Poker is 60% luck and 40% skill? Here's a couple new percentages to look at

To whoever told you that poker was a game of cards, they were one step ahead of the game. If a person told you this, they were buying into what poker is REALLY about: People. It's somewhat ironic that a fellow human would tell you it's about the cards. In my opinion, poker is 33% about the cards and 66% about the players. The cards are important because there are going to be a lot of times when you have to show your hand down. All your antics prior to a showdown may have gotten you nowhere. Either you're going to showdown a bluff, a mediocre hand that may be the winner, or you lead a guy along the whole way while you show down the nuts. The other players, however, are the ones who will ultimately determine how much you make or lose. If you're like me (or any other decent poker player) you find yourself playing hands a certain/different way against one player that you would another; maybe playing the hand COMPLETELY different. When you "meet" players on FTP, you can find out fairly quickly (within the first hour or so) what type of players are at your table. I like to look at how a player plays over an hour more so than the first 10 minutes, first half hour, of even the first hand. You want to develop some consistency in what the other players are doing, and you won't get too much consistent information in only a few minutes, though you can still pick up some things. Anyway, when you see what players at your table seem to be doing, you make decisions based more so on the players than the cards. I'm a huge proponent saying that cards are more important early on in a tournament than later. I justify this because I feel there's a certain psychological edge to having a larger stack early on versus getting short stacked early on. I find it fairly consistent that players that lose a big pot and get short stacked early often don't have the patience to wait for good hands and play well, so they'll shove their chips in with little or no thought. Also, with a big stack early on, it'll set your confidence sky high. If you keep your confidence up and winning pots, you feel like you're at your best, and you'll find yourself playing better. This isn't to say that a big stack means you'll cash or that a small stack will make you go broke; I've seen and been in positions where I've made dramatic turn arounds for better and for worse. Generally speaking it seems that some, if not most, poker players lack whatever skill (luck, patience, skill) to turn around a short stack, or worse, maintain a big stack. Another thing to look at is blind play. Early in a tournament, it's not as wise or profitable to button raise with a Q high, even if it's been folded around to you. Later in a tournament, when the blinds are significant, i'd highly recommend a raise here. Unless of course the blinds have some maniacs, loose big stack players, or a small stack that might just reraise. That's a lot to think about. If you're going to try for a pre flop bluff raise, you should be certain that the blinds will just fold, allowing you to scoop in a considerable pot. If you get called, you may have the correct pot odds to call an all in reraise with Q high. Now it's not so much about cards, is it? Now, you're looking ahead at the table. What has the big blind been doing? Has the small blind been willing to just fold and let the big blind walk? Has the button player raised a fair amount of pots preflop? Did the big blind just lose a big hand and might be likely to just push in the rest of their chips? These are things to consider when you're in a No Limit Holdem tournament. On Sunday, I'll start up the Sunday Strategy Session with a quick lesson in "Low Buy In No Limit Holdem Multi Table Tournaments" where I'll provide some tips and strategies that have helped me win a decent amount of cash in these formats.