How many times has someone you are competing against in a game asked you this? Figuratively speaking, I hear this all the time at the poker tables. It’s a trend I’ve noticed for a long while now. I assumed people would wise up eventually, but players are still doing it. I have no clue as to why either. Do they not realize that almost every word they say when sharing their thoughts about a hand they just played is being heard by everyone else at the table and is basically just giving free information to the enemy?
I would like to share my view about poker before I continue with this topic. Although poker is classified as a game, to me it is one of the dirtiest, subtle versions of warfare you will ever see waged. The table is the battlefield. The chips are your resources. The cards are the fortunes of war. You are the general. Your objective is to capture the other players chips as they are attempting to do the same to you. If anyone one has ever told you something that sounds like this, “I like to go to have a good time rather I win or lose”, then they are lying to you and battle is already under way. Everyone who sits down at a poker table hopes they win money, your money.
It happens at almost every table I deal. I hear something along these lines; “I put you on the flush draw”, “I figured I had good odds to make that call”, “If an Ace hit the river, I was going to bet it and scare you out.” Now granted, some people who engage in ‘work-shopping’ about hands might be employing strategy of their own by either drawing out their opponent’s strategy under the guise of being social or maybe even spreading around misinformation. I applaud these types of players, but they are few and far between. Most players I see that engage in workshop talk about played hands are doing it to be counterproductive to their aims. There could be a “sucker” at the table who has no clue about any type of strategy. The more a player lets on that there is a strategy to the game is wising them up and making that player who was a “sucker” much more difficult to play against and win their money. Most players out there now know and deploy some type of strategy. They know what kinds of player classifications they can label people (for example, a solid player, a tight player, or a reckless manic) and have certain game plans designed to use against them whenever they are in a hand together.
I heard this one last night at work. I heard one player tell another, “I checked that hoping you would bet it.” The player that said this was thinking the player that acted after him would bet out and that the other players still in the hand would call. The first player would then raise trapping all the players caught in the middle that called the initial bet. Very rarely do I see the check-raise move used as its intended such as here (next week’s article). When I heard the first player say that to his intended check-raise target, I hear in my mind that player really saying, ‘I have labeled you an aggressive player and the rest you behind him as passive players with weak holdings.’ Most players with knowledge of the game will also interpret what the first player said along the same lines as well.
What would I do if I got caught trying to check-raise? It depends on different factors. If no one asked about it, then I don’t say or do anything. I just file it in my head that it didn’t work and keep it in mind next time. If someone asks or calls me out on it, then I form my response around myself by saying something like “Oh, I wasn’t sure how strong my hand was”, or if I’m playing somewhere people don’t know me “I wasn’t paying attention” is good for a ploy. If they don’t take that at face value then I can surmise that this player could be formidable, but if they do . . . sucker.
I am not advocating being anti-social at the poker table. If you are one of the ones that do go for the social aspect of the game as well as wining money, then that’s great as you can talk about whatever your heart’s desire; the weather, sports, current events, etc. Just be warned about commenting on hands at the table. You could be letting on how much you know or don’t know about poker and the people you are waging a war against. Beware the quite ones. They are the ones who are taking in every syllable you utter and smelting it the weapon they will use to strike down your chip stack with the smallest of smirks.
The Rogue Dealer 