Make Poker Play By Playing The Odd’s

Author: Simon Dexter

I was offered the opportunity to share a helicopter for the short ride between Monaco and Nice airport after the Monte Carlo Grand Final. I decided that, as I had plenty of time on my hands, to make the journey by road instead.

So whilst taking in the magnificent views it struck me just how incredibly good the odds had been against the young American guy, Gavin Griffin, collecting the $2.4 million first prize at the EPT event.

Think about it: this was the richest-ever poker tournament held outside of the US, yet the 25-year-old from Orange County, California, had to beat off the challenge of just 705 opponents to take the lion's share of an $8.82 million prize pool. Anyone finishing in the top 64 collected at least $17,000; in other words, given a fair wind and some tight play, virtually everyone taking a seat in Monte Carlo had an 11/1 chance of being in the money. A top ten finish resulted in a cheque for $132,000; that's nearly three times the average annual UK salary for six day's work.

Pondering over these figures I realised just what excellent and potentially lucrative opportunities poker offers to players prepared to apply themselves to the business of winning.

Indeed, as my new Welsh pal, Richard Waters had just proved in Monaco, there was no need to actually finish at the top of the pile to collect some decent wedge after qualifying online with Littlewoods Poker.

Richard, egged-on by his poker-playing old man, had recognised how good poker's odds were when he opted to play in an online freeroll. Cleverly, he was always prepared to draw the line at a maximum level of investment at $200 (at least, that's what he told me), but how spectacularly well his freeroll involvement paid off!

Here was a young lad, still at university, mixing with some of poker's biggest stars and having a lot of fun besides. We shared a drink after he'd knocked out former world champion Greg Raymer and to say he was delighted is an understatement. “I feel a bit unreal at the moment,” he told me, “because when they put me on the same table as Greg I genuinely thought it was curtains. To have played one of poker's greats – and to have actually come out on top – is something I'll remember for a long, long time.”

I suspect Richard will also recall his sizeable return. Admittedly, he walked on the fourth day, but not before collecting a cool $35,000 for coming joint 25th in Monte Carlo. My maths tell me that's a rate of almost £4,400 a day for taking a chance on a Littlewoods Poker freeroll tournament. That's how good poker's rewards can be – beating the former world champ is just icing on the cake.

Okay, so I'm a big poker fan, so you would expect me to wax lyrical about the game's inherently good odds, but that's because I think they're so good.

This is not to say I believe poker players should be reckless and chase money indiscriminately, far from it. In fact, as my own experience showed, it pays to learn the game properly before starting to play for big bucks as in poker, knowledge and experience two key factors for shifting the odds in your favour.

This is something which two guys who arrived at St Kitts for last year's Caribbean Poker Classic (CPC) had clearly done before they too walked off with combined winnings of nearly $95,000.

Spend any time in the company of Rakesh ‘Blackflash' Gupta and Ryan ‘Boony' Boon and I guarantee you'll enjoy yourself.

Rakesh is a good example of the guy who is prepared to be persistent in trying to reach his goal. As we sat by the pool enjoying the hospitality and sunshine at last year's CPC, he told me with some pride that he had been Littlewoods' final qualifier for the event, winning a six-pack double shootout which cost him the princely sum of $370. That won him his seat at the $1.5 million tournament, air fare, plus a comprehensive package and accommodation at the island's luxurious Marriott hotel, worth around $12,000.

Did I mention that Rakesh is a persistent type of guy? On nodding terms with Surrinder Sunar within a matter of days, the Blackflash showed no sign of nerves as he made the final table, eventually finishing in sixth place which earned him a tasty $42,400 and a whole lot of credit.

His friend Boony had qualified for the previous year's CPC, so the location didn't phase him this time around; far from it – I felt he could have won in St Kitts as he is one of those ‘natural' players you occasionally see among the qualifiers. Ryan insisted on enjoying himself and why not? Here he was, spending a week playing poker in the Caribbean for less than the cost of a return flight between his Glasgow and London.

He was desperately unlucky to fall five hurdles from home, but this unforeseen setback had its compensations – in Boony's case, a cool $52,300, or a payout 150 times greater than his initial investment.

As my taxi entered Nice airport, it struck me that after weighing up the chances of getting amongst the cash, poker is the only game in town. Moreover, as the recent experiences of Richard, Rakesh and Ryan have shown (is it something to do with the letter of their first names, I wonder?), while scooping the final pot can be a life-changing experience, these three guys picked up $130,000 between them after taking a modestly-priced risk on qualifying.

Sure, it's great to win a million bucks, but in anyone's books, poker's potential rate of return for qualifiers is what makes the game so incredibly attractive.