The big picture of poker, free games free-for-all, and intuitive tell spotting
Online poker advantages, differences in play between free games and proper staked games, and why great players develop keen intuition...
HIGH TECH OVERVIEW In order to keep a balanced view of my poker playing, I make it a habit to play socially at least once a week, and online at least three nights a week. The more I do this the more I’m convinced that online games give a better tactical overview of the game. For one thing, you’re looking directly down on the table and everything you need to know is available. You can see the chip stack sizes. There’s plenty of information available about previous hands played. It’s like being in a weather balloon over the battle of Gettysburg. You can see pretty much what’s going on. It doesn’t mean you won’t get hit by a stray bullet but your chances of survival are probably better than in the fray. I was at a social game a few nights ago and it was rowdy with lots of distractions. After about an hour, I realised some of the distractions were deliberately orchestrated by two quite experienced players. It worked. I’d say my focus was down by forty percent for the whole period and it was affecting others at the table enough for a handful of us to all eventually call it quits.
FREQUENTLY ASKED POKER QUESTIONS Q: I’ve just started playing poker on the free games and it seems like a mad house. Players are making outrageous bets and bluffs. It all seems a bit scary. Do I need nerves of steel to progress to real money games? A: It would help but you are currently getting a very wild and distorted impression of online poker. Free games serve one excellent purpose and that is to allow you to pick up the dynamics of Texas Hold’em. You are only there to learn how the nuts and bolts of the game of poker function. Once you tackle a real money game for meaningful stakes you will experience whiplash at the change of pace as the “sudden-sanity” brakes get slammed on. Just try one real money game for decent stakes and I’ll be amazed if you’re not hooked. It’s a different animal altogether.
USE IT OR LOSE IT Q: I’ve been trying to develop my skills for spotting “tells”. The main problem is being instinctive enough to know when a player is sending out false information or signals, simply to deliberately confuse. Any pointers on this one? A: You put your finger on it with the word “instinctive”. There’s an aspect of our own intuition that whispers to us when something sounds or looks phoney. (It’s exactly the same as a wife’s ability to “sense” when you’re lying about how you feel about a girl at work.) You have to learn to trust these gentle whispers. These days hunters in Canada use sat nav to track rogue bears. The original native hunters would’ve “sensed” where to look. Our intuition begins to fade away if we stop relying on it. So use it or lose it. Great poker players keep it alive and well and profit from it.
