Features

Play your cards right

29 Oct 2009 by AndrewGough

Jenny Southan plays poker with the best in Monte Carlo and discovers the skills you need to play can also improve your business acumen

The glittering Mediterranean principality of Monaco is but 2 sqkm, yet the glamorous district of Monte Carlo has been a magnet for gamblers and businessmen since the late 1800s. Step into the lobby of one of the elegant beachfront hotels and most of the time you will see men in well-cut suits and women in patent heels, but as I check into the Monte Carlo Bay for the grand final of the Pokerstars European Poker Tour (EPT), it’s mainly sweatshirts and baseball caps that are the attire of choice.

While the sun may be shining outside, I am barely going to see daylight, as I am here not only to try to win a place in the main event, but to discover how the fundamental principles of the game can help to sharpen your powers of analysis, heighten intuition and improve your financial management skills. “Poker is a combination of psychology, acting and maths,” says Nick Brancato, pro player and instructor, “and, of course, a little luck as well.”

The EPT is sponsored by the world’s biggest online poker site, pokerstars.com, and consists of 11 tournaments throughout Europe a year. As with the other events, anyone can enter the final in Monte Carlo, so long as they can stump up the €10,600 entry fee, but for those who can’t, there is a wide range of lower-stake satellite tournaments through which you can win a seat, and the chance to walk away a millionaire. Poker today is more accessible than it’s ever been, and with the advent of online poker in the nineties, you can now win your way into the most prestigious tournaments on the planet without leaving your home – or risking a high percentage of your bank balance at any one time.

To help me on my way to success, I am taking part in an exclusive two-day Pokerstars Poker Camp alongside a hopeful rabble of online qualifiers. My instructors include Greg Raymer, who won US$5 million in the World Series of Poker in 2004 after gaining entry through a US$160 event online, and Daniel Negreanu, who has won more than US$10 million playing at the highest level.

It is immediately apparent that the game is still largely dominated by men, as only 10 per cent of people in the room are women. (Not unlike the higher echelons of the business world, then.) The day kicks off with lessons on behaviour and body language. Playing poker live can be extremely nerve-wracking and it is a player’s job to spot weakness and take advantage of it by forcing the opponent to “fold” (lay down their cards and forfeit any money they have put in the pot). So being perceived to be confident, even if you are not, is essential. Or, as Raymer puts it: “Fake it until you make it.”

So what’s the ultimate objective of both poker and business? Money. No surprise there, then, but how to get your hands on it is what you need to know. In tournaments, you have to think carefully about strategy. You can employ an aggressive approach – making big bets, trash-talking your opponents to undermine their confidence and bluffing mercilessly – or a conservative one – waiting patiently for premium cards, ignoring the banter, and avoiding risking a lot of chips on any one hand.

One person who knows all about this is Vanessa Rousso, a 26-year-old law graduate whose success at the table has earned her a sponsorship deal with Pokerstars, alongside Team Pokerstars Pros Negreanu and Raymer. I ask her what makes a good player. “Someone who is dedicated – if you are not constantly trying to improve, you are going to fall back. You need to be patient, responsible with your money, aggressive, intelligent and temperate,” she says.

With private poker clubs springing up all over the place and more and more tournaments being organised as competitive events for city executives, I am intrigued by how poker has transcended its image of being a seedy pastime to being a sport favoured by intelligent professionals. Aside from the allure of a big win, what might they be looking to get out of it? Rousso says: “Poker can improve cognitive development as it forces you to think about strategy, the psychology of situations, maths and self-awareness. It’s essentially a form of brain training.”

As not everyone has a weekly game in the City to go to, playing online is the easiest way to practise, and as Negreanu says, “the convenience of online poker is that you can play anywhere – you can wake up early, play some poker, brush your teeth and then go to work”.

However, playing on the web is no comparison to the buzz of playing live. And with eight hours of seminars to get through on day two before my satellite tournament that evening – for which there are two €10,600 prizes – I hope I will be well equipped to do battle. My final lesson is in financial management. We all know that money is power – in poker, the more chips you have, the more you can push your opponents around, and the more opportunities you have for investing it. When you can take more chances, the potential for return is increased, and with intelligent decision-making, your money – and power – will increase exponentially.

At 9pm I join my rivals in the vast sporting venue behind the hotel. With 30 people in the running, I have a one in 15 chance of winning. By 1.30am, quite a crowd has gathered, and as the 11th player gets knocked out I know I have made it to the final table.

At 3.30am, exhausted, I push my 11,200 chips into the middle and announce “all in” for the seventh time. I pray for a miracle. One guy calls my bet, but as the last card is placed on the baize, I know it’s all over – it’s a king, giving Mr Lucky a higher pair than mine and knocking me out in sixth place. It always hurts to lose, but I remind myself that tournament poker is about long-term reward and self-improvement. I guess I won’t be giving up my day job just yet…


Visit pokerstars.com for information on the rules of the game and for details of upcoming events. Pokerstars also hosts the annual World Championship of Online Poker, as well as a weekly Sunday Million online tournament, which costs US$215 to enter and has a guaranteed prize pool of US$1,500,000.

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