My name is Terry, and I am the author of Pokerrailbird.com. I thought I would share a little about my outlook on poker, poker strategy, and why I chose to become the author of Pokerrailbird.

First, let me say I am not a famous poker player. Actually, I’m not famous, period. Never have I won a bracelet or any other Poker Award, nor have any published books. For the past 20 years, I have studied poker like a preacher who studies the Bible, reading dozens of books and making hundreds of pages of notes. I wrote several Excel-based databases to run my own probabilities, and so forth, some of which I have posted here in the blog.

Why write a blog about Poker Strategy?

What qualifies me to write a poker blog about poker strategy? I believe, through my experience in business, poker, and psychology, I can offer some unique perspectives regarding poker, the underlying form of the game, and the people who play it.

My Poker Experience

I have played poker in Macau, China, and Costa Rica, as well as dozens of places in between during the past twenty years. Undoubtedly, I have seen tens of thousands of hands and have untold hours invested in both studying and playing the game. I think this provides me with unique experiences that I will share as the author of Pokerrailbird.

Every word that is written on this site is based on two things – playing and studying, after all, the world’s greatest teacher is experience. There is no substitute for empirical knowledge.

There will be those who argue that Methodological Apriorism and empiricism can produce similar results. I don’t agree with methodological apriorism’s claim that observation isn’t necessary for knowledge. One can read all the books they want on how to fly a DC-10, but unless they observe and practice the process, they will never be successful, same with poker.

A Student of Zen…

For the past 15 years, I have been a student of Zen. Not the Zen that sits around in robes and meditates. But, the “Zen” which is concerned with “what actually is”, rather than what we “feel” or “think” actually is. Zen says there are two kinds of people: the “Romantic” and the “Classical”, although you could assign other terminology with the same references.

The “Romantic” person sees things for their beauty and how things “look”. The Romantic is far more concerned with beauty and appearance than with functionality or purpose. The “Classical” person sees things for what they mean, or what they are, and for their purpose. The Classical person puts appearances second, or even further down the list. Their main concern is whether it will perform its purpose.

My line of thinking is totally classical. I approach everything I do from the Classical viewpoint. Not to say I don’t appreciate the beauty of things I do. But it’s a distant third, as compared to the underlying platform that makes that beautiful thing function.

Feelings Versus Facts

I believe that data is far more important than feeling. I would much rather know that I have a 25% probability of making my hand than to “feel” like that needed card is coming. We have all heard players talk about how they “feel” this or that. They will say they aren’t concerned with the math of the game or reading the board, or players. They just play by how it “feels”.

Several years ago, I was playing $1/$3 at the Winstar Casino in Thackerville, Oklahoma. There was a young man in the game, I would guess, no more than 25 years old. His girlfriend was sitting behind him, observing. My pocket cards are AA and I raise to $25 Pre-Flop. He and one other player calls. The Flop is K,4,2. I bet $50 into the $75 dollar pot. He raises it to $175 and the other player folds. I sit there for at least a minute, watching him. He’s talking to his girlfriend. I finally said, I will not call your bet, but I will give you $10 if you can show me K4. He did, and I paid him.

What Did It Feel Like

I asked him what inspired him to call an 8 times the BB raise with K,4? He said he “felt” it was coming. And he was right, well about it coming anyway. A couple of hours later, he had run up a pretty big stack, over $1K and he started with $300. Not bad in a $1/$3 game. He had been to showdown numerous times and nearly always had hit hands that were of questionable pre-flop value.

I get JJ, not my favorite hand, but. Mister K,4 raised, and I called. The flop was J,9,?. I can’t recall the last card, I checked and he bet. I don’t really remember the exact action, but it ended up heads up with us again. The turn was a blank and helped no one. I checked and he bet. I called. The river was a king. I checked. He bet and I raised big! He paused only briefly, then called. I showed the set of Jacks. He turned over K,4 – again.

Normally, I wouldn’t have done this, but he had kinda gotten under my skin with his table talk, so I had to. I asked him “Did you feel that coming too”? He racked up whatever chips he had and left. I shouldn’t have said anything, as it was only time before he lost the rest. Lesson learned.

What is the Goal?

Our goal here at Pokerrailbird is to dispose of poker rules, as we do not believe in them. We instead believe in poker tools and the entire purpose of Pokerrailbird is to help us build our poker toolbox. Not only do we plan to fill your toolbox with useful tools, but we are going to explain how and when to use each tool.

Please sign up for our mailing list, as an article is coming soon on what I just said – Poker Tools – Not Rules.

Take care, and good luck at the tables.

See you soon!