First, Merry Christmas/Happy Chanukah/Seasonal Greetings: I hope you are all well and enjoying the holiday. If not, there is always poker to take your mind off things.

I was recently asked to clarify the contradictions between my column on blind play and Matt Matros’ in the latest Card Player. Here is my reply:

With the blind series, I am trying something that has not been done before: a comprehensive look at blind play.

Unfortunately, since it has not been done before, there is no established body of work. What you are getting is purely my opinion.

I do disagree with Matt, and have for some time on this issue. Here is what I believe is going on:

Matt, like many writers, is a successful professional and is telling you how he plays. This is nice and you could play this way as well if you had his skills. Matt can outplay people. Can everyone?

I try to provide a method that an average player can learn to play successfully. If you are an expert, you probably don’t need me to tell you what to do.

In addition, poker is a pendulum game. If you do too much of something, opponents adapt to it. In this instance, if you call every hand in the big blind, your opponents will notice and will steal less. But then every hand they raise on will be a good hand and you will be not be against the 73o you are hoping to be playing against. All poker actions have consequences.

Anyway, that’s my take on this. People do a lot of “expert shopping.” That is they ask experts until they find one that agrees with them and then they feel validated. We play a complex game, and frequently there is no way to prove anything. You get opinions or other people’s winning formulas and make your own choices. I stand behind what I wrote , and it is what I believe will help most people improve their play.

Next week, I will publish some year-end statistics.