1. Money

Poker is based on money. To win money is the only rational reason for investing time and effort in poker.

a. Maintaining proper attitude

Since poker is based on money, the proper attitude about money is crucial. What is the good player’s attitude about money? Realizing that each dollar represents an irreplaceable segment of life (the time required to earn that dollar), he respects money out of respect for himself.

b. Stimulating poor attitude in opponents

A poor money attitude in opponents increases the edge odds for the good player. Since most players are influenced by the opinions of the good player, he uses that influence to stimulate poor money attitudes by advancing erroneous ideas such as—

• one must be dealt good cards to win
• luck is required to win
• streaks of luck run hot and cold, and cards should be played accordingly
• betting should depend on how much one is winning or losing.

The good player often encourages the use of poker chips instead of money in order to—

• decrease the sense of value for money
• stimulate looser play and a faster betting pace
• speed up the game.

In certain games, however, players will play for higher stakes when cash (rather than chips) is used.

c. Increasing money in game

The good player tries to increase the cash brought to the game because more cash—

• allows the betting pace and stakes to increase more rapidly
• decreases opponents’ respect for money
• makes more money available for loans.

An effective way to increase money brought to the game is to increase the money needed to play by limiting the use of credit.

Ted Fehr has been losing heavily on the horses. His cash position is low; he is borrowing excessively to stay in the action. John is worried because now Ted brings less than $100 to the game, loses his stake promptly, and then borrows for the rest of the game. John figures that each player should bring at least $300 to keep the game healthy at its current stakes. So he puts pressure on Ted to increase his cash position:

“Lend me a hundred,” Ted says, turning to John after losing a pot.

“It’s only the third hand and you’re broke?” John growls and makes no move to lend him money. “I can’t lend my cash right off … what’ll I play on?” The other players nod in agreement.

“Who’ll lend me a hundred?” Ted asks as he looks around the table with his mouth smiling. When no one replies, his mouth droops.

Noticing Ted’s sweaty forehead, John finally says,
“Write out a check and put it in the game. Next time bring five or six hundred like everyone else does. Then if you run out, there’ll be enough cash in the game to lend.”

Ted’s freckled face wrinkles as he pulls a blank check from his wallet. “I’ve lost thousands in this game,” he says in a choking voice. “Can’t even borrow a hundred. Isn’t my credit any good?”

“Sure your credit is good,” John explains as he cashes the check. “That’s not the point. It’s for your own protection. How can you possibly win without money to back you up? Got to have money to make money.” . . . John knows this meaningless platitude will be swallowed as the truth by most players, especially gamblers like Ted.

“Got to have money to make money,” Ted mumbles. “I’ll bring plenty next week and overpower everyone.”

During that week, Ted wins at the racetrack. Remembering John’s advice and blaming his poker losses to a lack of cash, he brings over $1000 to the next game. The excess cash clouds his sense of value for money—he tries to overpower everyone. His overpowering play is an exhibition of wild, reckless poker. By two in the morning, Ted is writing a check; John Finn is a very big winner.