Dantepoker

Poker Playing Sins

Poker is a seductive mistress. Avoiding the temptations of a late night soirée in your favourite poker room can be agonizingly difficult. But why should you abstain? You love poker, poker loves you - enjoy every moment of your guilty pleasure in full. After all, you’re not committing any sin… or are you? Dante Poker takes a look at the common sins players commit when enjoying a game of poker. Avoid falling into these bad habits and you’ll clean up your game no end. Ready for a revelation?!

‘I’m a great poker player!’

The words uttered by many a fool right before they slaughter their bankroll. Never forget that poker is a battle of minds rather than just luck, so it would be unwise to go to war without sharpening your own blade first; meaning review your own game, taking into consideration your negative traits which might aid in your opponent’s victory (e.g. impatience, inattentiveness, hastiness etc.). If you aren’t prepared, clever or controlled enough to hide your emotions or disguise your weaknesses, you can consider your game over.

‘That guy’s driving me mad’

Poker players all know that good judgement can be clouded by irrational emotion. This is one of the weapons in a poker player’s arsenal. By pushing an opponent over the edge, or making them go ‘on tilt’, a competitor can force poor decisions from the other player or, at the very least, encourage leakage of key tells to gain an advantage. Keeping yourself in check and remaining calm no matter what your opponent is doing or how badly you think you are losing, is key to calculated success in poker.

‘I didn’t tell you that’

Reading your opponent via his gestures and reactions (or poker tells) which may signify his “order” in the game is a key to winning. Normally (and usually subconsciously) we respond to stimuli without envisioning the after-effects of our reaction. Without knowing, we might have given off information about the quality of our cards or how we see the game’s tail. A common gesture, for example, is for a player to put his hands over his cards when they are face down on the table signifying that he may have a hand worth protecting. Watch out if he or she continues with any level of aggressive betting. Poker tells are often very primeval so think about how you are feeling when playing and consider what your body would naturally do to reflect that. Are you excited? You’re probably heavy breathing from the rush of adrenalin. Once you know how you’re giving yourself away, you can learn to hide it better.

On your guard online

Without any physical communication with your opponent, online poker makes itself twice more difficult to predict than live poker. Predicting your opponent’s next move is the gateway to success - but what if the opponent is nowhere to be seen? Their sins are undetectable aren’t they? Not so. Amazingly, there are quite a few tips on how to win at online poker even though you appear to have no clear connection with your competition.

Take notes
Jotting down notes on your opposition is the easiest way to build up a picture of them and their likely poker personality. However, keen observation is highly required with this strategy. For example, you’ll need to be aware of factors such as time taken to play a hand. If a person usually bets or acts quickly, why are they taking a long time to act in this round? Do they ultimately fold or do they win? You can log this information and see if there is a pattern that will allow you to predict their move in the next hand. Of course, there is poker software that can help with this by giving you player stats but you will need to make sure it is approved by the poker room before you use it.

Know your poker types

It is important to know the framework of your opponent’s mindset so as to craft a possible counter-attack. Players differ in their methods of handling a game but can often be categorised into particular poker personalities. Players could vary from Calling Station, Aggressive, Passive, Maniac, Loose, to Tight, Tight-Aggressive, Loose-Aggressive, Tight-Passive and/or Loose-Passive). Different players require different strategies to be defeated - identifiable by their Poker Table Images. The Poker Table Images are the symbols in your poker desk that need tight attention (especially those which are displayed by your opponent’s) that could affect the game run greatly. Having a “Rock” type opponent (very, very tight players who typically play premium hands such as AA, KK, QQ, JJ and AK) is very different to a Calling Station – so called because they ‘call’ a lot, also, they ignore their opponent’s hand for they only often continue playing to see if their hand wins. Next are Maniacs – opposite to Rocks, Maniacs are aggressive and loose, they also bluff and raise a lot. And lastly, we have Sharks, the predators of the poker sea. Sharks are good players (intellectually capable, intuitive) and often win a lot in a series of games.

The more advanced the player, the more ability they will have to falsify the information they give out about themselves. A shark may lull you into thinking they are a fish for example. Next thing you know, you’re breakfast. However, it is possible to choose games at a level you are comfortable with and as long as you know enough about your own poker sins, you’ll be able to recognise them easily in others and identify if someone is having you on.

Don’t feel dirty enough? Check out some sinful behaviour as executed by the poker pros.