Tennis Hold'Em

If the Ace of Spades is the only card you need, this article may be for you:

1. Bankroll: How much money should I invest? In tennis: If you are in it for pleasure, or just looking to have fun, don't invest any more than is fun to lose. If you're planning on making a career out of it, a more powerful bankroll may be more suitable. 

2. Blinds: Forced bets. In tennis: These are the costs associated with tennis including: lessons; entry fees; equipment; travel; etc. Parents are often blind [chuckle-chuckle] as to these hidden costs which may add up over the course of development. 

3. Draw: hoping to improve your hand with the cards that will come on the board. In tennis: hoping to improve your ranking with an easy draw. 

4. Limit Poker: a game with fixed-size bets. In tennis: amateurism restrictions (can't take more than expenses). 

6. Outs: Cards that can improve your hand. In tennis: an error by the opponent that can improve your chances of winning. 

7. Pot Odds: The odds you are getting when you are drawing. In tennis: the odds of "making it" when you're first starting out (bad news: you are closer to ZERO). 

8. Beginner Mistakes:

A. Playing too many hands. In tennis: playing too many tournaments; being involved in too many activities. 

B. Playing above your bankroll. In tennis: spending above and beyond the level of comfort so as to cause internal stress and undesired pressures. Understand your level of comfort from the get-go and know when you've reached it and what you'll be willing to do going forward. 

C. Becoming too emotional at the table. In tennis: Bad matches will happen. Losing is part of the game. Annoying opponents will have to be faced. Do not let your emotions sway your judgment. 

D. Imitating other players. In tennis: trying to follow the pack in terms of chasing points, playing specific tournaments, joining this clinic or that, cherry-picking coaches or picking up negative attitudes ("just because so-and-so is doing it")

E. Overvaluing suited hands. In tennis: overqualifying yourself and underqualifying your opponents. Expect your opponent to improve every day. Work hard even if you're the best (or think you're the best). Even if you have the best hand (strokes) don't discount physical and mental toughness of the opponent which may TRUMP your hand. 

F. Failing to keep your ego in check. In tennis: don't be naive and think you can be a guaranteed winner. Know when to walk away from a losing hand or a sport that's going nowhere. This is particularly important for parents. If you want it more for your kids than they do, then it's better to FOLD before you BUST. Don't stay in the game just because you've already spent $X, have a closet full of tennis clothes, a garage full of rackets and are hoping for a miracle. Identify losing hands (i.e., kids who simply don't want to pursue tennis and are not passionate about it) and walk away. Focus your energies elsewhere; it's really OK to not be a tennis player. 

G. Banking on luck. In the long run, luck evens out; only skill remains as a deciding factor. "Edge" is the slight advantage one player has over another through more skill, larger stack or better position. In tennis: banking on short-cuts will be a loser; hard work is the only short-cut; try to improve your skill every day through focused practices. Don't bank on one good win and ignore your 100 bad losses. You're only as good as your worst loss. 

H. Publicizing tells (mannerisms that reveal the true strength of a player's hand). In tennis: allowing emotions to send signals to your opponent regarding your level of comfort. 

I. Losing focus. In tennis: allowing points to slip away for no reason; failing to work hard every day. As the expression goes: "if I don't practice one day, I know it; if I don't practice two days, the orchestra knows it; if I don't practice three days, the whole world knows it." 

J. Becoming fixated on the charts. In tennis: focusing on rankings and draws

9. Skills:

A. Discipline (if you want to be good, you have to approach it like a job...a fun job but a job nonetheless) 

B. Mental Toughness (both endeavors are about winning and bouncing back from losses)

C. Understanding Risk v. Rewards (understand what it takes to get somewhere, what you get when you get there and lost opportunity costs)

D. Ability to Think For yourself (don't follow the herd)

E. Ability to Grind (Doyle Brunson: “Limit [Texas] Hold 'em is like a job – the more hours you work, the more money you’ll make”)

F. Patience (looking at the long-term aspects of the game)

G. Observation (watching other players, learning and reading their strategies, likes/dislikes)

H. Knowing when to play and when to quit (see 8F, above)

I. Adaptability (knowing when to be aggressive and when to be defensive)

J. Ability to avoid being predicatable

K. Bluffing (sending out signals of confidence in order to make the other player nervous). As Buddha said: "your greatest weapon is in your opponent's mind."

10. Objectives:

A. Maximize Winning and Minimize Losses

B. Having Fun

Returning Against a Serve and Volleyer

Not many players favor the serve-and-volley game style in the modern game of tennis. Accordingly, facing such a player can be very frustrating sometimes unless you have a great deal of experience under your belt. Here are some things to keep in mind when facing a net rusher:

1. Make him volley. This may seem like routine advice, but that's not quite the case. A S-V player provokes the following unconscious thoughts in your mind: A) he's coming in; B) he's coming in because he likes it; C) if he likes it, he must be good at it; and D) if he's good at it, I better keep the ball away from him. This is exactly the way the net rusher wants you to think; he wants to tempt you to go for the low percentage passing shot off his major weapon. It's hard enough to pass someone who is coming in off a ground stroke! Why would you try to do this off a serve?! Therefore, a better tactic would be to make the player volley and see what tools he has on his belt. Maybe it's all just a bluff! You will never know unless you test him. 

2. Your point of recovery following the return should be inside the baseline. The good serve a volleyers will attempt to combine good serves with sharp angles. For them, this guarantees that the returner has the most ground to cover. Therefore, returning and then recovering deep behind the baseline's center-T plays right into their hand. You want to recover in an aggressive position in order to ensure that you are as close to the next shot as possible. Force them to aim their volleys deep - not only may this draw errors but it will also reduce the angles that they can create. 

3. Don't forget about the chip return (NOT a slice). Depending on how solid your chip return is (if it's not, try to improve it), a chip return may give you a better option if you're unsure of your opponent's tendencies. For one, the chip requires little or no back-swing (you're utilizing the opponent's pace and only redirecting the shot) so you can make the decision on where to hit and how deep much later (in terms of tennis-time). Also, the chip requires a continental grip so if you have a one-handed backhand, it's easier to transition from the forehand grip (Western or Semi-Western) to the chip (since you only have to go half-way). In addition, a chip has a completely different spin - something that the volleyer may have difficulty handling. A topspin ball dips into the volleyer's string-bed. A well-struck chip will "pop up" of his strings - thereby forcing the volleyer to make adjustments. Volleyers are more accustomed to volleying against a topsin than against a ball that spins the "other way". 

4. Stay close in. Similar to playing a big-bomber, it's important to stay closer to the court when returning and thereby position yourself so as to cut off the server's angles. Most likely, the serve and volleyer will attempt to come in off a spin serve (kick, topspin, or slice) in order to give himself more time to close in. If you stay back, you will allow him to take an extra couple of steps - at which point, it will be difficult to make him volley below the net (your goal is to make him pop up the volley as opposed to sticking it downwards). Stay close in, use the pace of his serve (even a kick-serve has sufficient pace for you to use and redirect) and seek to make the rusher volley behind the center-T or half-volley around the center-T.

The center-T should be your target in these instances. Pound it incessantly and force the volleyer to generate angles from the middle of the court; don't give him an opening (i.e. too far away from the middle but within reach) from which he can generate an angle. Unless he's very, very good, chances are that he will have difficulty handling these shots. The best return is, actually, slightly cross-court from your return position - this force the opponent to adjust the face the face of the racket and to generate a slight "inside-out" angle. For example, if you're returning from the deuce side down-the-line, the opponent can stick a cross-court backhand volley without much difficulty. Return cross-court, and he will have problems generating the same angle with his forehand volley down-the-line. 

5. Attack. Another oft-forgotten play is to come in yourself (chip-and-charge). This may work as a great surprise-tactic since the server expects to face an opponent who is staying deep. You have a slight advantage in these situations because out of the two players, you're the only one who knows what to expect. Depending on the serve, you may in fact "beat the player" to the net since, the ball would have reached your position a split second after the server's contact with the ball. Chip down the T (low), rush in and pounce on the opponent's next shot (particularly any pop-up floaters). Stun him once or twice and you will either force him to do more with his serves (resulting in more double faults or second serves; [DING-DING] BONUS) or his volleys (errors). If you're lucky, you might actually force him to stay back ([DING-DING] DOUBLE BONUS) and that's when you know that you have really rocked his boat. 

Steal This Drill: Watch The Ball!!!

Are you the type of player who has trouble with focusing on the ball? Do you own a couple of tennis balls? Maybe a felt marker? Next time, draw a couple of markings on the ball (e.g., letters, numbers or symbols) about 1/2 an inch in size and rally until you can pick up the marking (coach or practice partner feeds so that you don't know which ball is being used). Guess wrong run a sprint!

With a fast moving object, the sense of sight is the most important. Train your tennis hand to eye coordination by focusing on the ball until you can spot the marking right off the opponent's string bed. The sooner you see the ball, the earlier you are able to anticipate the trajectory if the ball and prepare for it; the earlier you can prepare, the better your chance of getting in position and doing something effective and proactive with the ball. This is a great way to practice ball control. Remember, that tennis requires the striking of a moving object, with a moving object while you yourself are in motion (anticipating your opponent's future positioning is another component of motion). Or, in medi-geek: "[t]he human visual system must perform complex visuospatial extrapolations (VSE) across space and time in order to extract shape and form from the retinal projection of a cluttered visual environment characterized by occluded surfaces and moving objects", The neural correlates of visuospatial perceptual and oculomotor extrapolation (Tibber M, Saygin AP, Grant S, Melmoth D, Rees G, Morgan M.). Therefore, given the pace of the modern game, you simply cannot afford to have "lazy", untrained eyes.

Video: Return Middle and Pounce

At the highest levels, returning a first serve is not an easy task.  The smart returners (the ones who tend to win) try their best to get the ball into play, style points aside.  One of the best ways to do that is to aim for the center of the court.  

A) This gives you (the returner) a lot of room for error.  Even if you miss your target, you are in great shape.

B) The server will struggle to get out of their own way if the return is struck with enough depth and/or force.  Not an easy thing to deal with, possibly giving you a weak reply.

C) Lastly, the server has no angle off your return to run you off the court.  

This is incredibly simple stuff, but knowledge is only a fraction of the puzzle.  Returners need to have the motivation to be disciplined and not be tempted to go for the "hero" shot.  Attempting to slap a winner off someone's first serve or missing a 2nd serve return by 10 feet clearly shows a rookie player (or one who has checked out mentally because they are frustrated).  Keep pecking away and the percentages will slowly turn into your favor, giving yourself the best odds for winning.  Nothing is a guarantee, but smart decisions time and time again can increase your odds- that's all you can hope for.  

Here are two examples:

Steal This Drill: Chessboxingtennis

I confess that when I first heard about chessboxing on Penn and Teller's Showtime series, I was a bit perplexed; I didn't entirely understand the benefit of combining the two activities. But then I thought: could this, rather than being an entirely new "sport", be utilized as a new training concept for tennis players? With this in mind, I looked around to the limited resources regarding the benefits of combining a physical activity with an entirely mental one.

In various studies, chess-players (when compared to control groups) have been shown to (a) possess significant advancement in spatial, numerical and administrative-directional abilities, along with verbal aptitudes; (b) experience a statistically significant gain in cognitive development; (c) have a 15% improvement in math and science test scores; (d) accelerate the increase of IQ in elementary age children of both sexes at all socio-economic levels; etc. Furthermore, an Osaka University study found heightened testosterone and cortisol (stress biomarkers) level in players who completed competitive games of shogi - Japanese chess. In addition, sports - including boxing - release (or secrete) endorphins (help combat stress and pain) and adrenaline (which stimulates heart-rate, dilate air passages, increase muscle strength for short bursts, etc.). Although no studies have been performed with respect to a combination of a cerebral activity such as chess coupled with a physical activity such as boxing, it is not hard to see how jumping from activity to activity forces the brain to adjust from focusing on controlling emotions and making calculated decisions under stress to tapping into the fight-or-flight instinct. In many ways, this is similar to tennis where, on the one hand, you need to be a zen master; on the other, a caged wild animal.

So train your mind my combining hard tennis drills (including sprints) with playing quick rounds of chess (2-minute option on your iPhone), Sudoku or Backgammon during the breaks while the coach is picking up the balls {NOTE: forget about the boxing aspect}. You don't need to do this every day, but once in a while to change things up. See how your mind adjust from performing the physical exercise to mental exercises and how clear-headed you can be while your heart is racing and your body is more focused on catching your breath. Again, the point of these drills is to "shock your system"... to get you out of your comfort zone so that you are better prepared to deal with anything that your opponent throws your way (pre-event counseling). If you think that this is crazy, see the training regimen of elite military forces; they are often subjected to basic interrogation consisting of math or geography questions during high-intensity training. The trainers want to ensure that the soldiers are keeping their wits (and heads) while everyone around them are losing theirs.