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The Corporate Poker Game |
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The execs or managers at your company send out an email to staff saying that there will be a No Limit Hold ‘Em poker tournament next week. Right away you get excited of the thought of having some live poker action and sign up. If you’ve played in a casino poker room or even online, beware, playing a corporate poker tournament is different and if you’re not careful, you’ll find that instead of playing, you are watching from the sidelines after getting busted out by a Jack-2 off suit.
Jack-2? Nobody plays cards that bad. Surprise, they do! Welcome to corporate poker - a game that plays more like a friendly home game or an online game with play money than a real poker tournament.
When a company decides to hold a casino night or a Hold ‘Em tournament it is similar to them throwing any other party or corporate event. Many of the people are coming out for the free food or face time with the boss instead of for some challenging poker – some of them may never have even played before. A buy in that you must put up yourself will deter some, but for the most part, these will be much to small to keep any fish from finding their way to the table.
The best strategy to have for these types of events is to play like you would when playing low limits online. Be tight and aggressive. You will come across people raising with small kickers, bottom pairs, and other poor hands all the while the other plays are calling because they are 2, yes 2, cards from a straight or flush. If you play tight and aggressive, you will weed out a good portion of the horrible hands that could come back to take your chips away but you will also have to watch how your opponents play. Many players will call raises with Q2x in the hopes of catching the flush, many times, over betting may be needed to get them off their hand. If you can feel out the other players, you should be able to also protect yourself when they do catch a big hand with bad cards by their betting style.
The corporate poker game is a place to have some fun and small talk with management. Expect surprises and bad beats – even if you have 95% chance to win the hand, 5 times out of a 100 the other player wins. Using solid poker strategy will help you come out on top and win more than you lose. And it will also give you the opportunity to take home money from your boss’ pocket!
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