what made me think of school but it kind of knocked me off my feet when I realised it is almost 13 years since I last studied, I really am getting old! I enjoyed school but I was very spotty and very shy so wasn't one of the popular kids. Don't get me wrong, I was popular amongst my group of friends but if I hadn't have been in all the top sets for everything and half decent at football I'd have been in trouble.

At school I was very good, lazy, but very good. I sailed through my GCSEs without much studying or revision, some say it is a natural intelligence but having that is bad for someone as laid back as me because you can become lazy. I'm veering off course here, back to it Matthew please. What has school life got to do with playing poker I can hear you asking, well one specific part of my school life actually told me what variant of poker I should be playing, believe it or not.

Around the age of 15-16 we were all asked to do some aptitude tests and meet up with a career's advisor who would then take reports written by our teachers and these tests and find us ideal jobs in the real world or subjects if we planned on studying further. At the time I thought it was complete bollocks to be honest but it turns out they were actually talking sense, shock horror! One of the things that was advised was that I should stick to what they called “black and white” subjects and try to stay away from those that did not fit into this category.

A black and white subject are those that have a proper structure to them and have a definite correct or incorrect answer to them. For example, mathematics is one as five plus three is always eight regardless of how you dress it up, as is chemistry as chemical A mixed with chemical B causes reaction C. Those that do not fit in are psychology (something I was interested in), art and many of the creative subjects.

You see, I was told they way my mind and brain works is very methodical, very “black and white.” Either an answer is right or it is wrong and if it deviates from that I have to really work to grasp it. I need structure and routine otherwise it really stresses me out, which is probably why I like writing (though this is a non black and white subject for th emost part) as it has a start, a middle, an end and I know when it will finish. This is where poker comes in.

This mentality is why I have been struggling with cash games and getting bored of them and always chopping and changing. One of my biggest problems is dealing with variance because I struggle to see the long term. I don't care that I will win 82% of the frigging time “in the long run,” and I can't get my head around cash games basically being one big session. SNG and tournaments however have a definite start, middle and end. You know how much money you are going to invest in one session and you know the most you can win. Very black and white.

Also, decisions you make in SNG and MTTs are more clear than in a cash game. Although everything in poker depends on a variety of factors, there are decisions in tournament poker that are either mathematically correct or completely wrong and this should appeal to my silly little brain as I can learn these things easily and remember very quickly, almost in an autistic capacity.

With that in mind I am going to try and learn SNG and MTT play, with the vast majority of my play being on Betfair Poker. Some will say SNG are dead as everyone knows how to play them perfectly but I've never played more than 200 of them lifetime so they will be something new for me. I'm a geek and learning ICM and equities of situations will detract away from the fact I will probably be folding most of the time. Look out for me at the tables, I'm Y0rk5h1r3Pud on Betfair. See you at the tables!

As always, thanks for reading and best of luck at the tables!