What are You Thinking About?

If you could open up your opponents' heads, you'd find them thinking about all sorts of things at the poker table: the cocktail waitress sauntering by, a football game on TV, the newspaper that's propped open on the tray beside their seat, a vexing issue at work, a problem at home, the impending mortgage payment, or anything else that comes to mind. We've all been distracted during poker games – you and I and everyone else who's ever played. We're only human, and no one can focus exclusively on poker during a five-hour session. Our minds wander. We daydream. Let's face it, sometimes we're just not there.

But we all know better, or should. After all, there's information floating around whenever you're playing poker – lots of it – but you won't pick much of it up when your antennas are not tuned in. Let's examine some typical thoughts that run through other players' heads at the table. Perhaps you've had them, too. "Hmm, someone just posted behind the button in addition to the usual blinds. There's lots of dead money in the pot. I think I'll go ahead and raise with nothing; I want to steal that money." If that's not familiar, this one surely is: "I have to make this bet on the river even though I missed my flush. It's the only way I can win this pot. If they reraise, I'll fold; otherwise, I just might win this pot."

Is there anything wrong with these statements? Not really, but like so much of poker, the answer is, "It depends." And in these cases, it depends on whether you're considering these moves because you have some real information that leads you to believe you have a good chance of succeeding, or are just making a play at the pot because in your heart of hearts you're just responding to some primal urge, and somewhere deep down inside yourself, you believe the force of your will and the strength of your desires can be imposed on your opponents.

Boxers always talk about imposing their will on their opponents, and the fighter who is able to dictate the style and pace of a boxing match is usually the guy who walks away with the decision, if not a knockout. But poker is not boxing, and the force of your will has little to do with winning. Poker is all about guile and cunning, skill and technique, leading when you want to, and trapping when you can. But, it's also all about the cards. Even the best players will be beaten when an opponent makes a big hand, the kind you can't drive him off with a truck.

When you're alert at the poker table, you're always aware of people's betting patterns. There's no excuse for not being alert. Your opponents are providing oodles of free information about the quality of their hands and their playing styles, and if you don't devote sufficient effort and energy to processing it, you're giving up far too much to those opponents who do. Moreover, if you are obviously unaware, like the guy who's glued to a football game on TV or marking his racing form while he plays, your opponents realize it and will use that knowledge to their advantage. So, while your mind wanders, your more observant opponents will be reading you like an open book.

Ask yourself the right questions – the kind the top players and pros always do. Who is cautious? Who is aggressive? Always review a player's holecards against the cards on the board and his betting pattern. Is he careful? Does he bluff when he should, or does he bluff when he shouldn't? Does he feel he has to call to keep his opponents honest, even though his hand is weak and has little chance of winning? If he's dealt A-K, does he usually come out betting even when the flop misses him completely? How long does he continue to push a hand that the flop doesn't help at all? If he has a pocket pair of sixes, will he play back at an opponent who raised before the flop and is now betting into a ragged board?

Replaying each betting round of every hand that's shown down to see how the participants coordinated their betting patterns with the cards they held and those that were in full view is critically important to winning poker. This exercise tells you all you ever want to know about an opponent's starting standards, how he is playing at the moment, whether he likes to chase with weak hands, and how willing he is to call a raise or make one himself, given the mix of cards at the point in the hand when those decisions are made.

Take notice of every hand shown on the river and rewind the tape in your head. From what position did they play that? How much did it cost them to call? Did they bet, raise, or simply call with that hand?

It's so important to get a fix on the playing styles of your opponents that it's a good idea not to get involved too soon in a new game. It takes a good 15 minutes or so to get the lay of the land. Sure, if you're dealt a big pocket pair, like aces or kings, dive right into the pot because you figure to come away with the money at hand's end, even when you're unaware of how your opponents play or what they're likely to do in various situations. But most hands are not strong enough to overcome the lack of table perception you'll suffer from when first sitting down to play. So, stay away from speculative hands until you've got your opponents characterized and know the playing propensities of them all.

A good rule of thumb is to try to win the first hand you play to conclusion. If you're able to achieve that, you will have established yourself as a good, tough player in the minds of your adversaries, and you'll be off to a great start, too. By trying to win the first hand you play, you are saying, in essence, that you will avoid all but the very best hands when you first sit down at the table.

If you have the option, seat selection matters at a poker table, and where you sit relative to aggressive players can increase your chances for a winning session, because you can adjust your strategies based on their predictable play. In an ideal world, you want tough, aggressive players on your right, as well as any maniacs at the table, so that you can get out of their way unless you have a very strong hand. This enables you to reraise the maniac when you have a hand that figures to be better than his, so that you can play heads up against him. You want tight, cautious, predictable, and conservative players on your left, so that you can bet them out of the pot. They don't represent all that much of a threat to you anyway, since they tend to raise infrequently, if at all.

If you happen to have an aggressive player on your left, you'll have to limit the number of hands you play. On the other hand, when you have a good hand, you can let your aggressive table mate do the betting and you may be able to trap him for lots of chips. Watch your opponents; look for tells. Even if they're hiding behind their Oakleys like the pros on TV, it's usually their hand motions rather than their eyes that give them away. Are they getting ready to call or fold? Is this tell reliable or is he just pretending that he's going to call? Many players hold their cards with their wrist cocked when preparing to fold, and this tell is very reliable. So, look to your left before it's your turn to act, and if you see that your opponents are preparing to release their hands, you might wind up with the distinct advantage of being last to act, and you'll be able to raise into a group of players you know were going to fold anyway, thus representing a very strong hand to your less observant adversaries.

You need reasons for every decision you make at the poker table, and your reasons need to be rational. A hunch doesn't count, and neither does that vague feeling that the cards were "due." Cards are never due. They don't respond to hunches. They are inanimate objects made of plastic or cardboard, with no intelligence or magical powers built into them. Cards are as dumb as dumb can be, and even a truckload of turnips looks like a Mensa convention compared to the cards at a poker table. Every winning player knows this. If you believe otherwise, or act as though you do – even for the briefest of moments – it will cost you some chips.

When you play poker, you'll always be conducting an internal dialogue between your heart and head. It's tough to shut it off for any length of time. So, learn which voice in your head is the most reliable, and listen to it. Don't be afraid to tune in to that instinct you know is the right one. Listen to it, and ignore all those false prophets rattling around inside your head. When you can do this, you are almost guaranteed to play winning poker.

Thanks to literary agent par excellance, poker maven, and talented writer Sherree Bykofsky for suggesting this topic and contributing mightily to it.

Raise your game with Lou Krieger. Visit him online at www.loukrieger.com. His newest book, Winning Omaha/8 Poker, is available at www.Cardplayer.com.