I’m still in Europe and no poker for several days. It has been a great vacation but I still look forward to the games in Las Vegas when I return.

Was Irving Berlin a poker player? The lyrics of the song “Doin’ What Comes Naturally” have been going through my mind lately, perhaps because of their relevance to poker. Let’s look at this verse:

Folks are dumb where I come from,
They ain’t had any learnin’
But they’re happy as can be,
Doin’ what comes naturally.

Doin’ what comes naturally (DWCN) seems to be the way many poker players approach the game. They fold, bet, raise and call when they feel like it. They have little ore no math behind their plays, little or no plan of approach and limited reads on their opponents. They may raise with good hands and fold a few bad ones, but they also call with some god ones and play (or raise) with bad ones if it feels like the right time.

They will make an inspired play on one hand, and a series of foolish ones later. They ignore the fact that poker is a game of a) odds, b) discipline and c) planning. They try to make it a game of guessing and mystery. “Nobody ever knows what I’m holding…I sometimes don’t know myself,” is their favorite poker motto.

These folks will have wins, especially at limit poker. But in the long run they have to lose, as they ignore the odds in favor of DWCN. I know that “feel” players are out there and do well, and I am not referring to them. They do rely on feel, but they also know and understand pot odds and strategy. The “feel” is used to adjust the odds, not ignore them.

Sometimes, disciplined decent players suddenly go into DWCN mode, typically because they are tired, bored or steaming. Once you start during a session, it is hard to recover.

Look for DWCN players, and look to yourself to see if, even on occasion, you are one.

I have been playing exclusively Omaha/8 for a week n this cruise. This is the longest stretch I have ever played Omaha exclusively, and I think I am improving my game. So I have no hold’em thought this week, but I will try to generate an Omaha one.

Players, even some very good ones, make several interesting errors in O/8. Let’s take a look at a couple (I am ignoring the basic errors many players make. Maybe we will look at those someday).

Everyone knows it is an error to draw for half a pot, but there are times when the temptation seems overwhelming. You hold A2KJ. The flop comes 877. There is a bet and a raise (or a bet from a very tight player). This is a fold. Yes I see your draw for the nuts with 16 outs. So what? You are either going to win half or lose it all. Yet player after player tries to draw out in this situation.

In hold’em, most people recognize that playing to win pots is generally a good way to lose money. You do get to yo-yo your stacks and sometimes generate big winning days, but overall it is an error to play a lot of hands.

In Omaha, the error is compounded by the fact that you can win a lot of half-pots. People play mediocre highs and mediocre lows figuring that they will win half most of the time. And they will. But the times they miss added to the times they lose both ways keep them from making money. But since dragging many pots is fun and feels like winning, they keep doing this.

If you do not play anything but hold’em, and you are already a very good hold’em player, you should learn a few new games. Omaha/8 is a good one to start with. Many players who play regularly do not have a very well founded system of play and, just as in hold’em, the fact that someone has played for years and is a regular does not make them a very good player. Plus, in some cases, the Omaha game may be softer than the hold’em ones.

I just boarded the ship today, and it seems nice. It is the Holland America Rotterdam, a bit smaller than I expected, but that’s OK.

This trip got me thinking about vacations, which is a very serious poker topic. Most of you reading this are ardent poker players. For many, that means you play several times a week if not more.

This is fine for a while, but everyone needs a vacation, not only from their job but also from their hobby. I am finding this harder to do, with a column due every two weeks, a website to keep up to date, a forum of my very own (a real thrill for me), lessons pretty much every day and of course playing poker live or online several times a week. But I make sure a get a few consecutive non-poker days at least a couple of times a year.

Throughout my career, whenever I took a real vacation from poker, meaning a week or more with no poker playing, reading, thinking, discussing or even dreaming (OK, not really), I played much better when I got back.

Vacations clear the mind and perhaps even let the subconscious digest all of the things that we are too much in a rut to deal with.

Like me, you love poker because of the intricacies of the strategy and the induction/deduction problems you need to solve to make correct decisions. It is far more than just winning money; it is the chance to use your mind to think through incomplete information puzzles and outthink your opponents.

Listen, sometimes your mind needs a break. Once or twice a year, take a vacation from poker.

I just got back from the SF Bay area, where I did the tourist thing and had a great time. I stopped to play a bit of poker at Garden City, where I used to play for many years. If was nice to see some old friends and opponents. There are a few changes, but the food is still very good and the players are still very bad (mostly). In fact, either the play has become worse than I remember, or my game has improved so much since I came to Las Vegas and turned pro that I simply do not remember it. My guess is both.

Here is a hand. I raise with KK in early position in a pot with a late position poster. The player on my left hesitiates and calls, as does everyone else! Seven ways we see a flop of 468 with two clubs. This seems like an OK flop so I bet after the blinds check. Next player calls, then a raise and reraise and a cold call to me. Confused, I call figuring this is California and everyone likes to raise the flop. The turn is a 9 and after a check to me, I check as well. Now the guy on my left bets right out into the two raisers. They both call. I figure he must have made a big hand to bet so boldly into three players who either raised or called 3 cold plus a pre-flop raiser, so I muck (error). The river is a smal club. Lefty bets and after a call, button raises. Lefty 3-bets, middle guy (who raised on the flop) folds and button caps. Lefty calls. Button shows down AcQc for the nuts. Lefty tables J9o for top pair terrible kicker. Nice read by me, huh?

I am leaving shortly for the Card Player Cruise in Europe, and I’m very excited. There is nothing to compare to visitng excotic ports (Dubrovmick, Istanbul, Corfu, Alexandria, Odessa and several others) during the day and then playing some poker with compatible people at night.

I will try to post more poker content next week, when I will be on the ship after 4 days in Venice.