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How often has this happened to you? You've mucked your garbage
cards in early position and there is nothing left to do but to
watch the other player finish the hand. Because you aren't
emotionally or financially involved in the hand, you can tell
EXACTLY what everyone has.
It's completely obvious to you that one player has the nuts, for
instance. And you watch, fascinated, as another player bets into
the nut hand with NO outs. To compound the error, the player who
is drawing dead now calls a raise on the river to lose even more
money.
Before the winner is turned over, you mentally call the winning
hand to yourself, and are not at all surprised when the two
cards you expected to see are revealed.
Why are hands so easy to read when you're NOT involved? Good
question!
Why are they so hard to read when you have YOUR money in the
pot? Another good question.
Poker is a game of mistakes. The player who makes the least
misjudgments, misreads and downright DUMB plays is most likely
to go home with the cash.
I'm going to give you an exercise that is quite advanced for a
change. Every once in a while you should be given a chance to go
to another level of play. If you are like most players (myself
included), you won't be able to complete this exercise for long.
At best you'll only be able to manage a few minutes of the
exercise before failing.
Here is what I want you to do. One night next week, before you
get out of the car in your cardroom parking lot and go in to
play, I want you to stop for a few minutes and concentrate. I
want you to visualize yourself as you sit behind the wheel. As
you see yourself, pretend that you are a director in a movie
where you are the star. The movie is about you. Now you are NOT
the player, you are the director watching an actor playing you.
Are you still with me?
The person that is normally you, now is an actor playing you, ok?
For as long as you can maintain the exercise, watch yourself
play poker from a camera angle just over your right shoulder.
Within the picture frame, the camera can see all the players at
the table and can zoom in on your hand when it is dealt to you.
Instead of you putting your money in the pot, you are watching
an actor putting his chips in the pot. Now the camera follows
everyone in turn around the table. From this detached point of
view, suddenly everyone's motives for acting are revealed.
Including YOURS.
To your amazement, you will find yourself saying about the actor
playing you. "Why did he do that? That was so STUPID! The guy in
the three seat OBVIOUSLY has the best hand!"
Now as the director, you tell the actor that is playing you to
throw the hand away. Of course, the actor does what he is told.
The exercise is complete when the player in the three seat turns
over EXACTLY the hand the detached, uninvolved you put him on.
You have now done what you couldn't do before. You've played a
hand as if you weren't emotionally and financially involved. And
you saved a lot of money.
Don't expect to be able to maintain this exercise for long. It
takes years of practice. But if you can do it even for a few
hands a night, the difference in your play can be substantial.
Poker will become a game of mistakes for the other players, not
you.
If you would like more information regarding online poker rooms
that Gambling Guru supports, you can read our Poker
Reviews.
Related gambling resources: Browse over to Gambling Guru to
learn more about online casinos, playing poker online, sports
and person-2-person betting and explore the gambling articles
archives.
About the author:
Alan Campbell is a journalist who writes for the Gambling Guru
and other online gambling publications. He has gained experience
in the entertainment and gambling industry and has a background
in online marketing.
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