Poker Skills or People Skills

 By Allen L. Spath

Okay, we all do it, some better than others, but nevertheless we all approach a table with our eyes darting from player to player, checking out their body language, their regalia and eventually their chip stack. In an instant we form impressions (some completely wrong), as we begin processing the much-needed data to achieve a winning session. Along with watching how an opponent plays their cards, we continually analyze and explore every detail sitting right before our eyes. Poker isn't about cards, it's about PEOPLE!

What's the first thing that enters your mind when you see a twenty-year-old sitting to the right of you? He is on the edge of his seat flipping chips in his hand, as his head pivots non-stop in a 360-degree motion, with a cigarette hanging from his lips and a cold beer held tightly in his left hand. I see inexperience, stupidity, impulsive behavior and a sure fire trap victim. He personifies the person showing little patience, little or no bankroll, wanting to make it happen right now and not willing to wait on the proper cards to take down a huge pot.

Or how about the "seasoned" lady sitting to his right. You know, the one who needs a dust buster to occasionally wave over her chip stack to let everyone know that the pile in front of her is not just a dust mound. Are those long wrinkles stretching across her forehead just from worry or her age? Or could they represent the numerous lengthy winning sessions she logs at everyone else's expense!

You will see a myriad of faces, disguises, getups and oddball personalities at the poker table. It is your job to sort everything out and start extracting money, knowing their weaknesses and their strengths. For example, you should know better than to continue betting into a player with chips covered in cobwebs while your are sitting with KK, an ace hits the board and that player hasn't folded. You should also know better than to enter pots when maniacs at the table are capping just about every hand, unless you have top cards. And you must know when to set a trap when the right situation is at hand, you're sitting with the NUTS, and they're still playing chase me, beat me, show me!

Who or what intimidates you at a table? Is it their stature, their reputation, their dress, or what? Most of the time (unless they are regulars), we are unfamiliar with the habits and mistakes displayed by players and must rely on our own eyes and ears. They don't lie; what you see is what you get. You just need to figure out what you are really seeing and hearing.

Let's start with the guy in sun glasses (that's me), and his friendly attitude at the table. He generally smiles, makes an occasional comment (nice cards), and rakes in his share of pots. What can we learn from his demeanor, dress and actions? Well, you know from his clothes that he is not spending his last dollar; from his glasses he wants to present us an appearance of mystery. This also hides his eyes and prevents us from seeing his darting eyes and possibly some tells. His complementary table talk signifies he has an even keel attitude, works hard not going on tilt and that he displays excellent table savvy. If he were a very tight player, we may see his chips stacked neatly, even the colors on the side of chips arranged in color order.

The smart player won't be drinking alcohol, and when he sits down, he won't say much as he examines the play at the table. He will quickly start to assess his opponents and put them on the type hands they seem to readily play. If he puts a head set on, does that mean he is signaling everyone that he is concentrating on the cards or needs the music to settle his nerves? And if a person is wearing a headset, you must immediately realize they themselves discount the usefulness of tells (sounds like grunts, sighs, and the inflection of voices during calls, raises and checks). Or do they watch the overhead televisions and only occasionally follow the hand until conclusion?

All these actions indicate something about our opponents. Astute players must continue to watch and listen, filing information quickly and unceremoniously. People skills are important!

Do you really think certain races have an advantage over others? Are Asian players superior to Hispanics or Caucasians? What about Afro-American players; do you automatically think they are better or worse than Native American or European players? And how about women and young players; are they to be given any less chance to win at your table? Preconceived mindsets like these can cause hesitation and error in one's table play.

If your answer to any of these questions was anything but no, you have a problem and it will show in your monthly winnings ledger. Sure, players will quickly prove they are weak opponents, but you can't assume (you spell that ass-u-and me), that they are not worthy adversaries. Don't fall into those traps; you have a lot of work separating the strong from the weak, the lions from the deer.

Start by assuming all players at the table have arrived to take your money, have time on their hands to play forever and never make mistakes. After each hand in Hold Em', start to determine who does not fit that criteria. Who plays 10/7 off suit, ace/rag, or who plays QQ or better? You need to know who will chase, who bluffs and who is to be respected when they bet. In Stud, also look to see the quality of their beginning cards. Players going for low straights and having two card flushes are welcome at my table.

Poker is a game of opportunities, and the first opportunity is not sitting down unprepared or with preconceived notions and opinions. Know your opponents or they will make your card playing days miserable. People are so willing to show you their cards, or at least "tip their hands." Be smart, be alert, be a winner.

I need another table change,

Oh Floorman!
 

Poker Skills or People Skills By Allen L. Spath is posted online in an article archives of poker professionals at http://www.pokerpages.com/articles/archives/

 Ace Speaks - Playing the player

 by Rolf Slotboom

Most poker literature is aimed at limit play, how to play a specific hand in a specific situation. In pot-limit, it is not so much the hand you play that is important- it is much more how you play the hand from the flop onward (note the difference). Because in limit a large percentage of the pots ends in a showdown, you will simply need a good starting hand to have a decent chance to win. In pot-limit, this is not necessarily the case. For a lot of good pot-limit players it is often more important who they are up against than the hand they are holding. To be more specific: in pot-limit, good players can often win against weak, predictable players almost irrespective of their own hand, and they try to do everything they can to get involved with these players as often as possible. (That said, I am considered to be one of the tightest "good" pot-limit players around, and I hardly ever enter a pot without a good starting hand, even against relatively weak opposition. Still, this doesn't take away the importance of the strategies I'm going to share with you today). In this article, I will discuss a situation where a top professional is not playing according to the strength of his own hand, but where he is playing the player. He is making his decisions based on the cards his opponent probably holds, or better: on the cards his opponent does not hold. I will share with you some of the thought processes that may guide the pro's decisions at the different stages in the hand.

The situation / plays / actions: A pot-limit Omaha game, buy-in $500, blinds $10-10, no rake (you are paying time collection). You (the pro) are on the button with a very weak Omaha hand, Ah 6s 5s 4d, and have the biggest stack on the table. A weak player in middle position, playing a $800 stack, has called. What makes him weak is not that he plays bad starting hands (quite the contrary in fact, since this player needs a fairly good hand to enter a pot), but that he doesn't play well after the flop: he plays in predictable patterns and is easy to read, as his betting actions always represent the exact hand he holds. All other players fold, and it's up to you. What do you do?

Professional player's thoughts: Gee, this hand is really horrible, and it can never be played on the basis of hand strength alone. The player in mid position almost certainly holds a better hand than I do, most likely some sort of high card / big pair hand. Normally I would throw away a hand like this almost every time, even on the button. However, if I raise and I can get the pot heads up between me and the caller, then I might be in a profitable situation even with the poor hand I hold. I will be in position, heads up against a predictable player, who is easy to read and also easy to bluff, which means that I almost certainly have a positive expectation here.

You decide to raise to $30, your standard raise in this game, the blinds fold and you're heads up against the caller in mid position (just as planned). The flop comes Qh 9d 3h. Your opponent bets into you for the size of the pot, $80. What do you do?

Professional player's thoughts: I can never win this pot on the basis of the strength of my hand. My opponent almost certainly holds Q9, 33, 99 or QQ, as he almost always has a good made hand when he comes out betting; he doesn't like to bet his draws as a semi-bluff, for example. In the past I have always won the big pots against him, and there's no doubt he fears and respects my play- which has caused him to play even more predictably against me. Therefore, the most likely scenario is that he simply wants to win this pot right away with a hand that he thinks is probably good now. He doesn't want to fight, he just wants me out, as he fears I might outdraw him on the turn or river. Even though it is possible he has a flush draw in addition to his made hand, I hold the ace of hearts, the nut-flush blocker. It is unlikely he will want to risk his entire stack calling me down if a third heart comes on the turn. Plus, from his perspective: if I call his flop bet, taking into account my preflop raise, he will figure me for precisely the nut flush draw (or, less likely, a straight draw). This means that if a third heart comes, I will almost certainly be able to bluff him out of the pot. If a straight card (king, jack, ten, eight) comes, I will let my opponent's betting actions dictate my own course of action: if he checks or bets small -and therefore doesn't have the straight- I just KNOW that I can bet him off his hand, either on the turn or river.

You call the $80. The turn is the deuce of spades, as much a blank as your opponent could have hoped for. Once again, he bets the pot ($240). What do you do?

Professional player's thoughts: Even though this is not the card I had initially hoped for, it is still a great help for my hand. I have created quite a few nut outs with this deuce, and I will have my opponent in deep trouble on the last betting round. My opponent still has $470 left and will almost certainly make the wrong decision on the river if I call now. From his perspective, I am in there with the nut flush draw or a straight draw if I call his turn bet- and probably both. This means that if a club, a king, a jack, a ten or an eight comes up he will almost certainly check, and he will have a hard time calling me on the river for all his money, when I put him to the test. What's more, the cards that look like blanks to him, actually give me the nuts. With a four, five or six he will most likely bet all-in (so I can simply call with the nuts), and with an ace he will most likely check-and-call (when I bet the nuts). Either way, I will probably get his entire stack when I improve and make him lay down the best hand when I don't- now, in pot limit things don't get better than this. There are only three river cards that don't change anything (the three sevens), in addition to the cards that pair the board of course (in which case I will simply give it up). There are over 30 river cards left in the deck that can force him to make a bad decision- either by folding the best hand or by calling with the worst hand. Therefore, folding or raising are no options here. Folding is no option because the situation is just too favorable, raising because I cannot make my opponent lay down his hand (because it's pretty obvious I would be semi-bluffing) AND because I will give away my good prospects for the river. In this case, calling is clearly best.

Some final words. The thought processes described here are the way the excellent players, the top professionals, think when playing pot-limit: they play YOUR cards, rather than their own. (These thought processes also show that top players always think at least one or two steps ahead. They know exactly what the possibilities for the next card are and how they can, or should, adjust to each and every one of these possibilities. This should be second nature for any serious player, even in limit poker). Please keep in mind that I don't consider myself to be in this category of really excellent players, playing on an incredibly high level. I still think that playing from a solid basis -good starting hands- is the way to go in almost all poker games, PLO being no exception. (Also, it should be clear that for people who have just stepped up to pot-limit poker, trying to use the strategies I have described here is not something I would recommend). That said, playing ABC tight in pot-limit will make you easy to read, and if you're playing regularly against good or even excellent players, they will easily take your money by representing hands that you cannot hold (based on your starting requirements and / or the way the betting went), on the assumption that you cannot call. And if you try to counter their strategy by simply check-calling all the time, they will pick up on this faster than you can imagine, and you are going to lose a lot of money; in pot-limit, there is no place for people who check-call on a regular basis. The advanced plays I have touched upon today need to be understood very well in order to be a successful pot-limit player. Without at least a basic understanding of the thought processes I have discussed here, you will stand no chance playing pot-limit. Take care, you guys, and good luck.

Rolf became a professional money player in 1998, starting with low- and middle-limit hold'em, and gradually moved up to the big pot-limit Omaha live games. Rolf covers many different subjects but his section on starting hands is invaluable for a beginner. Rolf is also a teacher at PokerSchoolOnline so for more detailed articles join www.pokerschoolonline.com .

Ace Speaks: Playing The Player  by Rolf Slotboom

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