Winning UFAis a Verb – Harrisons Balham
Winning is not a passive outcome. It involves building hands based on odds and how “alive” the cards are. It means folding or raising to influence the actions of other players. Passively calling and failing to make a hand will often result in the complaint; “You took my card.” Or, “If it weren’t for…” The activity of winning includes raising to get players out before they can “take” your card.
Winning involves betting on the pot odds. Making a UFA bet depends not only on how many ways a potential hand can improve, but also on how much the bet will return if the hand wins. A player with an action plan may say, “I would have stayed with my pair of tens if two or three other people stayed.” This means that the player is thinking. A winner will be playing odds and not playing impulses. If several people are staying, the pot will return better odds and may be worth a chase.
Winners play with money they can afford to invest. Yet, one will see irresponsible players betting poor odds at almost every Poker and Blackjack table, risking money they can’t afford to lose! In the spirit of competition, the ability to keep one’s own mistakes to a minimum while influencing others to make more mistakes is the action plan of a winner. Winners don’t just know when to hold’em and fold’em. Rather, they play with many “outs,” including knowing when to run, walk, skip, jump, float, bolt, or just wait for the next hand!