The Art of Poker - Chapter 3

Chapter 1
Chapter 2

Chapter 3 of The Art of War is "Attack by Stratagem". This concerns using knowledge of the size of both your and your enemy's armies, and how to deal with the disparities. It also covers the mistakes that can be made by a leader and the essentials of victory.

Sun Tzu starts by offering that the greatest victory is to take a country whole, without shattering or destroying it. It follows from there that it is better to take an army whole, a regiment whole, a detachment, or a company whole instead of destroying and dividing them. In short - simply crushing your enemy is not "supreme excellence", but to defeat them without bloodshed, to bring them to your way without destroying them, is the best form of victory.

A descending ranking of general results follows this. From "balking" the enemy's plans (translated more accurately as foiling your enemy's plans via attack and counterattack instead of simply defending yourself), isolating your enemy, attacking the enemy in the field, and finally, worst of all, laying seige to a walled city.

Laying seige to a walled city involved months of preparation at the gates. Assembling and building engines and weapons of war, seeking weak spots in the walls, building mounds to the walls in order to attack them. It was a long and tiring method, best to be avoided. An impatient general would attack prematurely, losing a good part of his army in a futile attempt to breach the walls. This is likened to ants swarming.

Thus, the best solution is a leader who can conquer without fighting. Take cities without laying seige. If successful at this, he would have a complete victory and have undisputed mastery of the empire.

If your army outnumbers your enemy ten-to-one, surround him; if five-to-one, attack immediately; if two-to-one, flank; if matched, offer battle; if slightly outnumbered, avoid and observe for advantage; if greatly outmatched, flee. A small force can be a pain, but will ultimately be captured.

The general is the main defense of a country, and through him the strength of the state is determined. Sun Tzu lists how a general can lose:

1.- By ordering the army to do something it cannot. Something that would happen only if he was not involved with the battle itself. Ie.- attacking or retreating when such an action would be impossible.

2.- By treating the military as he would the civilian. Allowing a lack of discipline, not being hard with the troops. This would cause a restlessness among the soldiers. The army ain't the country.

3.- By ignorantly and haphazardly delegating his officers, not putting them where their strengths are best utilized.

Showing ignorance shakes the soldiers' confidence. This will lead to anarchy in the ranks and the army will tear itself apart. Your enemies will know this and assist in the destruction.

The chapter finishes with:

17. Thus we may know that there are five essentials
for victory:
(1) He will win who knows when to fight and when
not to fight.
(2) He will win who knows how to handle both superior
and inferior forces.
(3) He will win whose army is animated by the same
spirit throughout all its ranks.
(4) He will win who, prepared himself, waits to take
the enemy unprepared.
(5) He will win who has military capacity and is
not interfered with by the sovereign.

18. Hence the saying: If you know the enemy
and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a
hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy,
for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat.
If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will
succumb in every battle.

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This chapter should pretty much write itself. Although I was torn on the first section when relating it to our game. First, how does one define bloodshed in a poker game, when your goal is to take all the chips? I've settled on bloodshed in this instance being equivalent to a showdown. Ideally, you want to win without showing your cards. Aggressive, positional, situational play where you exploit your table image and the weaknesses of your opponents is ideal play in poker. After all, poker is a betting game of chicken, the cards just settle the debate when someone can't fold their losing hand. Would you not be impressed if someone won a tournament or walked away from a cash game with huge pile of chips and then turned to you and said, "I played the whole thing blind"?

After this comes constantly keeping your opponent off-base by being aggressive, and decisive when you react to his attacks. Isolating an opponent is always good practice, but in this instance, I believe this could be better compared to "playing the player, not the cards" -- isolating him from his weapons, his chips, his cards, making them unable to factor in his play. If you fail at these preferable methods, then you may, in fact, have to meet him in battle with your cards. The beautiful thing, though, is that due to your aggressive play to this point, when you DO have the nuts, your opponents won't know it, and won't believe you.

Finally, and least preferable, is battling a "walled city". I would tie this to the "rock". No matter how aggressive you are, how cagey, how great a "player" you are, if someone won't put chips in the middle, you can't beat them. Laying seige against a tight player, especially if they have some form of leverage (stack size, position, etc.), can be a frustrating, tiring, and LONG effort. If there's a full table, and one of the people is a nut-peddler, why would you focus on them when there's so much more money for the taking? Take your time and build your bulwarks, your catapults, your arsenal for a seige by taking them from your other enemies as they fall. Spend this time analyzing the play of the rock, looking for a tell, a leak, anything you can exploit. It may be that he's the last obstacle to total victory, but there's a better chance someone easier to beat will barrel into him and suckout on his aces for you.

Use your chips to your advantage. If you have a monster stack, abuse people with it, be fearless. If your stack is still the biggest, but not huge, fear not the bad beats as you attack with superior numbers and the ability to absorb losses. If you have but double the stack of your opponent, be strategic. If he calls your bluffs, crush him with a trap. If he avoids your traps, bluff him away. If even in chips, apply the pressure to him when you believe you have an advantage, he may back down. If slightly behind, look for advantages and pick your spots. If greatly outchipped, avoid confrontations if at all possible. For smallstacks can be a pain, but eventually will find their chips in the hands of the bigger stacks.

You can lose in various ways:

1.- By not being aware of the details of the hand. Deciding you have a flush when it's not possible based on the hand so far is deadly. Bluffing a calling station is foolish. Missing the fact the river gave you the nuts and folding will kill you. Be in the game, and be aware of what you can and cannot successfully do at all times.

2.- A real game of poker isn't your home game. Bill the drunk isn't going to berate you for chasing that inside straight draw, because he's drinking your beer. Bill the 40 year-old table captain tourist at the Venetian will. That guy with the trucker cap in Caesars could be a pro for all you know, not your dumb-ass friend with too much money and not enough brains. Do NOT lose discipline when playing "for real". Poker with your buddies is wargames, poker with strangers is war.

3.- Apply your skills and tools appropriately. Mix up your game. Bluff the rocks, trap the LAGs, fold to the TAGs, and tell stories to those who are able to fold when you make your "flush".

If you fail at these, you will lose, it will shake your confidence and interest. You'll grow restless. Your opponents will see this and take advantage of it. Eventually, you'll self-destruct at the table and walk home dejected and broke.

Thus we may know that there are five essentials for victory:

(1) He will win who knows when to raise and when to fold.
(2) He will win who knows how to beat the bigstacks and smallstacks, the different player types, and how to leverage his advantages against all.
(3) He will win who is involved and disciplined and focused on the game.
(4) He will win who, prepared himself, waits to take the enemy unprepared.
(5) He will win who has experience and knowledge and doesn't let outside factors overrule his good judgement. Alternately - he/she will win who doesn't let his wife/husband near him when he/she's at the table.

18. Hence the saying: If you know the enemy
and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a
hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy,
for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat.
If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will
succumb in every battle.