Archive for February, 2010

In POKER, there are five ACTIONS: check, bet, fold, call, and raise.

Whether at the poker table, or in your life, before you decide on what action to take, pause, and ask yourself, "Based on the information at hand at this moment in time, what is my correct action?"

"Correct" is the operative word.

You can certainly see that question on Phil Ivey's face as his eyes dart back and forth, searching his brain for all the pieces of the puzzle that fit that particular hand. Phil is transparent as he searches for the answer to that question, while other players become quiet and still. Regardless, what they have in common is that they take time to decide the correct action.

One beauty of the poker table is that you must take an action before the game can continue. In life, people often become frozen in one spot, afraid to make decision. Even sloppy action is better than perfect stagnation.

If you are ready to take action and move your game to the next level, sign up for my upcoming live poker coaching program: Poker Pure and Simple^tm. It is unique… personalized and customized to your needs, based on your feedback and input.

Whether at the poker table or in life, the next time you are faced with a decision, remember this. Take a moment and move to your center. Breathe in and out. Then, take that next step… Repeat as necessary.

Take my motto to heart:

If you can't raise, don't call!

Donna Blevins
Poker Strategy Coach

Just after Greg Raymer won the 2004 World Series of Poker® Main Event Championship, I met him at the Bicycle Casino in Los Angeles, CA. It was during a reception in his honor prior to the Legends of Poker Ladies Championship. Even though people rarely see me as shy, I often feel bashful when I first walk up to a poker celebrity.

After talking with Greg for just a few minutes, he put me completely at ease. He is down-to-earth and a real gentleman. When I asked him what counsel he had for people learning to play poker, he said that players often feel they must use fancy moves to win at poker. When, in fact, ABC poker will usually get them much further, especially in tournament poker.

With that in mind, I've put together some Poker ABC's, which also include life tips. For me, life and poker go hand in hand. Within each poker lesson, there is a life lesson.

The poker table is a place to have fun and potentially make some money, and it is also a place were you could work through personal issues. Now don't get me wrong. I'm not talking about a therapists couch. I'm talking about a place where your focus is diverted from your everyday situation and turned into a linear world of one action right after another. Your world is simplified, less complex. The poker table is clearly a stress reliever for many people, while at the same time, it seems to bring out the brat and bully in others.

Over the next few month, I'll post my Poker/Life ABC's. Check back daily for your update.

When I first put these together, they were as tweets on Twitter. When I finished the alphabet, I realized that it had taken me 28 days to get through the 26 letters. I'm still wondering, which two did I tweet twice?

Until next time, remember my motto:

If you can't raise, don't call.

Donna Blevins
Poker Strategy Coach

PS: If you are ready to take your game to the next level, check out my upcoming live poker coaching program: Poker Pure and Simple^tm. It is personalized and customized to your needs, based on your feedback and input.

I invite you to become a part of this ground-breaking, history-making coaching program.

It is the fast track to winning poker, pure and simply.

My husband's favorite TV sitcom is Two and a Half Men. He is constantly telling me about the antics of Charlie Harper, the balls-to-the-wall, full throttle character played by Charlie Sheen. This morning, between sips of coffee and chuckles, my husband told me about an episode he saw last night with a vivid poker lesson.

Coming home staggering drunk from a card room, Charlie says to his brother Alan, "You know how easy Texas Hold'em looks on television when you can see all the hole cards? Well, at the casino, they don't let you see the other guy's cards, and it's not quite that easy. I'm down $8,000, and I threw up in my mouth three times."

What makes this simple card game so complex? Played with two private cards in your hand plus five community cards face up on the table, it looks astonishingly simple.

In fact, as long as you are in the hand at the showdown and turn your cards face up for the dealer to read, you don't even have to know you have the winning hand. In Texas Hold'em, like the rest of poker, your cards speak.

Sure good cards help, they help a lot, but I've seen many people play great cards so poorly they wasted the opportunity to maximize the profit potential from those cards. It was as if they turned their hole cards face up and placed them on their forehead for all the other players to see.

On the other hand, I've seen poker pros play weak cards as if they were aces. Doyle Brunson, the Godfather of Poker, won back-to-back world poker championships (1976 and 1977) holding 10, 2.

The complexity in Texas Hold'em comes from the simple fact that, by our very nature, we are complex human beings. We come to the poker table with our bags packed full of our life experiences, which color every decision we make at the poker table.

At the same time, when we sit down at the poker table something almost mystical happens. The rest of our life somehow goes out of focus, and we can detach ourselves from what is happening 'out there'. The poker game can literally give us a vacation from our everyday life while providing an opportunity to exercise our brains, our intuitive sense, and learn new skills.

If you want to learn to play poker but do not know where to start, take a look at my upcoming 8-week poker coaching program, Poker, Pure and Simple^tm.

The first rotation starts this week and is sold out, however, there is still space available for the 8-week program that begins March 11. Here's a brief overview: http://BigGirlPoker.com/Coaching/

For now, remember my motto…

When you can't raise, don't call!

Donna Blevins
Poker Coach & Professional Poker Player

Imagine my surprise when I found the following private message in my Facebook account, "Are you the poker guru?"

The message was from a professional woman who helps companies market their businesses online and offline. After looking at her blog, I realized we were like-minded. I'd like to share my response to her with you:

Poker Guru? LOL… Some say I am, but I think of myself as a poker coach, who teaches poker as a personal-development tool. It is just a 2-degree difference in thinking that makes us either successful or a failure in life and at the poker table.

Rather than focus on being short-stacked, embrace the lessons and blessings within each moment. That philosophy is what I share with my student clients, and I believe it is the key to long-term success.

During this time of economic challenge, our mission is to project hope and prosperity. Just like the trigger that helped end the Great Depression, our words today are like President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's fireside chats.

As my 83-year-old Mama Peggy always says, "Look up and out, not down!"

Donna Blevins
Poker Strategy Coach

PS: Remember, my motto, "If you can't raise, don't call."