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Message: [QUOTE="t1riel, post: 349271, member: 3913"] [b]Quit looking and learn to read your opponent[/b] I saw this article in The Poker Gazette and I figured some of you would find this worth a read. :icon_stud [size=3][color=#222222][b]Quit looking and learn to read your opponent[/b][/color][/size][font=Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][size=2][color=#000000]You've no doubt heard the myth about needing a poker face to play the game well. I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Poker isn't about reading facial tics. It's about reading people. What's the difference, you say? When you hear the term "reading your opponent," it doesn't necessarily mean that you are looking for body-language clues. More often than not, the tells you're looking for come from reading your opponents' betting patterns. There is a famous poker player who claims he can "see through your soul." No, he can't. Some top pros might want you to believe that type of hype so that they can garner a psychological edge. The truth is, an elite player doesn't focus much on body language. Instead, he tries to understand how you think based on the hands you play and how you play them. He isn't looking for some obscure nostril flare or eye twitch to make a decision, but you can bet he's delving into his memory bank and comparing notes from previous hands. He likely is asking himself questions such as: "How much did my opponent bet the last time he was bluffing?" Or: "When he flops three of a kind, does he usually check to trap me or does he bet right out to protect his hand?" Those physical tells TV commentators like to go on about are for the most part useless. Watch me on television and you'll see that I make all kinds of strange faces. Good luck trying to figure out what they mean. Reading tells and reading people are two separate skills that are often lumped together. They are, in fact, very different. Reading tells is the ability to recognize the way people look when they are bluffing versus telling the truth. Reading people deals more with the ability to understand how someone thinks based on clues. Mastering both skills To read tells, the first thing you'll need to do is pay attention, not only when you are in a hand, but also when you've folded and are waiting for the next deal. Study your opponents and look for behavioral patterns. For example, maybe you see one of your opponents cover his mouth before he pushes in a big bet. After the hand, he shows that he was bluffing. Does he also cover his mouth when he has a strong hand? If not, you just might have picked up a valuable tell. Reading people is really where it's at. Poker is a game of people, and understanding how an opponent thinks will go a long way toward giving you a significant advantage over him. To do this, you need to think like a detective by putting clues together and trying to understand what they mean. This could be anything from studying what your opponent is wearing to ascertaining what he does for a living. People reveal all kinds of clues about themselves. Here's a case study: A man wearing an unbuttoned shirt and revealing tons of gold chains sits at your table. He smells a little bit off, stacks his chips recklessly and smokes incessantly. His fingernails are dirty, and he won't stop shaking his knee. Right off the bat, you know a good amount about this person, because you already have asked yourself this important question: Is he likely to be patient, scared and conservative, or is he more likely to be an impatient, fearless and aggressive player? If you guessed the former, you might want to find a new hobby such as checkers. Questions always useful For more clues, ask him some questions. "What do you do for a living?" is always a good one. If he says he's a lawyer, you know who not to trust, right? If he claims he's a math teacher, chances are you're dealing with a very analytical player. If he swears he's a Sunday school teacher, you might be dealing with someone who is uncomfortable telling lies, or, in this case, already bluffing. The bottom line is this: Reading tells and reading people are both skills that when used together make for a deadly combination. By DANIEL NEGREANU[/color][/size][/font] [/QUOTE]

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