The doctors of the Forest

Doctors of the Forest

I’ve been living in a country where the ‘doctors of the forest’ roam in great parts in certain parts of the country, and yet I’ve never seen one, even though I am deeply fascinated by this beautiful pack animal.  I’ve just discovered this term, doctors of the Forest, used in this country to refer to the wolves, and I absolutely love it!  The wolves maintain the balance in the forest’s ecosystem and change the environment around them.

Perhaps, having been away from home for so long now, I’m just missing home and my ‘pack’ including my real dog Coco!

So, you might think I’m stretching the limits on this one, by writing a ‘gambling’ blog on the topic, and what on Earth does it even have anything to do with the gambling world or poker for that matter?  Well you could be right, but I will counter that argument by saying that I’ll refer to Phil Helmuth in his book ‘play like the pro’s’ (one I mentioned several months ago) in which he describes various types of opponents to have characteristics similar to that of five different types of animals; the jackal, the elephant, the mouse, the lion and the eagle.  🦒 🦓 🦔 🦁

Well, I’d like to add an animal type to that list.  What about the wolf?  It is my favorite animal - they even have them in my girlfriend’s native country of Slovakia, although I have still never seen one in real life except for in the zoo!  Can a sixth, seventh or countless number of animals be added to the Helmuth list of relevant player types?  Can you think of one too?

The wolf, in poker terms, would eat the Jackal (a wild player who plays too loosely and plays too many hands) and this fits because these are definitely player types I thrive on and make a lot of profit on.  When I encounter such a player type, I simply wait patiently for the right moment and the right hand, and then strike!  To further the point, the wolf ignores the mice for the most part, as do I, the mice are like non existent players who when he raises you KNOW has a super strong hand and play super tight.  They run away at the slightest sign of danger, unless they hold the absolute nuts.  So what do you do?  Simply fold to his aces, kings, queens or AK if he raises big pre flop or at a later stage in the hand.

The wolf is a good player, like in real life in the wild, and maintains the equilibrium in the poker world making it for a cleaner game, so that the wild and loose jackals don’t end up running the show.  The wolf dances around the elephant, who calls too often and plays too many hands and is wary of the Lion who is also a good player.  While the wolf battles to win pots, sometimes the Eagles sweep in and finish off the meal (poor player’s money), but as Helmuth mentions in the book, you don’t meet an Eagle too often anyway!  Helmuth hints that he is one of them, which I believe.

How does the Wolf poker player play?  With courage and aggression, skill and cunning.  Of course wolves hunt in packs and this isn’t possible in poker, but perhaps by building a community and talking to other like minded players and sharing good information about good poker play the wolf can thrive.

What animal type are you?

Leave your comments in the comment box and explain why.

Thanks for reading my blog post today - Maroonfish.