Category: English

Poker is a complex and multifaceted game whose central facets are sometimes called the three P’s: patience, position (with regard to your proximity to the dealer) and psychology. In this series of articles I will focus on the last of these P’s which focuses on how to read the behaviour of your opponent: the psychology of poker.

Zia Mahmood, the world-class bridge player, is quoted as saying, ‘One of the reasons I love the game of bridge is that there are no absolutely right answers to anything. Bridge is not a game that can be played mechanically, according to a series of rules. You have to use not only your brain and your memory but your imagination and your creative spark to avoid the traps that lie in even the simplest position’. The same description could just as easily be applied to the game of poker and the ability to analyse the behaviour of your fellow players is one of the subtlest and most difficult aspects of the game to master. In order to improve your game, it is important that you are able to observe closely how players behave and understand what, in percentage terms, these behaviours are likely to mean. Let’s start with a few very simple examples – how players stack and handle their chips.

Chips

All casino games and some home games are played using ‘chips’ instead of money. In these situations the player would exchange his money for the same value of chips. There are a number of reasons for this, of which I will just give you two. Chips are easier to handle and count than money. Players can see at a glance whether an opponent has got a few or a lot of chips in front of them, whereas with a bundle of notes it is often impossible to know how much someone has. There is also a deeper psychological reason, seldom fully articulated, why casinos prefer players to use chips rather than money. When you exchange your money for chips, you have literally and figuratively exchanged something of real value for a playing token, for something that is once removed from money. I have seen people bet considerable sums at roulette and at the poker table using chips and, although it is a moot point, I sometimes wonder whether they would be so keen to make the same bet if they had to use the same fold-up money they used to pay for their groceries. There is a well known saying heard often in casinos and card rooms, that the person who invented casinos made a lot of money, but the person who invented chips made even more money.
Later on, we will examine the importance of ‘stack’ size – the number of chips that a person has stacked in front of him. A big stack will depending on the monetary value or denomination of the chips, generally be more valuable than a short or medium stack. The size of stack you are playing and the size of the stack held by your opponents, are major factors to be considered when making a decision at the poker table.

Chip Handling

Some players divide their chips into separate piles, each pile having chips of the same value, others make one or two very tall piles with the bigger denomination chips at the bottom while others try to build structures resembling the Great Wall of China. Players will also differ in terms of how they put chips into the pot and what denomination of chips they use in different betting situations. Mostly these behaviours do not have any meaning that are discernibly usefull but below are a few examples of chip handling behaviours which I contend either offer an insight into a player’s personality or give an indication of the value of the hand they are holding.

Example 1: Breaking the big note!
You may recall when you were younger, back in the days when to have a £5 note (or a $20 dollar bill for our American readers) was to be wealthy. In those days, if you had a big note, you did not like to ‘break it’ because once broken it tended to be spent much more quickly. The big note was something to be kept and prized. Some players treat their chips in this way. They are always wanting to give change, e.g. give you ten 100-unit chips for your 1000-unit chip and once they get the 1000-unit chip they like to hold on to it. (In contrast there are many players who are delighted to change big chips because a pile of small value chips looks more – see Example 4.) Watch this type of player closely because often, when they have a choice of putting small or large denomination chips into a pot the choice of chips can have a meaning.
They will often put their small denomination chips into the pot when they have a marginal or perhaps a drawing hand. Sub-consciously, they may consider that they are not breaking into their pile of valuable chips, so they can do no real damage and can afford to speculate on this occasion. To continue the analogy with the ‘big note’, in this case they are only spending their small change. When this same player ignores his low denomination chips and puts in large value chips, then beware – there is a very high percentage chance that the player has a strong hand. Their subconscious reasoning may be that ‘I will be getting these chips back anyway when I win the pot therefore I don’t need to put in small value chips. Also by putting in the high value chips the pot will be easier to count and the hand will be speeded up. I will get my reward sooner.’

Part 2

Semi-bluffs

This is an example of a player making a semi-bluff raise with a drawing hand. The hand is between Blackpool-based player Howard Plant and Peter (the Bandit) Evans.

Howard and Peter both call a flop containing KS, JH, 10S.

Peter has A – K and bets £400.

Howard has QS, 4S and raises to £1000 (Howard has a very strong drawing hand, he is drawing to both flush and straight); this is a semi-bluff raise.

Peter re-raises, putting himself all-in, and Howard calls.

Fourth street brings a KC giving Peter three kings and Howard still has his draw.

Fifth street is a 5H meaning that Peter wins and Howard’s draw has been unsuccessful. Howard’s hand was actually a slight favourite on the flop, but this example illustrates the fact that sometimes both players in a heads-up situation can play optimally and eventually the result is a matter of luck.

Judgement Calls

This hand features Howard Plant. His opponent this time is Charalambos Xanthos, otherwise known as Bambos, a restaurant and hotel owner, now based in London. Bambos is very calm and methodical at the poker table; nothing seems to faze him. This is an example of Bambos making a judgement call.

Howard bets £300 with 9-8.

Bambos raises to £900 with A-Q and Howard calls.

The flop comes K-7-6.

The board is completed with no more betting to make K-7-6-J-J.

Neither player has any sort of a hand, but Howard tries a bluff with a bet of £900 (it’s the only way that Howard can win the pot which by this time is worth a lot of money).
Bambos, however, calls with only an ace high to win the pot, Bambos demonstrated excellent card- and player-reading skills.

Slow Playing

This is an example of a player slow playing top trips. The hand is between Hamish Shah and Tom Gibson. Hamish is a stockbroker based in London. Although he’s been playing regularly for ten years, he says he plays mostly as a pastime. Tom is from County Kildare, Ireland, and is a former civil servant who currently lives in Dublin. Tom has given up the civil service and now plays poker for a living.

In this pot, Hamish has A-A and raises the pot to £100, Tom calls with A-J.

The flop brings AC, 10C, 7H and fourth street a 6S.

Tom bets £200 with his ace-good kicker and Hamish calls. Here Hamish is slow playing his monster hand (trip aces), but note he is taking a risk in potentially lettingTom draw for a flush or straight.

Fifth street brings a KS.

Tom checks and Hamish bets £200. Tom calls and Hamish wins the pot.

Lending Money This is the next worst thing to borrowing money. By all means make up your own mind about it, but remember the odds are poor for getting paid back. Even when you do get the money back it can lead to undesired results. I once loaned someone £50 and sure enough I got it back, but a few days later I was asked for a loan of it again. It was repaid again, but asked for again, and so it went on until eventually I did not know who owned the £50 – me or the person who had borrowed it and seemed to have it more often than I did. In fact, eventually the person was asking me for the loan of his £50. So a good rule is:
Don’t lend money, it is an even quicker way to lose friends than borrowing money!

Mistakes The winner in the long term is the player who makes least mistakes. So when luck is against you, stay calm and play your normal game. If you lose your cool you will start to play badly and make more mistakes.

Novices You should never bluff a novice – they don’t know the true strength of their own hand and are too likely to call.

Over the Top No, it is not being totally outrageous – in poker parlance it means re-raising an original raise. In particular, it usually refers to re-raising someone you think is bluffing. So if you think someone is ‘on the steal’ (bluffing), and you and this opponent have both got lots of chips, why not try going over the top. Beware though – it is best done against only one opponent, if there is a third party that person may have a legitimate hand.

Power Play Power play is a term used to describe playing hands in an aggressive way. There are different styles of aggression and different times when it is appropriate to be aggressive. Some players like to play aggressively with hands like A-A, K-K and A-K – that is, raise and re-raise by the amount of the pot or more if it is no-limit play. Other players will raise to reduce the field at a loose table before the flop, as the value of one’s hand goes down the more callers there are, but they will take the risk and not re-raise hoping that they will get a caller after the flop. This second tactic is more risky. In most cases, it is probably best to use power play and re-raise. Some players don’t like to be pushed around and will always come ‘over the top’ and re-raise with these hands. An aggressive style of play is most generally considered to be the winning way. But it is not the only way so don’t be a slave to dogma and try to develop your own style.

Rocks A rock is the type of player who only enters a pot with the very highest grade of hand. You can easily spot rocks because they tend to sit a long time without playing a hand. An average player might play one in three hands, whereas a rock will play one in ten. Be very wary if this type of player enters the pot with you and be even more wary if the rock says something like ‘let’s gamble’. What the rock means is for you to gamble because be assured in this case that the rock will have a premium hand. By the way, a ‘rock garden’ is where there is a whole table of rocks. My best advice here is if you see a rock garden, make a run for the door!

Selection of Hands It’s the cards you don’t play that make you a winner – you must know when to throw them away.

Slow Playing This is where you bet a small amount with a strong hand in order to get more players into the pot and to deceive them as to the strength of your hand. It is often a bad strategy unless you have a blockbuster of a hand. Therefore, always make your opponent ‘fold’ or ‘pay to play’, never give a free card. It is often said that you can slow play a nut flush but not a nut straight.

Tight Play This means playing conservatively and only getting involved with strong hands. It is generally the right strategy, but a better piece of advice is to play tight at a loose table and loose at a tight table. A loose player plays too many hands, perhaps as many as eight in every ten. The advantage of playing tight at a loose table is fairly obvious, it means you can exploit the other players weaker than average holdings. But what about playing loose in a tight game? Well in a tight game there is more opportunity to bluff and play with a bit of creativity and flair.

Weak Players There is a well-known saying in poker circles, ‘If you look round the table and have not spotted a mug within twenty minutes, then it has to be you.’
 

Previous

Before you think about sitting down at a poker table there are several fundamental things that you should keep in mind. If you forget them you will be at a disadvantage before you start. For the sake of helping you to remember let’s call these tips the guide to poker practice.

Alcohol Alcohol does not help you play better; it only makes you enjoy losing (that is until you wake up in the morning). So, your first guiding principle should be: Don’t drink and play.

Bankroll Poker players call the money they use to play poker with their ‘bankroll’. There is a saying in poker circles’ don’t play with scared money’ – that is, don’t play with money you cannot afford to lose. If you do you are liable to play’scared’ and not give of your best. Believe me on this one, it is very difficult to call a bet when you know that if you lose you won’t eat next week. This leads us to guiding principle number two: Play poker, particularly cash poker, only with money you can afford to lose.

Borrowing Money This is related to the point on bankroll. If you lose all of your playing cash don’t borrow from other players. Remember that there will always be another game tomorrow and you don’t have to reach into your pocket for more money, or worse still borrow from friends. If you do start on this route you will soon run out of friends. It is not often I get a chance to quote Shakespeare, but this one is from Hamlet: ‘Neither a borrower nor a lender be; for loan oft loses both itself and friend, and borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry. This above all to thine own self be true.’

Control It is important to have the discipline to be able to get up from the poker table if things are going badly and just go home a loser. If you are playing in poker tournaments do so with the intention of limiting the number of re-buys you have and exercise control. Thus, the fourth guiding principle is to have control of your emotions. Not many players are good at controlling their self¬destructive urges – if you can, you will immediately have an edge over your rivals at the poker table.

Cheating Deceit is an integral part of playing poker. In many ways it’s what makes the game interesting, but it can spill over into cheating. Games run in European and US casinos are well managed and as a result cheating is rare at the poker table, but it does happen. Therefore, be wary, especially in home games. One form of cheating which is very difficult for the casinos to spot and hence to control is collusion between two or more players. This is where players are playing out of the same bankroll and may be communicating with each other via signals. So be vigilant.

Do’s and Don’ts Do bet weak hands at high-stakes poker if you think there is a good chance you will not be called, but don’t call with the same strength of hand. By betting in the first place your opponent indicates he has a strong hand. Another similar rule of thumb is don’t call a bet unless you would call a raise.

Guard Your Hand I mention this one in the section on rules. Occasionally, a dealer will think a hand has been passed, because the player has seemed to push it away. These hands will be scooped up and put in with the other discards and the cards cannot be retrieved. It is each player’s responsibility to guard his own cards. This can be done by being alert and/or putting a chip on top of live hands. Take care though that this behaviour does not produce any tells.

Home Games You can leave casino games whenever you feel like it – you are under no obligation to play on, even if you are a big winner. Remember if it had been the other way round and you had lost all of your money you would have had to leave. However, some home games have rules (often not overtly stated) requiring winners to play on for a specified time. Usually, a winner will declare that he is going home in an hour’s time or whatever. This is no bad thing in home games as most do not have a lot of players and games can break up if a few winners leave. In any case, if someone comes into a home game, plays a few hands, wins a big pot and then leaves ten minutes later, believe me that person will not be popular. Do it two weeks in a row and you will never be invited back.

Part 2

Your Hand                 Flop

KC, KH                      QD, 6H, 3S

Any time you have an overpair to the flop it is usually favourable. You should get plenty of action from anyone holding a queen with a good kicker. The only real danger on this flop is trips. If somebody raises you, it’s a judgement call on your part which of the two they have – queen with good kicker or trips.

Your Hand                 Flop

8D, 8H                      KH, 8S, 3S

This is an excellent flop. Only three kings beat you at this stage. If somebody has three kings, there’s really nothing you can do except lose your money. Only world champions are capable of throwing away middle set in Texas Hold ‘Em. If someone bets, raise. If you bet and are raised, you might as well put all your money in and hope they put theirs in. If they’ve got a flush draw, you’re about a 3 to 1 favourite to win. Good luck.

Your Hand                 Flop

AS, KS                       AH, 8D, 3S

Any flop to ace-king containing either an ace or a king is generally favourable. If you bet in this example, many players with A-Q or A-J (or even A-10 or A-9) will raise, giving you an ideal opportunity to get all your money in with only a slim chance of being outdrawn. The main danger here is somebody playing an A-3 suited or an A-8 suited. Since a lot of players will play any ace, you’ll often run into two pair. Remember also that whenever an ace flops, there’s always a chance of a straight on the next card. (This is because the ace plays at the high and low end of a straight. If you don’t believe me, put out a flop containing an ace and any two random cards. You can always find a card that will complete a straight). So, in general, play your hand strongly to discourage people drawing against you.

Your Hand                  Flop

KS, QS                       QD, 9S, 5S

Here you have top pair with a good kicker and a king-high flush draw. Although you don’t have the best possible kicker, or the best draw, because you have both covered you can never be drawing dead. In other words, if somebody is playing against you with the ace-flush draw, you don’t want a spade to fall, but your queens are winning. On the other hand, if someone has ace-queen or trips, you are behind, but you have a lot of cards that can win the pot for you.
This two-way hand illustrates a general principle. If you are considering committing all your chips (in a tournament or cash game) try to pick a spot where, if you are behind, you still have a fair chance to win. A good example for not committing all of your chips would be the following:

Your Hand                   Flop

AS, AC                        9D, 8D, 7D

If an opponent bets into you here, what should you do? If it were for my whole stack, I would pass. It’s true you may be ahead. He may have only the bare ace of diamonds, or a hand like 10-9, giving him a pair and straight draw. In these cases, you still have a good chance to win. However, if he has a flush or a jack -10 for a straight, you are almost dead. In a situation where you are either slightly ahead or way behind, pass. It doesn’t matter that you’ve got pocket aces which are the very best starting hand you can get, just pass them – it’s allowed.

Your Hand                   Flop

6S, 5S                         JH, 5D, 5C

Here you’ve flopped the bottom two pair. This is probably winning, but you must play your hand on the flop. If there’s a bet, that player probably has a jack or an overpair. You’re winning, so get your money in. The worst thing that can happen to your hand is for another jack to fall on fourth street. If that happens, your two pair are worthless (actually you’ve got three pair) and, if there’s a bet, you must pass. In addition, any connecting card to the jack (8 through queen) is dangerous as is an ace. So raise and hope your opponent passes. If your opponent does call and one of these cards falls on fourth street, be careful – your opponent may have made two pair.

Your Hand                    Flop

AS, 10S                        10D, 10H, 3C

This is a big flop to your hand. You have trips with the best kicker and it is very unlikely that a player will have stayed with a 10-3. Hopefully, you’ll get action from somebody with K -10, J -10 etc. Few players will lay down the other 10 in these circumstances and you have little chance of being outdrawn. Your only real worry is somebody with pocket threes who has turned what is described as the ‘underfull’ (full house to the lowest card on the flop). If that happens there is not much you can do about it, so it’s back to the drawing board.

Aces, kings and queens before the flop, although great to have, can sometimes present problems in terms of playing them optimally. Queens in particular are another classic Hold ‘Em trap hand which many inexperienced players tend to overplay. If another player raises before the flop, it is OK to call with two queens, but re-raising is asking for trouble in a pot-limit or no-limit game. If the raiser has aces or kings, you are a big underdog and if he has ace-king, a likely hand for him, you are only a slight favourite. In a tournament, if you were down to a short stack (i.e. had very little money or chips left) or your opponent had a short stack re-raising wouldn’t be wrong but I don’t encourage it. Everything I have said about queens applies with even more emphasis to a pair of jacks. Those players who are desperate to get all their money in before the flop with a pair of jacks are putting their bankroll in serious jeopardy.
Kings are safer, but can still be a tricky hand to play. A raise from another player normally merits a re-raise to shut out the rest of the field but what if he then raises again? Unless he is a maniac, he probably has aces, or maybe ace-king. If you are playing a tournament, especially a freeze-out tournament, it is questionable play to commit all your money early on before the flop with two kings against an all-in raiser.
My own experience of holding two kings has been mixed. Four times in two years in tournaments and cash games, I re-raised with two kings and was immediately re-raised. None of my opponents were particularly tricky players. In each case, I was about 90 per cent sure I was up against pocket aces. But two kings is a tough hand to throwaway. All four times, I called, against my better judgement, and each time my opponents had aces. Of course, maybe I’m just unlucky. You sit there all night never being dealt two cards that hang together. Finally, after four hours, two kings come along. You raise, he re-raises. You put all your money in and, sure enough, you end up looking at two aces.
So it is an option to pass or fold two kings, just don’t tell anybody you’re doing it! Just throw them in quietly without making a fuss. If you show your hand to your opponent, you are telling him that you are giving credit for aces, which he might not have had. Also, the other players at the table might think you are playing too cautiously or conservatively (to use poker vernacular, ‘too tightly’) and start bluffing you out of pots.
What about aces? It is wonderful to be dealt A-A as your two hole cards, but do you put all your money in or not? Remember that, in a tournament, staying in is the most important thing, so I’d be more inclined to play A-A aggressively. For example, if one player raises and another calls, I would almost always re-raise, but against only one player, I’d be more tempted to just call, which is a deceptive play and will lead your opponent to think you have a lesser hand. Aces usually want only one player to play against. If you’re against three or four, there is every chance one of these players will hit something on the flop to beat you.
Some of the best players I’ve seen are players who have just called with aces behind a raiser. They are hoping the raiser gets a little help on the flop. Say he might have a king-queen. If a king or a queen comes on the flop, the raiser will probably bet. The player can now raise with the A-A and hopefully win a big pot. If the player had re-raised immediately before the flop, the original raiser (if he’s a half-decent player) would probably have thrown his hand away.
The drawback here, of course, is that the original raiser might get too much help on the flop and hit the front. If the flop came king-queen-three, in the above example, probably only a world-class player would be able to get away from A-A without serious damage.
But really the main ‘purpose’ of having two aces in Texas Hold ‘Em is to have them beaten, so that you can have a ‘good’ hard luck story (called a’bad beat story’) to tell your fellow players at the bar!

Previous

What to Do after the Flop’s Out

1.lf you have nothing, get out.
This simple rule will save you a lot of money over your poker-playing lifetime. But a lot of players violate it. If you have queen-jack of hearts, a good starting hand, and the flop is the king of diamonds, and the 6 and 3 of spades, get out. Throw your hand away and wait for the next hand.

2. If you don’t have much, get out.
This is a harder rule to follow than the previous one but it’ll probably save even more money. For example, you have a 9D, 8D and the flop is QC, 8H, 3D, i.e. all of different suits (called a ‘rainbow flop’). The optimist in this position sees a pair and a back door flush draw. But if someone bets the pot, representing a pair of queens, or better, where are you? You need to hit a 9 or an 8 for an immediate improvement, which still may not win. If a diamond comes, that gives you a four flush, but your opponent, if he’s a quality player, is likely to bet the pot again. Do you want to call a pot-size bet with only one card to come? I suggest not.
After the flop, you have seen five cards out of seven or 70 per cent of your hand. It is usually a weak play to call on the flop, only to pass on fourth street if there’s another bet.
As a general rule, then, inside straight draws, back door flush draws, second or third pair, or even top pair with a weak kicker, are better off in the muck (that is, you are better to pass them). Of course, if you have a strong suspicion your opponent may not have a solid hand or is attempting a bluff, that’s a different matter.
David Sklansky introduced the concept of semi-bluffing into the language of poker and it is now part of the lexicon of table talk. This is a hand that you are betting with which you hope will not be called, but if it is called, still has a chance to win. So, in the hand above, for example, you might bet your pair of 8s as a semi-bluff if your opponent checks to you, showing weakness. You hope he folds, but if he doesn’t you still have a number of ways to win. This is better than a pure bluf( where you have no hand at all. If your opponent calls in the latter case, you know for sure you have lost your chips. Note that a semi-bluf( by definition, can only be made if there are still cards to come, as you are hoping your hand will improve.

3.lf you’ve hit something, and you like it, bet it.
Say you’ve played a small pair and now you’ve hit trips. You should usually bet here. For example, if you’ve played pocket 4s (two 4s in the hole), and the flop comes 10-9-4, I would definitely bet. This applies particularly if two suited cards come on the flop which means somebody might have a flush draw. If you checked this type of hand and the next card is, say, the jack of the same suit, your three 4s don’t look so good any more (the jack could have made your opponent a flush or a straight). It’s always tempting when you flop a big hand, to check and hope somebody else bets, or check and hope somebody catches something on fourth street that gets them involved. But unless you are against a very aggressive player, who nearly always bets if he is checked to, it is usually safer to bet to protect your hand. If you get raised, of course, you have to re-evaluate your hand – it might be second best, but don’t let the fear of being raised stop you from betting.

Position means how far round the table you are in relation to the dealer. The nearer the dealer you are (on the dealer’s right), the better off you are. The dealer has the best position of all as he gets to act last on each betting round (except the first).

Having to act first is a major disadvantage in Hold ‘Em. Say you have raised with an ace-jack, and have hit nothing on the flop. What do you do if you are first to speak? If you bet out, you take the risk of being raised by those behind you who have made good hands. If you check, those behind may bet forcing you to fold. However, if you had that same ace-jack on the button things are vel)’ different. If you make a strong hand, you are forcing the others to ‘bet into you’ (i.e. bet before your turn to act) and if you flop nothing, and somebody bets, you can then pass, risking nothing.
Generally then, the earlier your position, the better your hand needs to be before you should enter the fray. In a tough game, with many people raising before the flop, expect to’pass’ (i.e. fold) nearly all your hands in the first two seats in a full game. Ace-jack and ace-10 offsuit, for example, are definite non-starters here. As are ace-small suited and small pairs (say 6s and below). If you call with two 6s and somebody raises you, what do you do? If you call him, you are seven to one against to make trips on the flop. Anything else and you’ll have to check (unless you attempt a bluft), thus handing the initiative to your opponent! He does not even need a pair to bet. He has position and this is all that is needed.
If you do call with, say, ace-jack suited or ace-queen, in an early position, and a solid player raises you, I would recommend folding because there are too many uncertainties. If an ace comes, do you bet into him or not? He might have ace-king. Better not to get into this dilemma in the first place. I am not advocating tight or conservative play here, just solid, sensible play, which is something completely different.

The Flop and Beyond

The person who invented Hold ‘Em came up with a fantastic idea in deciding that the first three cards should be dealt at the same time. This means that the flop is the defining moment in the hand. In five or seven-card stud, where cards are dealt one at a time, the value of your hand changes slowly. In Hold ‘Em, a strong hand before the flop can be made almost worthless on the flop, while an innocuous-looking hand before the flop can turn into a monster. Hence the expression often heard around Hold ‘Em tables, ‘any two cards can win’. So, 7-deuce? (Deuce is a term for 2.) No problem, but only if the flop comes 7-7 -deuce. In reality, any two cards can win, but it is much more likely that A-A will win than say 7 -4 and it is on the likelihood or chance of a win that you risk your money.

Part 2