Shifting Styles (aka what WNP means to me)

I'm back.

Sorry for not being involved too much on the blog, but after being enormously busy with life and work, there was just not enough time to read or participate in the best blog EVAR. Even though I'm not all the way back on having free time, I am slowly getting back into the routines... and one of the routines is posting and participating on the blog.

So, after reading this post on if WNP needed any changes, I thought I'd write in-depth about how I approach WNP. What Marshall wrote about the things WNP means to him mostly applies to me. It's not about money at all to me. I play WNP for relaxation, to get away, to hang out with cool people, and to get better at poker (not necessarily in that order). To get better at poker, one thing I absolutely believe in is to try to keep learning, to keep trying new things. Part of my learning process is trying on different styles. On any given WNP night, I will sit down with a different style, and sometimes it morphs into something different by the end of the night; but when I sit down, I have a decent idea of what style I'm planning to go with.

One thing that we all know is that an important part of poker is about playing the player. Part of being successful at that is to be able to put yourself in the other player's shoes, and nothing gives you a better idea of that than to experience it yourself. So, just to see what it's like, maybe I'll attempt to play weak/tight for a few weeks, or maybe I'll go complete maniac style. After a given amount of time, maybe I'll get bored of it or the style might go against my instincts so much, I can't keep it up, but I feel that at least putting your mind to trying out the style and its concepts will give you more to work with (i.e reads and tactics) the next time you're up against someone in that situation.

Besides the learning aspect, it's fun for me to try different things out, and keeps everyone else on their toes. It can make you less predictable, and tactics that other people have used in previous situations against you might not work, as you might be playing hands differently. In short, I love that I'm able to try new concepts and ideas out at WNP, and it factors heavily toward my overall poker enjoyment and education.

Lastly, my thoughts on WNP:
- Keep straddles.
- The stakes are fine the way they are, but if everyone wants to raise it on a given night, I have no opposition.
- The overall feel of a WNP table is based on so many different factors, but mostly on who is there on a given night. This is well-evidenced by our own experiences and our observations on episodes of High Stakes Poker. Last Wednesday was d0nkerrific (hey, if Martin was president of d0nkville, I was vice president), but there have been just as many times where it hasn't.
- In short, keep things the way they are.

Oh, and I reserve the right to be d0nkerrific at any time.