The article "Showing Off" is about casino gambling, it was created by Nicolas Fradet.
Many poker authorities often say that poker players who are
winners at the game mostly profit from the mistakes their
opponents make and not from thier own brilliant play.
This is
certainly true. We all have egos and it sure would be nice if I
could say that I outplay my opponent so often I make a fortune
at it, but it would be a lie. The truth is that it's rather the
mistakes my opponents make day in and day out that make me a
winning poekr player.
Mistakes like playing too many hands,
calling raises with substandard hands and chasing too much.
Don't get me wrong, poker takes a great set of skills like
reading your opponents, computing odds, getting into your
opponents' head and much more, all of which if you're better
than your opponents you should succeed.
But you all know that if
your oppoennts played perfectly, the game would be impossible to
beat, brilliant play or not.
Occasionally, however, you will encounter a player who not only
makes the usual mistakes but also gives any astute player an
extra edge.
I had the pleasure of playing against a player like
this a couple of years ago. I still remember the details, as it
was a good lesson for me.
This opponent in particular was
showing off by letting every one see that he made what he
thought were good laydowns.
The settnig was in a Hold'em 5-10 game with a kill. The game had
just started and I was trying to get a feel for my opponents.
Some players were whinning abuot their bad luck, a good sign of
a profitable game.
If you sit down at the table thinking you are
destined to lose, you proabbly will.
I win my first pot 15 min. into the game and have to post the
$10 kill in the cut-off seat (to the rihgt of the button). The
hand is dealt, a couple of players fold and our "show artist"
grabs 2 red chips (we are playing 10-20), as if to call, then
looks up, then looks at me, and then proceeds to put 4 chips in
the pot announcing a raise. Not knowing my opponent very well, I
read that as a sign of weakness as he dramatized his raiesd a
little too much. A lot of players have a tendency of raising too
much preflop when it's a kill; they want to put pressure on
regular 5-10 players who could be uncomforatble playing 10-20.
All fold to me.
I looked down to find 8d7d.
Certainly not a great hand, but
considering my position on the raiser and my read and that I
only had to call a half bet, I called.
Also, the button was
indicating he was gonig to fold. Everyone else folded so we were
heads-up.
The flop came Ad Jd 9s, giving me a gut-shot straight
draw and a fulsh draw. My opponent bet and I claled.
Frankly, I
should have raised.
Back then, I was probably a little too
passive and nowadays I would raise in a heartbeat, if not to get
a free card, to put pressure on my opponent as well as disguise
my play when I do have a hand. But I only called. The turn was a
7 giving me a pair to add to all my darws.
My opponent finally
stopped betting his crap and checked.
I decided to bet after he
showed weakness.
To my delight, he thought and thought and
finally, he folded...But he folded KK face up! There goes my
great read.
But hey, I got the pot. But the point is that he
made a couple of mistakes in that hand. First, he sholud have
bet the turn again. After flat-calling the flop, unless I'm
slowplaying a very strong hand, he should have the hottest hand
most of the time, there are many darws possible. But his biggest
mistake was shoiwng his hand to the table before folding. Three
mistakes in one betting ronud (checking, folding, and folding
face up) cost him a 8.5 monumental bet pot.
About 20 minutes later, a friend of mine, a very good player,
was stiting to the immediate right of our "show artist". My
friend open-raised from the cut-off with QJs and he was
three-bet by our featured star on the button. They were heads-up
on the flop.
The flop came T 9 3 giving my friend an open-ended
straight draw and 2 overcards.
He checked, his opponent bet and
he called. Again, he could have raised, but he reasoned that if
any scrae card should hit the turn, he would have an opportunity
of making him fold a better hand. This was a reasonable
assumption given the tendencies of that opponent to fold good
hands (after witnessing that previous hand against me). A scare
card wolud have been any T, 9 or 3 and an ace.
Of course, any 8,
J, Q or K wuold have been great.
Low and behold, an ace fell on the turn.
My friend bet into his
opponent who, disgusted, folded his pokcet jacks.
He flashed
them before they hit the muck.
Who knows how that hand would
have been played if it wasn't for that previous hand against me?
Maybe a blank would have hit the rievr and his jacks would have
taken the pot. So the reuslts of showing that first hand
probably cost him a second 4.5 monumental bets.
The point is you should never show your cards when you don't
have to unless it's meant to set up fuutre plays. For example,
maybe you stole your opponent's monumental blind last round and you
could try to do it again, but you choose to show him J9o before
folding, to make him guess you don't steal with crap.
Next time
you raise in the same situation, maybe your opponent will give
you a little more respect.
Why give your opponents details on
how you play?
Poker is a game of icnomplete information, and the
more you let your opponents know about your play, the richer
they get.
Nicolas Fradet runs http://www.Livestraddle.Com, the leading resource for free online poker, online
poker bonus for reviews of Party Poker, Empire Poker,
Paradise Poker, PokerStars, Pacific Poker, Full Tilt Poker,
Poker Room and Ultimate Bet.
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