Next week's Late Night Poker (late on Monday night, Channel 4) has a very interesting line-up. Four previous series champions, all big names from the early days of televised poker (Devilfish, Simon Trumper, Peter Costa and John Duthie) take on three of the sharpest young guns of the modern game (Toby Lewis, Matt Perrins and Sam Holden).
It's a good opportunity to witness the differences between Old School and New School poker, some of which may be imaginary. Perhaps the most knee-jerk assumption about young 21st century players is that they're super-aggressive and always bluffing.
When I was learning poker, back when dinosaurs ruled the earth, nobody ever talked about four-bets and five-bets. I think it is the effect of seeing this new (but now relatively common) form of back-and-forth betting that leads people to be suspicious of any active moves from players who are under 25, or wearing hoodies, or listening to iPods.
But beware: that relentless betting and "levelling" is relevant in deep-stacked multi-table tournaments. It certainly doesn't mean that everyone's bluffing in the early levels of a one-table event; usually, it's the opposite.
On only the second deal of next week's episode, Peter Costa raises under the gun with KJ offsuit and Matt Perrins re-raises. John Duthie folds AQ so fast, there are sparks on the baize. Costa calls.
Costa can only make this call if he thinks the youngster is messing around with nonsense hands. Duthie can only fold if he thinks the opposite. What do you think? Which pro is reading the situation right?
It's Duthie. Perrins has QQ. Tip: if you get re-raised in level one of a single table tournament, by a strong player of any age, you'll be better off long-term if you always assume it's a much better hand than KJ.
