Tells & Mindgames

So I haven’t written much lately, and there is a pretty good reason, having to do with the fact that several people from The Caribbean have mentioned that they’ve read this blog.  I’ve been playing with some ideas (if you’ve played with me lately at The Caribbean, you might have noticed I’ve been playing differently, more loose and aggressive).

So a really good friend of mine and I have been reading a book; well, actually he’s been reading it, and often reading it to me.  I’m not illiterate; he just likes to read aloud, and I like to talk about poker.  Anyway, I don’t know the name of the book, except it isn’t directly related to poker.  It has more to do with human behavior – specifically, the ways in which law enforcement personnel interrogate and obtain information from people.

So in a way it does have a lot to do with poker, and this book has provided hours of conversations between my friend and I about tells and human behavior at the poker table.

I haven’t paid too much attention to specific tells at limit poker in the past.  I guess I’ve always found them to be a little unnecessary, except for the most obvious.  Because of that I have tended to play a very mathematical game.  I know the odds I’m getting, and whether I can call or whether I should raise based on the math.

Lately however, especially since my friend and I have been reading this book, we’ve decided to compare notes about specific players and tells.  (This is one of the reasons I haven’t written much – especially since I know that there are people at The Caribbean who read this, and I don’t want to give anything away.)

Most of the “tells” I’ve relied on were not specific.  There are certain players, under the right situation, who I will call all the way to the river with Ace high, and win often enough to make it profitable.  It’s not that these players hold their mouths a certain way or use a specific hand to bet with – it’s not as specific as that.  It’s usually a bunch of information that is kind of nebulous, but put together, make my “spidey sense” tingle.  :)  I love saying that.

But when my friend and I, who also plays at The Caribbean, started comparing notes, and identifying specific tells from specific players, we found that much of our information matched.  We even learned new tells by sharing information – some of which seemed way too obvious to be true.

There was one player, let’s call him “A” who, according to my friend, has such an obvious tell that I didn’t believe it when he told me.  About a week or so ago, I sat at the table and watched – and when I was able to confirm the tell, it surprised me so much that the person next to me,  seeing the expression on my face said, “Did you just spot a tell?”  I said, “You saw it, too?”  Apparently I had just discovered something that he already knew.  I can’t remember specifically the remainder of the conversation, but I think he said something alluding to “keep it to yourself.”  He didn’t want others at the table to know, and neither did I.

So I’ve been trying to put together a database of sorts, especially since I play with the same players so often.  Right now it’s just in a spreadsheet, but when I sit down at a table, I can now look over notes about other players at the table, if I have them, or create new notes as necessary.  It turns out this is very handy.  (I love smart phones!)

It has also caused me to change my game quite a bit.  Based on certain tells, I’ve tried to find opportunities to isolate players, often with hands that might be weaker than I normally play – sometimes I’ve been right, and haven’t had to show my hand, but sometimes I’ve been wrong.  Even more interesting is when I’m called at the river and have to show a winning hand, but clearly a hand that is out of character for me to play.  I’ve seen more than a few raised eyebrows lately, and I think it’s funny.  I love waiting after the showdown at the river for someone to say “You raised preflop with THAT?!?”

So I would never change my game so much at 8/16, so I’ve been playing quite a bit more at The Caribbean over the past couple of weeks.

Also, especially since I’ve been paying a lot more attention to tells lately, I’m trying to work on reducing and hopefully eliminating many of my own.  I know several of them, and I think it’s funny when I give off a tell and I’m aware of it.

With Apologies to My Opponents

So I haven’t spent a lot of time at The Caribbean lately; in fact, I’ve been down at Diamond Lil’s playing 8/16, and at Snoqualmie playing 2/5 no-limit almost exclusively.  Tonight (actually yesterday technically; it’s now 2:30am and I just got home) I decided to play at The Caribbean.  I really enjoy playing at The Caribbean.  I know it’s small stakes and the rake is huge and the bad beats really suck, and there are a thousand reasons why someone trying to make money should find and stay at higher stakes.  But I’ve been playing at The Caribbean for a few years now – I used to count cards at The Caribbean not long after they opened, and when I started playing poker it became a natural place to play.  I know just about everybody I play with, and I like almost everyone.  The dealers are extremely friendly, and have an amazing ability to put up with drunk annoying players.  :)

When I play at Snoqualmie and at Diamond Lil’s the players don’t care who I am, generally.  They tend to be a lot more aggressive, and of course, they want my money more than they want to know who I am.  Not that I blame them – they’re trying to make money just like I am.  Still, when I play at The Caribbean it’s become more clear to me that it’s not only more fun, but more relaxing to play there.  Tonight I found myself getting caught up in the action, not caring as much about winning a big pot but finding out who had the least likely draw that they caught.  And if I was in the hand and lost to a long shot, so be it.  I know where I stand and as far as I care, I get more from relaxing and playing a less stressful game than I do from caring about winning or losing.  I walked away only $34 ahead tonight, after playing for 4.5 hours – as my friend once said, “McDonald’s pays better” – but you won’t have as much fun.  :)

Anyway, I think everyone who plays at The Caribbean, who cares to find it, has found my blog, and I’ve had some really great talks with other players because of this blog.

I think I came across to ColdPlacePoker’s comments a little harsh; I still don’t know who he is although I’ve asked and some people seem to know but aren’t saying.  :)  I had narrowed the choices down to about 4 people, and I’ve been able to eliminate each of them – the last of whom I was almost 99% certain, but based on what somebody told me tonight I was wrong.  So I’m still in the dark.

I was too defensive, especially when family started asking me about the comments – I just didn’t want them to worry, and I felt the comments might actually make them worry.  Anyway, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – if you know me from poker at The Caribbean, you probably already know I’m a pretty friendly person and open to talk about anything – even my blog.   Heck I’ll even talk about my strategy opinions – which are probably not worth a single chip, but I’d still be happy to talk.  :)

And to ColdPlacePoker, I hope someday you feel comfortable talking to me in person.  You had some good points and I don’t want to discredit you.  I think I was too defensive and I apologize for that.  Please feel free to talk to me and I will be much friendlier in person.  I love to talk about poker (which is why I write about it, and go to Vegas as often as I do).

Anyway, I hope to see you at the tables and if that happens to be at The Caribbean, I hope to be able to laugh with you over our bad beats.  :)

« Previous Page — Next Page »