Over a decade ago, the upward thrust of online poker created a type of conflict between professional players who had made their careers strictly playing live and a new, significantly large group of "online pros." The latter group was mostly constituted of younger players — unsurprisingly — which thereby added one of those "generation gap" that tended to differentiate the 2 categories of players even further.
Generally speaking, the old fashioned"" live pros were usually characterized as a rule as so-called "feel" players way to their experience with table talk, recognizing tells, psychology and the "mental game," and other intangibles.
Meanwhile the brand new" school" online crowd were frequently considered "math" players apt to base their decisions strictly upon pot odds and probabilities, including incorporating increasingly complex data way to the usage of HUDs ("Heads-Up Displays") and tracking software while playing.
Questioning the "Old School"
I recall once watching an early live televised poker broadcast about 10 years ago where a particularly widely known pro sat in for a short time to assist with commentary. The term "fold equity" were used at an earlier point within the program, and a viewer had written in asking what the term meant. The question was put to the professional who needed to admit he didn't know what the term meant.
Even today, not we all know that fold equity refers back to the amount of equity a player gains in a hand from the possibility an opponent will fold to a raffle. That may be to say, if I push all in at the turn while drawing to the nut flush, I'VE both the equity that comes from the share chance I'll hit my flush plus whatever additional percentage chance there's that you will fold your hand and that i won't want to improve my hand.
The truth is, "fold equity" can't be calculated exactly. (In fact, with the ability to assess the possibility of an opponent folding may be fairly often something that requires "feel," too.) However, the brand new" school" player can still find how you can be very precise with assigning percentages in such spots to assist select a process action.
In any case, the term was relatively new back then, and to a couple not being conversant in it marked the professional as an old-fashioned"" player, even supposing he almost certainly understood and frequently used the concept.
Profiling the brand new" School"
Meanwhile, the brand new" school" player was often similarly characterized as proficient in a single area (the mathematics of the game), but lacking certain knowledge or awareness of other, less-easily quantified aspects of poker.
Back within the spring of 2011 — just three weeks before Black Friday, if truth be told — there appeared a captivating profile of Daniel "jungleman" Cates within the Ny Times. The item by Jay Caspian Kang, titled "Online Poker's Biggest Winner," in some way tried to introduce the brand new" school" online pro to a much broader audience.
The article presented Cates as a type of representative of a giant category of players, a gaggle among whom he was on the time one of the crucial successful. The item drew comparisons between online poker and other video games, showing how Cates's rise (in mostly heads-up games) more or less mirrored someone mastering a online game through repetition.
The article also suggested of Cates and other young online pros that while they certainly knew what "fold equity" and "expected value" and other poker-related concepts were, they may have lacked other knowledge about human behavior — i.e., the categories of items only gathered by "life experience" that one isn't necessarily capable of know about sitting at a computer.
Old School v. New School, circa 2016
The categories of "old-fashioned" and "new school" still persist today, although in 2016 the honor between "live pros" and "online pros" has largely disappeared given than nearly the entire top players are consistently present in both arenas.
This week's 2016 Super High Roller Bowl has again inspired some discussion of the 2 categories, partly due to the proven fact that both the older generation of players who learned the sport within the live arena and the more youthful generation of (mostly) online-trained players are well represented a few of the field.
Last night PokerNews' Sarah Herring took the chance during a break within the action to invite a few players to speak about the status of the old fashioned" vs. new school" argument because it exists today, and both had some interesting things to say.
Phil Galfond describes himself as being "50-50" or equally guided by both modes — the psychological, read-based approach of the old fashioned"" and the mathematics and/or theory-based approach of the brand new" school" — when on the tables. Meanwhile Matt Berkey, who calls himself a "live guy by heart," similarly recognizes the significance of newer ideas about optimal play while still believing that poker is "a people game first."
PokerNews Editor-in-Chief Donnie Peters also weighs in on the end to speak about the status of the "old school/new school" debate today, previewing an issue he'll be exploring further during tonight's episode of the PrimeTime Poker Report. Take a look:
For more at the topic, catch tonight's PrimeTime Poker Report airing at 9 p.m. ET on PokerCentral.
What do you're thinking that of the old fashioned"" versus "new school" distinctions as they apply to today's game? Share your thoughts in a comment below.
Photos: ©Joe Giron/Poker Central
Want to stick atop the entire latest within the poker world? If so, remember to get PokerNews updates to your social media outlets. Follow us on Twitter and find us on both Facebook and Google+!
PokerNews.com is the world's leading poker website. Among other things, visitors will discover a daily dose of articles with the most recent poker news, live reporting from tournaments, exclusive videos, podcasts and such a lot more.
PokerStars is the biggest online poker room offering the largest amount of poker games and different game variations including Texas Hold'em, Omaha and other popular poker games. By joining PokerStars you'll easily learn the entire poker rules and poker strategy by playing free poker games. Join PokerStars and luxuriate in prime quality online poker.
Read More... [Source: PokerNews]
No comments:
Post a Comment