Spotting Poker Bluffs
Poker is a brilliant blend of strategy and psychology - there is really
nothing else like it. When compared with strategy, however, how important is psychology in poker? Well, you can beat poker without understanding
psychology, but you can't beat poker without understanding strategy.
Therefore, it's important to learn the fundamentals first. But wait! Now we're
going to say something that - at first - seems to be contradictory:
Psychology can account for the majority of profit you will ever make in poker!
That statement is true because after you master the fundamentals of poker,
you're most of the way to becoming a good player as far as strategy goes. Sure,
you can improve, but the difference between excellent strategy and perfect
strategy won't put that much extra cash in your wallet or purse - unless you
happen to be playing against all worldclass opponents, which we don't recommend.
What will put extra cash in your wallet or purse is getting inside your
opponents' heads and making them call you when you have the best hand.
In this chapter, you find out about one extremely powerful aspect of poker
psychology called tells. What's that? Tells are telltale signs from which you
can determine, for example, whether or not your opponent is bluffing - just
by noting her mannerisms at the moment.
Watch your opponent's body language
and listen for verbal clues, and you'll often know with surprising accuracy
what cards your opponent is holding.
Tells come in two types:
Those from opponents who are unaware that they are providing the tell
Those from "actors" who know they are providing the tell and are doing
so in an attempt to deceive you
So, first, you need to decide if your opponent is acting.
If so, determine what
that opponent is trying to get you to do and then you (usually) do the opposite.
Your opponents act because poker puts them in an unfamiliar arena. They
know that they must act to conceal their hands, but they don't know how to
go about it. Therefore, most weak and intermediate players just about give
you their money by usually acting the opposite of the true strength of their
hands. When they're strong, they pretend to be weak; when they're weak,
they act as if they are strong.
No need for you to go to acting school to find out about revealing cues. Get
into your opponent's head by taking a look at our list of the top ten tells.
Hands that shake is not an act.
There's a homespun theory that goes with
this one. The theory says that if you see someone suddenly start trembling
when making a wager, that's a signal that this bettor is nervous about the bet
and is probably bluffing.
That theory is just plain backwards. If ever a tell were almost 100 percent reliable,
it's this one. Few players act in an effort to show nervousness, and genuine
shaking is hard to fake. What most likely is happening is this: Your
opponent has made a very strong hand. The hand is, in fact, unbeatable or
almost unbeatable. What you're seeing is a release of tension following the
suspense of waiting to see what will happen.
Free
Bets Info: UK Guide to Reading Your Opponent
