You know the feeling? Imagine driving a ridiculously noisy car on a never ending stretch of empty road, surrounded by mountains, with two very kinky girls struggling for space in the spare seat. Then imagine something better. Multiply it by fifteen and that is the rush that courses through your head when you win a nice pot. Especially if you’ve played exceptionally well to win it. Sometimes though, that car turns out to be a rusty old moped, and the girls morph into ghouls. But that’s where the key lies. You use your skill to make sure that life remains cheery. I’ll try and pass on what limited knowledge I’ve gleaned to facilitate that.

Know your opponents
There is nothing, probably nothing more important than this. Texas Holdem Poker is not a game where you’ll be a very threatening player if you can’t be a good judge of people. Look around and size everyone up at the table. How old are they? How are they dressed? Are they Italian or Norwegian? Mike Carro feels that it’s usually a good idea to chat with the other people at the table, and put them at ease; basically befriend them for that short time span. Other poker gurus believe that being obnoxious at the table is the way forward – it helps put the other players on tilt. While neither of these may not necessarily be a very good idea, you should definitely try and analyze everyone just a little bit. Someone wearing exceptionally flashy clothes might be a brash, loud and slightly aggressive kind of person, and that would reflect in his play. Similarly, a student might not have access to a very big bankroll, and may consequently be playing more cautiously. These are just two very vague generalizations but picking up on small factors like this will eventually make you a better ‘reader’ of players in the long run, even if doesn’t immediately benefit your game at the time.

Some people are more open to taking risks. You have to be able to gauge how risk-averse a player is before making a decision. The same bluff might work against person A, but not against person B. And not necessarily because the latter is a better player and saw through it but simply because he happens to be a weak player who couldn’t’t bring himself to fold. Knowing that he’s a poor player who doesn’t like to fold will save, and earn you a lot of money. It’s absolutely vital to keep making constant adjustments to your game according to the people around you.

One of the reasons why playing regularly with a group of friends becomes relatively dull in the long run is that after a few games, everyone knows too much. People suddenly start making ridiculously good calls and folds. Winning becomes a little bit more difficult, which makes the game a bit more of a challenge. But here is an example where knowing how a player acts in certain situations saved me a LOT of money.

My hold cards were J-8 suited, in hearts. I limped from late position, and five players went to an un-raised flop. The board read: 3h-4h-5c. The blinds checked, and a relatively tight player led out from the UTG position with a $250 bet into a $300 pot. At this stage, I should mention that almost everyone on the table was very deep stacked, and the bet seemed to be encouraging people to call, not fold. Well, I called with my Jack-high flush draw, and another player called behind me. The turn brought a 7 of hearts. I made my flush, and the 7 also put a one card straight out. The UTG player bet $300. At this point, I was quite confused. It made no sense for him to put in a small bet with 2 pair or a set at that point. Even a straight would bet slightly more at least, in order to discourage someone with a high heart from calling, or at least find out if someone had made a flush. $300 was an odd bet. I raised it, but not by too much, having a strong hand myself. I made it $500 more. The player behind me folded, and the UTG player called casually. The river was a blank, and the UTG player checked.

I took a minute to analyze what had happened so far. My knowledge of the player helped immensely in making the right decision. His bets had seemed curiously small, both on the flop and turn, and the check on the river after a quick call on the turn convinced me that my opponent had in fact, been betting a flush draw on the flop, continuing to keep everyone interested in at least calling on the turn and was now in the process of check-trapping me on the river. Since the board was full of small cards, and he had limped in from early position (his being a tight player made it likely that from early position, at least, he would probably have high cards), there was a high possibility that he had me beat. I checked the river behind him. With a disappointed look, he showed a King high flush. “I wanted you to bet big and then raise all in,” he said with a sigh.

Now in more than 97.85% of situations, I would’ve bet out approximately $1400 on the river, or more, depending on what I put my opponent on, and on how much I’d think he’d be willing to call with his hand. This was one of those ultra-rare occasions when knowing how my opponent liked to play enabled me to check what would normally be considered a very strong hand. It also saved me a lot of money. Just by reading this article, you’ve probably realized that I like value-betting. But the benefits and disadvantages of that are a topic for another day. Until then, good luck!