Big Flips

Marcus Bateman / Marcus Bateman / 07 November 2008 / Leave a Comment

In one the most recent episodes of the cash game variant of Poker After Dark, a few of the world's best poker players (including Phil Ivey and Daniel Negreanu) start the game off by flipping for over $100,000 each - for a pot total of around $400,000 if my memory serves me well. On the face of it this just looks like mindless gambling amongst a bunch of degenerates, but actually this is one of the most interesting plays that high stakes poker players will make.

Although most poker players are averse to gambling when there is minus equity (such as in the case of casino games), most do not mind a few zero equity gambles. As there is no advantage to anyone, over the long run, you will not lose anything to these types of proposition - but you might well win something.

The reason you may be able to win something is that losing $100,000 before you have even played a hand is quite a hard thing to deal with. Many players can be tilted pretty hard by something like this, and end up losing much more money in the game later, due to their negative mental state.

This is a great example of exactly what the skills needed to become a high stakes player actually are. At this sort of level, it is not so much your ability at playing the cards that will separate you from the field, so much as your self control.

In the very highest stakes games, being calm about massive losses is basically the only edge you have left over a field of players all of whom know the game inside out (that is, unless there is a whale in the game). By starting the game off with a $100,000 flip, the players best at keeping calm and composed are able to gain a decent edge over any player that cannot cope with such losses.

Although a skilled player may lose the $100,000 that day (although as said before, over the long run these are not losing bets anyway), they may well make it back plus interest from tilting players later.

If you sit down in a cash game and someone starts asking you if you want to do flips, think carefully about what is going on. Although a player may sell it to you as just a bit of carefree gambling, the reality is that they may be looking to gain an edge on you that they may normally not have had.

Conversely, if you know a player that plays very well when winning, but very badly when tilting, it may just be worth your while trying to get them to have a few flips with you.

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