The ability to put yourself in someone else’s shoes isn’t something that most players even think about. They ask the question “What does my opponent usually do?” This is the wrong question. The right question to be asking is “Why does my opponent do what he does?” If you try to put yourself in your opponents shoes and discover how they’re thinking rather than just what they’re thinking you’ll find many more ways to take advantage of them.

In online poker, a lot of players tend to treat their opponents like robots, as if they will always play hands the same way and always tend to do the same sorts of things. I’m even guilty of it myself and have been burned when a player does something that seems inconsistent with his previous behavior. Obviously when someone’s tilting that changes their play considerably but think about yourself and how much the quality of your play can change depending on how you’ve been doing for the past orbit/day/week/month and . Trying to figure out how your opponent is feeling at the time you’re playing against him can be exceptionally helpful.

An example – I was recently playing in a rebuy tournament where I was fairly deep and one of the other players was a multitabling grinder who I’ve played with quite a bit and respect. We both had decent stacks of about 35 bbs. In the past orbit, he had opened twice and, even though he opens with a fairly tight range, been shoved on and folded both times. My rather extensive notes on him said that he only calls three bets or shoves w/ a very tight range. However, I tried to think about how I feel when I open with decent hands and get shoved on repeatedly. I’m a very emotionally stable player but I get extremely frustrated when this happens and, despite the fact that in all likelihood the other players had strong hands, I feel like I’m getting pushed around. So for the next orbit the villain didn’t play a single hand, leading me to believe that he was not at all tilty. Then the following orbit he opened utg +1 for a standard 3x the bb raise and it folded to me in late position w/ AA. Normally against a tight player whose notes say “Won’t call three bets lightly” I’m fairly unlikely to get all this players chips by reraising unless he happens to have a big hand as well. I may even flat-call to try to induce a squeeze play from the blinds and disguise my hand vs. the raiser. However, knowing that he likely felt pushed around and at least a little frustrated I just shoved for a huge overbet of about 12t imes the size of his raise and he snap called w/ AQ offsuit. I never would have been able to put myself in this great position without trying to understand how my opponent was feeling and how that was likely to effect the way he played his hand.

As important as this concept is for online poker, it’s much more important for live poker. People seem, for whatever reason, to have a harder time consistently playing their A game in live poker. In my local cardroom, I frequently see skilled internet players come in and play well for a couple hours before losing their discipline for any of a number of reasons and losing all their money .

So many factors contribute to how well a given player will play when they sit at the table. If you strive to understand what those factors are and exactly how they will affect a player then you’ll be much better equipped to capitalize on the particular mistakes they will make. One of the most common situations you’ll see occurs when a player has had to wait awhile to get into the game. These players will often play much looser than they normally for the first several orbits. I know that when I have to wait that long I get impatient and my inclination is to play a ton of hands, so it follows that others are likely to feel that way too. I can realize that and make sure I don’t make the mistake, but most people in the cardroom are playing recreationally and aren’t likely to stop themselves from playing too loose. When I see someone who has had to wait for awhile I tend to make my bets bigger in the hands against them and value bet more thinly because they’ll often show up with hands like king four suited that they limped in early position with and then couldn’t get away from top pair to a bet on every street. Players that won a good amount in their last session tend to make the same kinds of errors; they likely hit a lot of draws or had their big hands hold up in their previous session and they think they’re “running good” so you can get away with making bigger bets than normal when you think they’re on a draw and they’ll still call you.

A key aspect of using empathy to your advantage is that you can expect a move based on how your opponent is thinking or feeling despite having no evidence of them using that move previously. The most glaring example of this for me happened just recently with a player who had been beating the game consistently for about six months but had always stayed out of my way and had never, as far as I could tell, bluffed me or tried to make a hero call against me. For a little while he had been comparing stacks with me and asking me how much I’d won the previous week and generally trying to get into a competition with me about who was the better player. I didn’t want to get involved in that so I’d always just say “I’m doing fine” or something to that effect. It seemed clear that he wanted to impress me, so I thought about how I’d play if I wanted to impress someone else. The two most obvious things would be to either make a big bluff and show it or make a big hero call against that player. If I had just been thinking like a lot of players think and only asked the question “What does this player do?” I never would have been looking for a spot where he would do either of those things against me. But because I was asking “Why does he do what he does?” I was able to be on the lookout and, sure enough, pick off a huge three barrel bluff he tried against me w/ ace high on a raggy board in a spot where I would have surely folded.

If you pay close attention to how your opponents are thinking and feeling you can find profitable situations that you wouldn’t have noticed otherwise. Taking this step can help you achieve a deeper understanding of the game and pad your bankroll as well.

I’ve always thought it fortunate that you don’t have to be a genius to play winning hold ‘em. As complex and mystifying as the game can be, it’s not rocket science. You can go a long way in this game on the strength of common sense, experience, and a healthy dose of discipline. Though the poker book industry would probably disagree, I don’t think there’s much in the way of basic strategy that any reasonably intelligent player can’t eventually figure out for himself.

Moreover, there’s a lot to be said for independent learning. It’s one thing as a beginner to read about say, the “gap concept” which holds that a player needs a much better hand to enter a pot after someone else has raised than to open raise himself, or the “sandwich concept” which states that a player needs a better hand to play if there are others yet to act, but it’s quite another to come to these conclusions on your own, especially when they arise as a consequence of some sort of insight during the heat of battle.

I’ve been playing limit hold ‘em for some years now, and I’ve had any number of these poker epiphanies, flashes of strategic insight that illuminate the game from the inside out, rather than from the outside in as is the case when reading a text book, each one leading to lasting and often substantial improvement.

This is not to say that it’s a bad idea to read poker books. To the contrary, they’re an indispensable aid to speeding up what’s an often excruciatingly slow learning process. If nothing else, they give you the conceptual tools, the language, to begin thinking in productive ways about a difficult and elusive game. What I am saying however is that it’s frequently the case that a player doesn’t truly own a strategy, or a strategic concept, unless and until he arrives at it independently, as a product of his own hard-earned experience.

When I first started playing hold ‘em for example, I was an habitual cold caller. I’d read that cold calling was a losing play, but I didn’t really get it. The starting standards I often encountered seemed so loose that I found it difficult to chuck hands like KQ or ATs when the raiser might really have anything at all, including pure garbage. But by the same token, I instinctively felt that these hands were not strong enough to 3-bet.

Then one day I cold called an early raise with AQ, missed the flop, then meekly folded to my opponent’s bet. I’d made this embarrassingly fishy play many times before I’m sure, but now a light came on. Here I was, with position and for all I knew the best hand, and yet I was setting myself up to lose by making it necessary to hit the flop. The big problem of course is that most of the time I wasn’t going to hit that flop.

But then again, neither was my opponent. Why not 3-bet no matter what my holdings, and for a change force the other guy to catch a card? And as a bonus, why not knock the blinds out in the process? For me, it was a moment of penetrating clarity, and from that time to this I could probably count on the fingers of one hand the number of times I’ve cold called a raise.

As I’ve said, far from rocket science, and yet a difficult enough concept to put into practice, especially for a beginner, and I was now in possession of it much more solidly than had I simply taken some poker writer’s word for it. The notion that one should generally either fold or 3-bet was mine forever because I’d earned it, because I had in some sense discovered it for myself.

Here’s another example of a strategic epiphany, this one having to do with betting for value on the river. This has always been a tough spot for me, as it is with many players. Not only is one forced to juggle several competing ideas at once, but betting the river can be emotionally hazardous as well. For lots of otherwise decent players, there’s no bigger leak than the habitual failure to make river bets.

Let’s say I have a hand like J5s in the BB and call the Button’s open raise. The flop is J74 rainbow. I check-raise the flop, bet the turn when a Q falls, then hesitate as another scare card comes in the form of a K. This can seem like quite a difficult position and many players, including an earlier incarnation of myself, habitually check here. Once in a while the button will bet a weaker hand and you’ll earn a bet anyway, but more often he’ll check behind unless he’s got a winner.

One day with a sudden flash of insight it occurred to me that checking in this situation was an especially poor play because not only was I never getting the money in when I had the best of it, I was always paying off when I had the worst of it. Over time, I realized, this had to be costing me a fortune as the only action I was getting was negative action. I can’t say that I still don’t occasionally miss a river bet because I do, but since that single helpful insight I’ve done a much better job of betting the river.

Sometimes poker epiphanies can take on a less specifically tactical tone in favor of a more general, almost philosophical flavor. One of these for me was the suddenly deeper appreciation of the fact that my opponent only has two cards. In other words, a scary board is not at all a guarantee that my opponent has a strong hand. Sure, in the previous example he might have a K, or a Q, or even AT, but he also might well have A7, A4, a losing pocket pair or simply A high. It’s a thin bet, yes, but that’s my point. Those bets add up. Over time they’re going to make a substantial difference to your bottom line.

Part of what makes poker such a great game is that the learning process never ends. And while I don’t mean to give poker texts short shrift….they’re a vital part of every poker players development….there’s really no substitute for experience. When that experience yields a sudden flash of understanding, some unforgettable moment of clarity and illumination, there’s not a more rewarding feeling in all of poker.

There are few skills more critical at a poker table than the ability to take small pieces of information about your opponents and to extract from those pieces larger conclusions about how they’re likely to play. One thing to consider when you’re attempting to generalize about your opponents is the fact that people are prone to act very differently at unique points within a single session.

Understanding some basic truths about common tendencies that players exhibit during different stages within a session can present unique opportunities for profit, while failure to recognize a player’s identity shifts can leave you acting on outdated information. Most importantly, paying attention to the impact that session stages have on your opponents can yield useful insights regarding your own play.

For the purposes of this article, we’ll break a typical session into 3 stages: warm up, game time and wind down. Obviously, this is a broad schema, but it’ll do the trick for our purposes. We’ll take each stage in order and break down how to tell when a player’s in a given stage, the factors that are likely to force a player from one stage to the next, and what you can assume about your opponent’s play within each stage.

Session Stage One: The Warm Up.

The warm up is generally a short stage for most players, usually lasting a couple of orbits. During this stage, players are likely to play a bit more conservatively than usual as they settle into the game. For most people, a lack of comfort makes them more risk averse, and sitting at a table with 9 strangers and trying to stop them from taking your money isn’t exactly the most natural setting for a lot of folks. Players in the warm up stage are generally reluctant to play large pots, will generally pass on marginal situations and are likely to be willing to wait for a better hand than usual before they open a pot for a raise. Players in the warm up stage are also likely to be paying extra attention to how you play, and forming strong opinions about you based on what moves you make at this stage of the session.

Some players skip the warm up stage entirely and jump right into game time. Common types who are likely to jump right in: drunk people, players who have just busted out of a tournament, people who have been on the list a long time, people who have come from table games (look for odd chip denominations like $25 chips in a 1-2 no limit game).

Session Stage Two: Game Time

How do you know when someone’s moved out of the warm up stage? It’s different for everyone. For some players, it’s simply a matter of time; other players don’t seem to really enter a game until they win or lose a significant pot (or a pot of any size). Some players wait until drinks or food arrive, and some don’t really start playing until an opponent they perceive as a target enters the game. Whatever the motivation, you’ll be able to notice the change in their attitude – they’ll become more talkative, more engaged. They might increase their buy in, order a drink, or even come right out and make comments about how “it’s time to play.”

Game time is by far the longest of our three stages, making up the majority of the session for most players. As players settle into this stage, their play is likely to open up. As people become more comfortable, they become more confident and generally more aggressive. This isn’t to say that people are going to magically transform into LAGs after an hour at the table; rather, it just suggests that you can just expect most players to become more exaggerated versions of the player they were during the warm up stage. An important exception to this rule: some players will actually become much tighter in this stage of the session, as they’ve resolved to “wait their turn” for a big hand. These types of players can usually be spotted by their tendency to pay attention to the television, a magazine, or conversations with other players – anything but the game itself.

Session Stage Three: The Wind Down

The signs that someone is moving into the wind down stage are usually pretty clear. You’ll get a lot of obvious verbal cues, like players announcing their intention to leave, commenting on the time (or some impending responsibility) or speaking about the session in the past tense. Some people do some pre-packing an orbit or two before they’re ready to bail. Other players announce their intention to exit by checking out of the game mentally – if you see a player who was intently following hand action an hour ago intently following college football on the television, chances are they’re just running out the clock.

How does entering this stage impact a player’s game? A lot depends on how they’ve done to that point. Players who are winners for the session generally loosen up in small pots but tighten up in large ones. Exploit this by isolating these players and building large pots quickly. Pushing strong draws against these opponents is usually a very profitable strategy.

Players who are losers for the session are usually looking to catch up and are willing to make unreasonable gambles, especially if they think they can win a big pot. Plays that rely on fold vig to be profitable should be abandoned against these types of opponents, but your value betting range can safely be expanded, and over betting strong hands can be an insanely profitable strategy.

Break-even players are a little trickier to type, but a good rule of thumb is that the bigger an ego on a break-even player, the greater the likelihood that they’ll make a significant mistake at the end of a session in an attempt to generate the win they think they deserve. If you’ve got a strong sense that you’re up against a big-headed opponent who’s even for the session, be on the lookout for massive bluffs, and be careful about making such bluffs against them, as you’re likely to get picked off.

That’s our quick survey of the different stages of a typical session and the impact each stage can have on the behavior of your opponents. The more you think about sessions in these terms, the more you’ll discover about the natural rhythms and momentum that occur within a typical session. You’re also likely to learn valuable truths about your own play in relation to different points in a session. In the long run, this type of knowledge will give you a more robust perspective on your opponents – an advantage that you can carry into any game you play.

I’m flying high over the Grand Canyon with newbie rock gods Wolfmother, and we’re all about to die . . . OK, not exactly. My flight from Vegas to Denver IS somewhere near the Grand Canyon right now and the air IS a bit choppy. And I AM listening to Wolfmother on my IPod. If we did die, I wouldn’t be able to send this article to Chris. So why would I open this piece that way? I’m a big fan of the movie Almost Famous and I thought it’d be cool to pay homage.

In addition to soaring, I’m also wrapping up one hell of a poker book, Phil Gordon’s Little Blue Book. His wisdom is not for the beginning player as I think it will fall on deaf, inexperienced ears. Noobs just can’t ‘get it’ and some things he says could be taken out of context and put to disastrous application. But if you’re a mid-level player looking to hit another level, in my opinion Gordon has a lot to contribute to your game. My good friend and poker pro AaronC (occasional part time poker author and lounge fly in the PTP forums) said when he’s at the table, he can often hear Gordon’s words when he’s considering a tough decision. That’s strong, especially coming from a player as good as Aaron. Some pros, like PTP’s Chris think this book has little to offer experienced players. I disagree, as sometimes it’s important to be able to verbalize what you already know. And Gordon does that well.

In line with homage and stuff like that, in the Phil Gordon mode here’s some hand analysis from a two spots I was in during my recent trip to Vegas. In case you were wondering, I played mostly 2-5 no limit, bought in for $500 regardless if the cap was larger or unlimited, and maintained my sick Vegas time rate, averaging $133 and hour in that game.

Going home with money 78s vs AT

It’s relatively late on a Sunday night at the Bellagio. First hand of a 2-5NL cash game, I’m in for a max buy of $500 and everyone has me covered. I sit down in seat 6 and post my $5. I know NOTHING of the game, other than a lot of people are laughing, appearing to be having fun. My friend Candyman says that if he can get his table laughing and in a good mood, it’s going to be a very profitable night.

The guy on my left has half his chips in a rack and is looking for another for the other four stacks. Cards are dealt. A couple limpers come in and I look down and see AsTd, a pretty good hand for a post. Nothing worse than posting and seeing J2 off suit. I could raise and hope the limpers fold because they don’t know how I play. I could have a monster for all they know. But that’s a double-edged sword, I don’t know how they play either and AsTh isn’t a great hand. And there are three players behind me to act, so clearly a check seems appropriate. A couple more players enter the pot, including the guy on my left, and we see the flop 7 ways. Flop is 2 of spades, 9 of spades, Ten of spades. Jackpot.

I don’t have the nut flush now, but I’m drawing to it. I may be able to take this pot down, and as everyone in front of me checks, I could check and try to freeroll but I bet $30 into a $35 pot.

Why bet here? There’s a few reasons. My ten may be the best hand and I don’t want non-spade overcards to get there free. I may bet out the players who have position on me so I can act last on all betting rounds. If I’m up against a flush, he’ll likely protect it now with a raise, if not and he just calls, I’m setting my own price to ‘get there.’ I may, just may bet out top two pair who clearly has me killed but won’t feel good at any point in the hand with all these spades on the board. I may get called by a hand I dominate, like Ten Jack, Ten Queen, King Ten with a second best spade draw. Most importantly though, I’m new to the game and I want to develop an aggressive image. So I bet $30.

The guy on my immediate left, the guy who was getting ready to go home, pulls a stack from the rack and says “I raise to $80.” Everyone folds without any hesitation. Here’s what I’m thinking. The pot is $145 and I have to call $50 in to that, so I’m getting almost 3-1 on my call. By that time the pot will be $195. I’m out of position so he’ll determine the price I pay on the turn if I decide to call now and check when I miss.

But he’s racked up, moments from going home. And I know he doesn’t have the nuts.

“I reraise to $300 total.”

I’ve only got $200 more, so I’m definitely pot committing myself, representing a VERY strong hand. With this bet, I can also fire again on the turn, which as is a powerful weapon. An all-in on my part and he only has to make one decision. A big re-reraise followed by an all-in, that’s two tough decisions, two chances to get to fold the best hand.

As he lifts his cards from the table, he shows the guy on his left 78 of spades, a flush with an open ended straight flush draw. Yikes. “I really wanted to draw to that.” And he mucks. Boy, was I in trouble.

“You have the nut flush,” he asks? I expose my red ten and say ‘yep’ and get off to a nice start!

Key Analysis: When a player is about to leave with a profit for the night, consider increasing your fold equity percentages against him. Often enough, the guy who’s racked up is jacked up on logging a winning session even before it’s over.

Really going home with money KK vs 22

I can’t make this shit up and I SWEAR this actually occurred. A few hands later in the same game as I said before, 2-5 NL at the Bell in Las Vegas.

I’m under the gun with about $700 in front of me. I’ve actually had a few good hands since sitting down and have gotten the opportunity to play pretty aggressive from the get-go with good hands, taking down a few pots. That guy who mucked his flush is still talking about why he didn’t want to call the bet and he keeps insisting I had the Ace of spades in my hand (which I did). He’s simply waiting two more hands to leave, right before his big blind.

So, under the gun, I look down and see ducks 2 of hearts, 2 of spades. Because I believe I play significantly better on the flop and turn than my opponents, I’ll often play hands out of position. I limp with 22 because I’ll limp here with any medium pocket pair, JJ and QQ, AK off, and some suited one gapers if the game is good. My limp really says nothing about my hand.

The guy on my left pulls out a stack of red from his rack and raises to $25. Two people call and now it’s on me. I could try to reraise and take the pot down but 22 isn’t a hand I want to come over the top with. Also consider that I have to call $20 and the pot is $87. I’ll flop a set 11.8% of the time, or about 7.5:1. I’m getting almost 4.5:1 on my call, so I won’t have to make much after I flop a set (3:1, or about $60 more) to make this call mathematically right. However, this hand gives me the potential to make a lot more than the minimum.

I call.

Flop 9 hearts, 2 of clubs, 2 of diamonds.

Shit. I hate flopping quads like this because it’s so much harder to get paid when you play a lot of hands like I typically do in weak games. I get to represent a lot but when I flop a monster, people usually give me credit for having SOMETHING.

Normally, I lead out in to a multiway pot with quads hoping I can hook someone, because as I’ve heard so many times before “I didn’t think you had it because you bet right into me.” But here comes Gordon’s voice in my head “Poker isn’t about winning pots: It’s about winning as much money as you possibly can on the hands you decide to play” (Little Blue Book, page 15).

With the raiser on my immediate left, I think there’s a good chance he’ll continuation bet if I check. The guys between us may be able to call his bet with an over pair or a 9. Hell, they may try to represent a 2 or call with the intent of seeing what he does on the turn (but that’s a bit more sophisticated level of play than I give them credit for). I may be able to trap some of their dead money. I know if I bet out and he raises or calls, there’s no way in hell they’ll call unless they have 9s full, and if one does I’ll get his money barring a statistical anomaly.

Well, I know I have to get lucky and HOPE someone takes a shot at this pot or catches up on the turn. So I check.

“$125,” the original raiser says. Both of the other players fold. Shit. At least I’m getting a proper return on my $20 preflop investment.

Ok. Here’s where my skill kicks in. I have the stone cold, order me a shot of bourbon nuts. Now I have to figure out how much I can make off him and extract the maximum. I think for a second.

Enter inner monologue

So I ask “I thought you were going home WITH money.”

“Oh, I am,” he says.

Boom. That’s what I needed to hear. “I’m all in.”

“I call!” He shouts. He shows me KK and gives me the ‘I gotcha’ look.

When I show my quads the whole table gives out a “whoa!’ He has me covered and I double up. He simply passes me one of his racks of red and breaks down a stack from another rack to pay off the change.

“That’s it, I’m out,” he said.

I stepped up from the table after stacking my chips to see the floor about getting a breakfast comp. The guy in the ten seat gets up as well and walks beside me. “Why did you raise all in with quads? I’m new to the game but I’d have thought you’d want to barely raise him and keep him on the hook.”

Phil Gordon again enters my head. Trying hard to regurgitate his sage advice I say: “all my value was on the flop.” I know that guy didn’t get it; I know he didn’t understand what I was saying to him but that didn’t matter to me. I made the right read and my ridiculous, somewhat risky reraise got insta-called and I was on cloud nine, hours from enjoying Salmon lox and cream cheese on the Bellagio Breakfast Buffet.

Key Analysis: Players hate to make more than one big lay down a night to anyone, especially to the same guy. If you find yourself in the unique position of having ANOTHER monster hand against the same opponent, consider playing it EXTREMELY unconventional. Their confusion and eagerness to ‘get you’ often fogs their judgement.

So, I hope you’re motivated to read Phil Gordon’s books, maybe check out Wolfmother if you’re unfamiliar, and perhaps, just perhaps you’ll hit another level.

Awhile back I saw the movie 300 at the IMAX in the Palms Casino with two friends of mine. I’d never seen a Hollywood movie in IMAX, just educational titles like ‘To the Moon’ or ‘This Green Earth’ when I was, like, in grade school. Although I really didn’t care for the movie 300, seeing blood and war and naked women on a screen like that was a cool experience.

It’s worth mentioning because when I go on ‘poker trips’ to Vegas, Tunica, etc. I used to never do anything like that. Well, there’s not much to do in Tunica anyway but I never looked either. When I travel, I’m there to play and win. Period. I sleep, try to eat somewhere good and free, play a lot of poker, and occasionally I check my email. Well, alright, sometimes I do find myself in random casino spa, relaxing in the grotto.

Well it got me thinking. On poker trips, I play to win money, but when I come home I have fun and rest. That’s true. So, what else do I know is true for me, the professional poker player? About three weeks ago I started a list. And as I like my expressions to have themes, I wrote it with “The Meditations of Marcus Aurillieus” in mind.

So in no particular order (except the first and last one), here’s a little flesh, a little breath and my 54 reasons to rule all in poker. I hope you enjoy them.

The Meditations of Pokus Professionalius.

For the poker professional, I know these following things to be undisputed and true:

1. You can never win enough
2. Hold’em is a much better game when you don’t need the win
3. When you first get the urge to leave, leave
4. Never slow play a hand that can be out drawn IF you can’t fold to a large raise from a maniac when a scare card hits
5. Get in the habit of carrying only three buy-ins to a game
6. Writing about poker in any form (personal journal, for PTP!, etc) is an unequaled catalyst for positive self-development
7. Do not borrow money to play, even if you have the money near by; should you lose, by borrowing you’re only delaying the losing process
8. If all else fails, change tables; if that doesn’t work, take the night off!
9. Do not stray too far from your original career path or when you bust, you’ll really bust
10. Order the seafood salad or the wienerschnitzel at the Venetian in Vegas, you won’t be disappointed with either
11. When you flop quads, bet
12. On the river when you miss your draw, it can be right to bet
13. On the river when you miss your draw, it can be right to make a massive raise
14. On the river when you miss your draw, it can be right to call but not often enough to make it profitable
15. A big loss has more emotional impact on your psyche than a big win
16. You can play well for six days straight and in the last hour on the seventh day play so bad it ruins your week
17. Gunsmoke is one hell of a TV show
18. Some Harvard study implies that you play poker worse after a large meal, so give yourself an hour or so after the last bite, seriously. It’s science
19. Never drink alcohol when you play
20. When playing live, try not to drink ANYTHING when you have cards in front of you; subconscious needs can be a huge tell if you indulge at will
21. 90% of winning tournament players are big fish in the cash games I play
22. 5% of winning tournament players are smart enough not to play cash games
23. The other 5% of winning tournament players are scary enough to avoid at all costs
24. If you play poker profitably, you need an accountant NOW
25. If you play poker profitably, you need and never stop needing
26. As long as you play for a living, you will live with permanent jetlag
27. Once a hand of poker is played, it can never be played again
28. It’s cooler to quote Steve McQueen than Matt Damon, John Malkovich and/or Edward Norton
29. However, it’s cooler not to quote, and you can quote me on that. Or don’t, but “it be a lot cooler if ya did” – Wooderson, Dazed and Confused
30. Zen and the Art of Poker is not a poker book
31. Never reveal why you did what you did in the middle of the hand. Why you think the way you think is the biggest weapon you have
32. Listen! Players will tell you how to beat them
33. When playing heads up against a coke head, wait for him to run out of coke, then grind him some more. He can not beat his addiction as well as you
34. Never play a micro-limit JUST to hit the bad beat jackpot; it’s not worth your time
35. If you want to learn to play a new game, read at least three books specifically devoted to it; there’s so much crap out there, and so many opinions on how to play, it’s best to over due the education process when your money is at risk
36. If you want to play poker, play poker. If at the table you find yourself watching ESPN, go home. Your couch is much more comfortable
37. Speaking of ESPN, never watch poker on TV unless it’s High Stakes Poker
38. Embrace bad beats as you’d embrace every opportunity to flip a coin for a lot of money with a 70% edge or better. If you don’t embrace them, they will cost you your focus and your money
39. Losing when you’re 51-69% to win is NOT a bad beat
40. Losing when you’re 69-99% to win is NOT a bad beat
41. Bad beats are simply beats, ask for no sympathy and give none
42. Playing poker WILL make you lazier
43. World class poker players don’t get better cards than you, they just play them better more frequently
44. You can not give your heart to a woman and poker at the same time, unless she’s a better player than you
45. We enter the game at zero and without another source of income, we will return to zero several times over
46. You make your money off other’s mistakes. Your skill is what keeps you even in the meantime
47. Poker is a sprint, a marathon and not a race at all
48. It is a lot easier to lose than it is to win
49. In your efforts to stack the idiot, do not become the idiot
50. No limit poker is unique in that rarely is there only one correct way to play a hand on the turn
51. Once you own a man in a game, you always own him
52. It’s better to be unknown and un-owned
53. Remember that if you straddle, you significantly increase your variance in the game, and that can be good, bad and sometimes a lot of both
54. Some play for fun, for money, to socialize, to escape. Above all, know why you play

People give away a lot more with their chatter than they realize when they’re playing live poker – especially in tournaments, where people tend to loosen up with those around them (since they’re expecting to be there for a decent amount of time). While it’s impossible to ever be 100% sure of what a person means when they engage in table talk, there are a few general principles and generic situations that can help you properly interpret the words of your opponents.

– When people make a point of how willing they are to defend their blinds, especially if they have more than 10 BB’s in a tournament, they are generally tight and willing to fold their blinds without a very strong hand. By announcing their intention to defend, they’re tipping you off to how important the chips are to them. Raise it up if you have the chance.

– When people guess your hand, they’re giving you a lot of information about how they think about poker in general and more specifically about how they view you as a player. Pay careful attention to what hands opponents think you had in a particular spot. If you can start a friendly game of ‘guess my hand’ with your neighbor, great – just be sure not to give away anything useful.

– When people talk about their specific cards or hand, they’re usually telling a version of the truth. For example, if someone calls for a certain suit on the turn, it’s likely that they’re on some kind of draw but probably not the flush draw. If someone calls for certain cards to not hit on the river, they usually have a made hand already, but probably not a very strong hand.

– People are willing to comment on how hands played out if you’re a good neighbor. By starting a conversation about a particular hand, you can often get your neighbor to give up information about how he or she did play or would have played in a similar spot- especially if they’re a little chatty or proud of a play they made. .

– When people tell you the ‘truth’ about a hand more than a few hands after it happened, they’re usually actually telling you the truth. The further away you get from the hand, the more likely it is they’re actually telling the truth. This is extra-super-true if they were on tilt when the play in question happened.

– Some people always say ‘nice hand’ if you take down a pot without a showdown. Some people always say ‘nice bet’ in that situation. Some people choose between the two. Pay attention to those people, because which one they say to you in a given spot speaks volumes about how they are viewing you, and it’s information you’ll probably be able to use in the immediate future, especially in a tournament.

These are just a few quick examples of how to convert your opponent’s words into useful information at the poker table. The next time you play a live tournament, take off your ipod every few hands and strike up a small conversation with your neighbor. You might be surprised at what they’re willing to teach you if you’re just willing to listen.

You should generally start out by taking your opponent’s actions at face value, until they prove they will act otherwise. If you haven’t seen a player play yet and they bet, you should give them credit for a hand. Let another player find out if they are bluffing. You can get that information just as easily without risking any chips. Of course you may pick up something immediately in the hand that you feel gives you an instant read on someone, but if that doesn’t happen, wait for them to show you what kind of a player they are before making assumptions.

If you suspect a player is trying to be deceptive, but you are not sure how, remember that the default “acting” behaviour for amateurs is defined by the idea “weak means strong and strong means weak.” That is to say, an inexperienced player will usually act like they have a big hand consistently when they are bluffing, moving chips into the pot forcefully or staring straight at you, and act like they have a weak hand consistently when they want a call, saying call or raise very quietly or looking away. This is not always what these behaviours mean, but if your opponent is an unsophisticated poker player, this is usually the case.

Always be prepared to readjust your assessment of a player given new information. Some players will tell you everything about how they play in the first few minutes, others will take much longer, some players may seem inscrutable. Whichever is the case with your unfamiliar opponent, it is important to remain flexible. If he is using an advanced strategy, he may be able to take advantage of your assumptions about his play if you are not able to absorb and integrate new information.

Listen carefully to what your unfamiliar poker opponent says. Many players like to explain why they played a certain hand a certain way, and this can help inform you about what they are likely to do in the future. This could also be a deception, so remember it is only one piece of information, but it can be another way to put together the puzzle of the unfamiliar opponent.

Whether we like to admit it or not, winning the approval of others is a powerful need for everyone. Obviously, it matters more to some and less to others, but the fact remains that this basic social drive can alter the game plan for a session in several ways. The changes can range from very subtle to blatantly obvious – but they all carry negative repercussions for your performance at the table.

We’re going to briefly suggest a few ways that peer pressure gets you off an optimal game, and offer quick suggestions for countering the natural tendencies for wanting others to like and respect us. Hopefully this article will give you a few ideas to take with you to the table in your next session and get you thinking about how much of an impact the other players can have upon you – even when they’re not your opponent in a given hand.

Peer Pressure Makes You Act Faster

Why it happens: Let’s face it, there’s something cool in the quick action – it implies decisiveness, control, and a host of other characteristics we’d like to possess. Unfortunately, it all too often results in poor decisions that don’t take all the available information into account – and that’s a trade off that just isn’t worth it. It’s not just the ‘cool’ factor that drives us to make quick decisions – there’s also the very real, tangible feeling of impatience you get from other players at the table, especially the ones who aren’t involved and just want to move on to the next hand. People don’t like to feel like they’re annoying others, and when 8 other people are waiting on you, the stares and sighs can get to be a bit much.

How to check it: Try always taking a little longer to act. This will give you a better sense of how much time is actually passing when you think, will make taking your time seem like a natural act, and will condition the other players at the table to expect you to take a few seconds before you make your move, reducing their annoyance when you take a little longer for the big decisions. People might give you some static, but both they [and you] will get used to it pretty quickly.

Peer Pressure Over-Commits You to Pre-Flop Raises

Why it happens: So much of peer pressure is about power – by going along with the group, or by doing something that wins the approval of the group, you gain power. Back down in front of the group and you open yourself up to rejection and abuse – lessons we learned a long time ago on the playground. Now think about what happens when you raise preflop and someone calls – you’ve just picked a fight. When they stand up to you by betting into you on the flop or check-raising, you now face a situation where folding makes you seem [on some levels] weak – and all the more so because you picked the fight in the first place. Think of how much easier it is to lay down a bet that didn’t follow a preflop raise to a check-raise, or how less compelled you feel to take a stab at the flop when you didn’t raise the pot. Sure, there’s a little more money in the middle when you raise preflop, but rarely enough to justify the impulsive decisions players make to ‘protect’ their preflop raise [aka their image / ego] when another player challenges them on the flop.

How to check it: If this is a small problem for you, a deep breath will probably do the trick. However, if you find yourself consistently getting burned in this spot, you need to develop a safety valve. I suggest creating a checklist of factors that have to be met before you’re allowed to call a bet / raise in a hand where you raise preflop and forcing yourself to run through that checklist before making any move. Some things that might go on the list: Do I have reason to believe my opponent is bluffing? Do I have a good chance of improving in this hand? Do I have a plan for the next card if I get called or he bets again?

Peer Pressure makes You Personalize the Conflict of the Game

Why it happens: When someone lays a beat on you or makes a great play against you [or does both at once, as is sometimes the case] in the live play, it’s a lot easier to develop a mentality of playing for revenge, largely because you can put a face to your embarrassment, pain, whatever. This makes a huge difference – as mad as you can get at an invisible opponent online, it doesn’t begin to compare how pissed you can become at the living, breathing, visible opponent often just inches away from you. The fact that the person embarrassed you in front of the group creates a loss of face from your perspective that can only be erased by getting even – an eye for an eye and all that. Obviously, making decisions based on revenge is a generally terrible way to play poker and makes you very predictable and manipulable.

How to check it: This might sound odd, but try thinking about your opponents as seat numbers and nothing else. When I play online, the first thing I do is usually to turn off the avatars simply because I find that being able to think of my opponents as actual people lets me get angrier at them. Depersonalizing opponents in live play is tough, but it’s worth the work if revenge play is a big leak in your game.

Peer Pressure Makes You Buy In For More Than You’re Comfortable With

Why it happens: This is really only relevant to No Limit cash games, and especially relevant when there is no cap on the buy-in. No mystery about why this happens – sitting with a short stack feels weak. Especially in American culture, money equals power, and sitting without money at a table full of towering stacks can make you feel weak. The problem is that playing deeper than you want to or are used to can really jack your game in ways that you won’t understand until they happen.

How to check it: Make a firm decision before you get to the casino and stick with it. Keep your buy-in money in one pocket and your re-buy money in another, or don’t pull enough out for the re-buy until you need it [although having to go to the ATM has peer pressure implications all of its own]

Peer Pressure Makes You Feel Like You Have to Give Action Early

Why it happens: When you first sit down at a table, you’re the new thing – so it feels, accurately, like people are paying more attention to you than the rest of the players at the table. There’s a sort of ‘spotlight’ mentality that kicks in – all those eyes trained on you make it feel like you need to do something to establish yourself (roughly the poker equivalent of dogs pissing to mark territory). This feeling that you’re being tested can lead to rash decisions based more on a desire to ‘prove’ yourself than sound logic and rationality. There’s no doubt something to the idea that a loose move or two early can give your opponents the wrong idea for the whole session, but even those spots can be carefully chosen.

How to check it: Walk in with a clear plan dictating how you plan to play for the first round – the more of a problem you have with stage jitters, the more rigid your plan should be. Make solid, conservative decisions about what hands you are willing to play preflop and wait until you calm down to open up your game a bit.

Postscript

No one likes to admit that other people have an influence on their actions, but like it or not, they do – you might be less open to influence than some, but I’ve never met a person who escapes it entirely. The bad news is that newer poker players are more vulnerable than most. The good news is that once you’ve come to terms with how peer pressure impacts your game, not only will you have plugged some leaks that are hurting your bottom line – you’ll also be able to spot those leaks in others and exploit them.