Something To Think About

When playing poker, be it online or live, it is easy to not give it your all. Online, you could be playing multiple tables and not be able to give your full attention to any one game, or you could be distracted by any number of things, such as the world wide web, television, or even your un-potty trained toddler running around naked. Live, you get could engrossed in conversation (yeah, imagine that), get too into cocktail waiter… people watching, or be thinking about what route to take home. And even if you are concentrating on the game, very often it is all too easy to just focus on your cards and then tune out once you fold.

But as we all know, skilled poker players are concerned with much more than just their own cards and chips. The best players are able to get into the minds of their opponents. Not in a psyche-out way, but in an “I know what you’re thinking” sort of way. Of course this is easier said than done. If you are willing to make the effort, here are two techniques you can use to improve your “mind reading” skills.

Play Blind

I don’t mean that you should play the blinds, I mean that you should play without looking at your cards. While that may sound ludicrous, hear me out. By not looking at your hole cards, you naturally have to see other parts of the game in order to succeed. And what other parts of the game are out there? Why, the other players, chip stacks, the community cards, and the dealer button, to name a few.

If you don’t know what cards you have, you will be forced to work on your opponent reading skills. What did that pre-flop raise just mean from the guy in Seat 3? What is Seat 6 telling me when she checks the turn? What cards does the guy next to my left showdown after he has been betting the pot throughout the hand? If you can start figuring out the betting patterns (and when playing live, possibly physical tells) of your opponents, you can figure out when they are weak and make bets that will win you the pot, regardless of what pocket cards you have.

Position plays a large role, too. Most people play differently in early position than they do in late position, so be aware of where the button is and use position to your advantage, whether it means being aggressive yourself or just getting the heck out of a hand.

Internet poker phenom and WSOP Europe champ, Annette Obrestad, actually won a $4, 180-person sit-and-go back in 2007, while only looking at her cards once. In an interview with Card Player magazine, she said she did it to show “just how important it is to play position and to pay attention to the players at the table.”

Now, it’s not going to be easy to make money playing blind, but it can be a fun and enlightening exercise. I recommend moving down in stakes when you try it, knowing there is a good chance that you will lose.

What do you do? What do you do?

Yes, I just used a quote from the movie Speed. You’ll get it in a moment.

Over the years, I have found, just as I am sure everyone has, that there are hands that I fold, only to find out that the remaining players were weak. Had I realized it before I folded, I could have won the pot with a well-timed bet. And that started me playing a little game within the poker game.

When I am not in a hand, I try to observe the proceedings carefully, noting everything that a poker player should: board texture, player position, bet sizing, stack sizes, and the like. I then try to figure out how I could have won the hand without it going to showdown. I focus on it not going to showdown because anyone can win when they actually have the best hand. What I want to determine is whether or not I could have won without the best hand, had I not folded.

What if I would have bet three-quarters of the pot on the flop? Knowing how my opponents play and what cards they had (or I think they had), would that have accomplished my goal? Could I have checked and then popped them on the turn? Would I have needed to push? What could I have done to win that hand? Now, when playing this little game in your head, you won’t come up with an answer every time. If someone has a full house and you would have had Jack-high, you were not going to beat them, no matter what. But those hands that lack a “winning answer” can also give you insight into your opponents and can prove just as valuable as those where you actually do have a solution.

By focusing on parts of the game other than yourself when at the poker table, you can open up new doors that you never realized were there. To be sickeningly cheesy and reference another Keanu Reeves movie, it is sort of like when Neo finally sees the Matrix and truly starts to realize his power. No, you won’t be able to jump into an opponent and blow him up from the inside, but deeper aspects of the game will begin to come into focus for you. With practice, these “mind reading” skills will become more natural and you will be free to concentrate on yet more intricate aspects of the game.