JV'S KILLER POKER:
PHYSICS

BY: John Vorhaus

Because everything is part of everything, let's look at some laws of physics and see how they pertain to poker. (Pertain to poker... pertain to poker... man, if I had a nickel for everything in this world I've made pertain to poker I'd have, well, a big fat mess of nickels.)

FORCE EQUALS MASS TIMES ACCELERATION. This little gem actually gives you a foolproof recipe for success in poker. Just let mass equals chip and acceleration equal aggressiveness, and you see that chips times aggressiveness generates force. That is, if you have enough chips and you play them with sufficient aggressiveness, you will become a force at the table. Think of every big winner you know. Are they weak? Never! They're forceful, dominant types. They know to bring plenty of ammunition to the contest, and to back up their ammunition with a bold, dynamic style of play. This is what you want too. Mass times acceleration equals force, and chips times aggressiveness equals victory for you!

A BODY IN MOTION TENDS TO STAY IN MOTION UNLESS ACTED UPON BY AN OUTSIDE FORCE. If you're doing something and it's not not working, by all means keep on doing it. Too many times we get distracted by our own success (it's still rare enough to spellbind us) and find ourselves subverting our own efforts. You see this in a player who pushes a rush too far, and in a player who loosens up when he's ahead, and most of all in a player who gets a big head, and subsequently gets that big head handed to him. If the game is good and you're doing well, hey, you have no problem: You're an object in motion and you can stay that way. But in this outside-force filled world of ours, motion will stop. Will it stop on your terms - you collect your winnings and go home - or on the terms of tough opponents or inexcusable lapses that you were in too much motion to avoid?

WATER FINDS ITS LEVEL. As an extension of this notion of bodies in motion, remember that there's a place in the poker universe where you will do your best. It pays to know your limit: the place where poker stops feeling good and starts feeling scary. At that point you will no longer play effectively, and the water that is you will inevitably slide back. Of course, if you someone wants to move water to a higher level, there's a device for doing that. It's called a pump. Pump up your game (through the application of solid principles to solid play) you'll find the water that is you at a higher level in no time.

A BODY AT REST TENDS TO STAY AT REST UNLESS ACTED UPON BY AN OUTSIDE FORCE. Sometimes you're playing so badly that there's just no excuse for you. Maybe you even know it. Maybe you even resolve to tear yourself away from the carnage. Yet you stay... and stay... and stay... inflicting just that much more damage on yourself. Why? Chair glue. Inertia. An object at rest tends to stay at rest unless acted upon by an outside force, but an object in a poker game (you) tends to stay in a poker game unless acted upon by an inside force: discipline. Don't play to get even. That won't happen today. Don't play "just until your blinds" or until your luck changes or until rush hour ends or any ridiculous thing. Go! Just go! Otherwise, you'll be an object at rest until a different outside force - poverty - drives you away from the game. Discipline... or poverty. The choice of forces is yours.

FOR EVERY ACTION THERE IS AN EQUAL AND OPPOSITE REACTION. Suppose you've been caught bluffing. That's an action. Now your foes don't trust you anymore. That's their reaction. So what do you do next? Bluff less, obviously. But less obviously, understand that this principle underlies all your poker moves. If you bet aggressively, your opponents react either by playing back or backing down. Well, which? Wouldn't it be useful to know? So experiment! Make some moves! Categorize their counter-moves. Make book on all your opponents so that you can predict their reactions - equal and opposite to your own.

WHAT GOES UP MUST COME DOWN. We've all seen it. Someone builds a monstrous pyramid of chips - more than have passed through our hands in a month - and then, only hours later, they have more toothpicks on the felt than chips. We smirk when it happens to them, but it's sad when it happens to us. Consolidate your gains and work on your game, for these are the only forces that can counter the certain gravity of poker that works on all chips, all cards and all players alike.

(John Vorhaus is author of the KILLER POKER series and News Ambassador for UltimateBet.com.)