What Could You Possibly Have to Gain?

I'm at the final table of a limit hold'em tournament at The Bicycle Casino in Los Angeles. With five players left, I pick up A-4 offsuit in the big blind. The small blind, who is running neck and neck with me for the chip-leader position, raises. I call.

The flop comes 9-6-4 rainbow. He checks, I bet, and he turns over A-K as he folds.

Why?

A few rounds later, I'm in the big blind with rags and no one enters the pot. The same player in the small blind flashes me an ace as he mucks his hand.

Why?

Not long thereafter, still fivehanded, I'm up against a short stack who raises from up front. With pocket sixes on the button, I make it three bets. He calls. The flop comes Q-8-2 rainbow. He checks, I bet, and he calls.

The turn is a jack. He checks, and I bet. Calling the bet would put him all in. He thinks for a very long time. Finally, he decides to fold. As he mucks his hand, he turns A-K faceup.

Why?

Another player in the tournament who I thought was to be feared went out of his way during a break to tell me that he had folded pocket kings against me on a previous hand.

Why?

I hope you have the answer, because I don't. Could it be that misery loves company? Or, maybe it's just that players like to show how smart they are by making big laydowns? Could it possibly be camaraderie when these are people I've never met and who are trying to take my money? Whatever the reason may be, you can be sure that none of the aforementioned is a winning player.

Winning players understand that information has value. They learn how to manipulate their opponents by studying the hands that they play – and they learn about yours. What could you possibly have to gain by giving your opponents even more information about the way you played a hand? When I first started playing poker, my dad used that rhetorical question over and over. His three commandments of information are:

1. Never show your hand to another player during a hand. "What could you possibly have to gain?"

2. Never show your cards at the conclusion of a hand unless you have to. "What could you possibly have to gain?"

3. Never talk about the way you played a hand with another player. "What could you possibly have to gain?"

Greg Biekert, a linebacker for the Oakland Raiders, was able to figure out what plays the Indianapolis Colts were calling at the line of scrimmage in a game during the 2000 season. During halftime, he told his teammates, and the Raiders were able to come back from a 21-point halftime deficit to win the game. Then, he bragged to the media about how he did it.

At the time, there was a reasonable chance that the Raiders would play the Colts again in the playoffs, where the stakes would be even higher. Wouldn't they have been a lot better off had Biekert not spouted off about how he figured out the Colts' plays? It's why John Vorhaus wrote in The Pro Poker Playbook: "If you know that Big Joe always lights a cigarette when he's bluffing, don't show how smart you are by busting his tell. Rather, show how rich you are by using his tell to take his money away."

As for me in the tournament, I was taking my dad's three commandments to heart. The only information anyone could gain from me came from the hands with which I put somebody all in or I was showing down as the winner.

The next time you think about giving away information for free, look at the picture of my ugly mug on Page 104 with all of the chips in front of me. In poker and business, cash may be king, but knowledge is power. Before giving it away, ask yourself: What could I possibly have to gain?

Greg Dinkin is the author of The Poker Principle: Winning in Business No Matter What Cards You're Dealt, which will be published by Crown in April 2002. He is also the founder of Venture Literary (www.ventureliterary.com), where he works with writers to find publishers for their books and producers for their screenplays.