>> EASTERNPOKERTOUR.COM

"Checker Downers"

07-29-2008 06:43:11 PM

Checking it down: a wrongheaded philosophy

We all know that there is a certain level of luck and skill involved in poker, some players exhibit more or less of each but every player has some quantity of both.

Lets look at the luck aspect of the equation: if there are 50 players remaining in a poker tournament then based on pure chance the odds of any one individual winning the tournament is exactly 2.00%, if one player is eliminated then your chance of winning has been increased to 2.04%. Is this really a reason to HAVE AN AXIOM OF ALWAYS CHECKING IT DOWN? As you can see, the chance that you will win has been negligibly increased---based on pure chance alone. How does this improve your odds? I could see if you are down to 12 players at Foxwoods and the final 10 cash.

Now let’s take a look at the skill factor: There really is no formula for this, but a few generalizations can be credible, there are exceptions to these but they are reasonable expectations when considering a large sample size; 1) as the tournament progresses, more skilled players will advance than less-skilled players; 2) as the tournament progresses you will need an ever increasing chip stack to compete with other large stacks, as well as managing the blinds; 3) players have differing goals i.e. some players are happy to make points, others want to last in the tournament as long as possible, some players want to cash, some players want to WIN. Anyone who states that it is some sort of ‘etiquette’ between players about checking it down AS A PRINCIPAL regardless of the circumstances (i.e. your own chip stack, the pushers chip stack, the blind level, number of players remaining, the individual players goal, your hand strength etc.) is not only wrong, but arrogant and ignorant...what you are implicitly saying is that my strategy is superior to your strategy. How can one say this when you have NO IDEA what the goal of any given player is? Some players play loose and wild in the beginning of a tournament as to acquire chips then play tight when they have them, other players do the exact opposite, some are always loose, some are always tight, some mix it up. If I feel that I have the best hand, I will bet into a bone dry side pot to drive off the “checker downers”…so I can take the pot down. This is how I play; it has worked well for me (it is only a small piece of an overall strategy, but an important one as I find that it is a reliable source of chips), I love being involved in these hands because the “checker downers” will let you catch hands that you would not ordinarily catch without an ‘all in’. It is by no means a rule or axiom; I take each situation as it develops.

Here are some things which involve etiquette:
1. Do NOT splash the pot; place your bet / raise neatly in front of you. This goes for the people who artistically toss their chips, often you see them clumsily toss the chips and they roll all over the table.
2. Do NOT act out of turn; people look at their cards then whisper to the player next to them…”muck me”. This is just as bad as acting out of turn; you give information to the bettor, wait 30 seconds until it is your turn and muck the cards yourself.
3. Do NOT berate people for playing a poor starting hand and drawing out on you, this is ridiculous.
4. Keep your ‘bad-beat’ stories to a minimum, no one really cares that someone called your KK with A4 and that the ace was ‘in the window’…I mean the ace will hit 25% of the time, it will happen plenty of more times.
5. If you’re not involved in the hand SHUT THE @#$% UP!

My point is this… …IF SOMEONE IS NOT BREAKING THE RULES OF THE GAME, THEN LEAVE THEM ALONE AND LET THEM PLAY AS THEY SEE FIT!

Damian 'The TICK' Barbosa