The Most Dangerous Poker Players To Play Against
And why you should watch out for Vikings, AND get to bed on time!
ABSOLUTE BEGINNERS
As you become more experienced as a poker player, you’ll reach a few quite surprising conclusions. One of the most illogical is that a complete amateur poker player is one of most dangerous opponents you can come up against. Why? Because if he or she has no idea what they’re doing, how are you supposed to work it out? If you’re not holding a premium hand you need to play absolute beginners with care precisely because they will be totally unpredictable. If you are a complete beginner and you are reading this: Go turn it to your advantage while it lasts. Funnily enough, as you become more experienced you try to develop the “chameleon-like” characteristics that pure ignorance had provided you with at the outset of your poker career. Players that perfect this ability but with the benefit of “knowing” when to “change colours” tend to become very successful players.
OTHER DANGEROUS CHARACTERS
You don’t need to study the various world rankings for very long to discover that young Norwegians, Danes or Swedes are among the most aggressive and relentless players in the poker Universe. Obviously these are easy to spot and avoid in “live” games: They look like mad Vikings but they’re wielding cards instead of axes. Online you need to be attentive to the chat-boxes and name choices. THOR666 or BJORK69 or ABBADABBADO might be giveaways. Obviously there’s something about an acute lack of sunlight that produces these psychos. Steer clear where possible.
EXIT STRATEGIES
Online poker is seductive so make sure you have a sensible exit strategy. Late evening during the week often has you thinking, “I’ll have a few quick games before bed!” and before you know it, it’s time to go to work. Either you’re winning and the concept of work has lost its meaning, or you’re exhausted, can’t spell f-o-c-u-s, and down by a week’s rent. If you start playing at 10.30 pm and you know 1 am is when you need to be in bed, set an alarm and know you’re a good poker player if you obey it. Poker’s a game. Life isn’t.
ALL THE ACES poker column:
Saturday, March 18, 2006:
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