Side Entertainment

Rating Card Rooms: Side Entertainment
By Loki Luchs

Entertainment is a key factor in any good game of poker. Now, I'm not talking about the drunk granny whose stripping in seat 9 (because there's no casino that I don't find that entertaining), but rather other diversions for the poker lover. One important entertainment in any good poker room is the presence of many, many televisions that should be showing every possible sporting show even if it's New Zealand chipmunk racing. For me, this entertainment has several values. As a disciplined player, I very rarely lose focus on my game as I'm watching television. (Ok, in the last tenth of a second between the Red Wings and the Penguins during game 6 last year might have made me scream out-loud, but so what?) I enjoy watching every type of sport, but I don't go on tilt from it. The other side of that, however, is not true of my opponents. They are angry, compulsive, irrational, and soon to be poor. As they lose money on the Lakers, they're losing even more to me. The difference is that I take it slowly, while the close games make them lose it all at once. I recently had position on a drunken horse better who bet on horses because he believed that there was a rigging of contests so that the horses would always come in reverse alphabetical order. Anything that distracts an opponent from their A-game, the better off I am… Hell, anything that takes them off of their C-game, the better off I am.

Another aspect that I take a look at when I'm deciding where to play is whether or not the room in question has subscribed to the major poker magazines. Most Vegas poker rooms have a variety of poker/sports betting magazines available for you to take while you wait or for when you go home. Bluff, Poker Pro, and Card Player Magazine is an easy way to lose yourself for a half-hour while you're waiting for your seat. Being able to flip through any of theses gives me an opportunity to start focusing my mind on my game while I'm still waiting for a seat. I often find articles that discuss important poker points that may actually help my performance that day. It also helps me find topics for poker enthusiasts, so that I can distract them in discussion at the table. Being up to date on poker current events also sends a signal of competence to strong players and may even inhibit them from trying to run me down at the table. They're looking for the weakest, least knowledgeable fish, and being current on all of the yearly gossip is not typical for amateurs.

Small side forms of entertainment can make a huge difference in the way people play. Keep your eyes open to these minor distractions and be aware of the way that it affects the people around you. If players are emotionally invested in sporting events or other distractions (including the surgically enhanced waitresses), a wise player will know when to take full advantage of these weaknesses. Also, be aware how these aspects are affecting your play, as well. If you care more about the game on the TV than you do about the one at the table, take a break and don't try to juggle the two. Other people will be looking to take advantage of your split attention!

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