DAR-WIN OR DAH-LOSE? Great poker players develop the ability to read their opponents. Amarillo Slim would always engage opponents in his famous table banter and Doyle Brunson seems to have developed almost a sixth sense over five decades of play. I’ve heard two famous comments about Brunson in this regard, “Doyle knows what the other guy’s gonna do before he does it and what he’s going to do it with!” The comment lacks grammar but hits the nail right on the head. But my all time favourite verbal testimony belongs to a poker player who answers to the name of Royston “Omaha Beach” Calhoun, “Brunson fits everything together like a jigsaw puzzle he’s putting together upside down. Then at the showdown he turns everything over and you get to see the beauty of the whole picture!” People are always asking me, “How do you develop “tell” instincts?” The answer, of course, is supplied by Life itself: Evolution! You have to crawl out of the swamp of beginners’ play, up onto the firmer ground of tournaments and sit and go’s and into higher limit cash games. It’s a natural process called experience and there are no short cuts. The Internet is a different art form altogether. You have to make notes, remember names, study hand histories and watch the chat boxes. If it matters to you to become a successful winner you have to put yourself happily through this process. Survival of the fittest works just the same on the green felt or the worldwide web as it does anywhere else in nature. If you love playing poker you’ll stick around long enough to evolve. If you don’t, some ugly critter will squish you to a pulp and take your money.
HERE ARE SOME CLUES Observe yourself carefully, as well as others at the table. Do you always look down at your chips before you make a bet? Do you lean back in your chair while someone decides whether or not to call your premium hand? Do you bet faster when you’re bluffing than you do when you have a “nut” hand? Are others around you doing any of these things? If you develop the habit of not looking at your hole cards until the action reaches you it will mean you can’t betray anything with your own expressions and allows you to concentrate one hundred percent on tells coming from everyone else. Continue with this same discipline into the flop. Watch responses to the flop first and then check out the cards themselves. Watch for chatty players who suddenly go quiet prior to a bet. They’ve probably landed something special.
