Mastering the Three Levels of Poker

These days, everyone seems to be playing poker. Or, if they aren't playing, they're watching from the rail and marveling at the moves players make and the amount of money at risk on the turn of a single card. It is very seductive.

Just how seductive it is can be seen by the explosion of poker on TV. There are upward of 30 hours of poker on TV every week. If reruns of the World Series of Poker and the World Poker Tour aren't enough, Hollywood's "A-List" celebrities have gotten into the act, too, with cable channels promoting shows like Celebrity Poker, where your favorite heartthrob from the afternoon soaps and an obscure insult comedian sit down with a couple of B-level movie stars and "let 'er rip."

The success of shows like the World Poker Tour is amazing. The first shows turned into the most watched show the Travel Channel ever had, and word of mouth was so strong that the reruns actually attracted an even larger audience.

From our point of view, as extremely serious poker players, some of these shows are fabulous and some not so good, but the attraction keeping us riveted to the screen is the skill displayed by the pros in these events. So, in the hope we can seduce some of the newer readers and players into joining the ever-growing ranks of serious poker players, we'll tell you why play at the final tables is so engaging.

It's important to realize that the poker you see being played on the WPT and the WSOP is not typical of most poker games – not by any stretch of the imagination. For the most part, you're seeing only the final table of an event that has lasted for days. In typical WPT events, several hundred players begin play. In the championship event of the 2004 WSOP, nearly 2,600 players plopped down $10,000 to play, and it took seven days before Greg Raymer claimed the $5 million first prize. Major poker tournaments are a lot like golf and tennis tournaments, in that a large number of competitors start out and play over several days, with only a few making it to the final table.

Moreover, you aren't seeing all the hands. TV shows are taped well in advance and then edited down. The producers select the most exciting hands to show – ones in which a brilliant bluff worked and an intimidated opponent threw away the best hand, or a player caught a "miracle card" to turn a sure loser of a hand into a big winner. These hands make for great television, but are relatively rare, even at a final table. Here's a clue as to what's going on. Dealers are replaced every half-hour. If you look carefully, you often see that three different dealers have been working the table even though only seven or eight minutes have passed by on your watch.

As exciting as they are, hands with miracle cards are not the attraction. Sure, we love watching someone hit that miracle card, and it's hard to resist the antics of world-class players when they are trying to get a psychological edge on their opponents, but the real key is much more subtle. It has to do with mastering the three levels of play in poker.

Level 1 (Hand Selection): Every player must master this to have any chance of becoming good – and by "good," we mean at least breaking even.

The key to Level 1 play is learning to evaluate your own hand, estimate its strength, and understand how well your cards will play given your position and the playing styles and tendencies of your opponents. The essence of Level 1 play is dead simple: Start with the best hand and you are more likely to end up with the best hand.

If you start with a lesser hand, you are likely to end up a loser. Be careful about your starting cards, and don't put your money up without having a decent chance of winning the hand.

Although we have been playing poker for a long time, it's still astonishing to see how many regulars have not mastered the rudiments of Level 1 play. If you have, these folks will essentially give you their money, and we're always happy to see our readers prosper.

Level 2 (Reading Opponents' Hands): To move up beyond Level 1, you'll need to master the key trick here, reading your opponents. You may have a very strong hand, such as three kings, but it is worth absolutely nothing if your opponent has three aces. On the other hand, you can pick up a pot with a bet or a raise with virtually nothing if you sense that your opponent has a hand so weak that he'll fold if you bet.

There are two elements to learning Level 2 play. One involves ascertaining at what level your opponents are playing. If your opponent seems to be someone who understands Level 1 play, you can often get a good read on his hands simply by noting when and how he bets or raises.

The other way to get an edge at this level is by "reading" your opponent's actions, movements, voice quality, body language, and manner of betting. One of the best books on this topic is Mike Caro's Book of Tells. In poker lingo, a "tell" is something your opponent does to reveal the strength of his hand. Mike's book is full of useful photos and detailed analyses of body language. Or, it might be a false tell, which is designed to trick you into believing your opponent is weak when he is really strong, or vice versa.

Relatively few players reach this level. You can often tell when someone is working to learn this skill. If you overhear a poker player say something like, "Well, when he raised me after a third spade hit the board, I put him on a flush," you are listening to someone who is playing at Level 2. Don't worry about being less than perfect at picking up tells. No one picks all of them up. You just have to be right more often than chance to improve your lot at the poker table.

Level 3 (Reading Opponents' Minds): The key to Level 3 play is figuring out what your opponent thinks you have. If your opponent appears to understand Level 2 play, you know he's trying to figure out what you have. By analyzing the pattern of betting and raising as the hand progresses through its betting rounds, you can often get a good read on what your opponent thinks you have.

The key to making this work for you lies in adjusting your own strategy based on what you think your opponent thinks you have. If your opponent thinks you have a strong hand, you can bet and win a pot with the worst hand. If your opponent thinks you're weak, such a bluff won't work.

Very few players master Level 3. In fact, the overwhelming majority of poker players – even some who have played for years – don't even realize this level exists. But mastering it is critical to becoming a very solid player.

Now you know why we like watching final-table play on TV. These guys are all playing at Level 3. Indeed, some of them take it up a notch and slip another layer of "he thinks that I think that he thinks that I have" into their game. Many of the hands that look ordinary actually contain layer upon layer of this kind of analysis. When a top pro sits there and thinks for several minutes, he is going through these various Level 3 considerations. There are wheels within wheels within wheels, and sometimes they just seem to keep spinning.

So, come join us in the poker rooms that are springing up everywhere. Start at the lowest stakes; win a little, lose a little. Enjoy yourself and learn to love this fabulous game. It is a lot more fun than mindlessly stabbing at the "spin" button on a slot machine.

Raise your game with Lou Krieger at www.loukrieger.com. His newest book, Winning Omaha/8 Poker, is available at www.Cardplayer.com. Arthur Reber is Broeklundian Professor of Psychology at Brooklyn College of CUNY. He is the author of The New Gambler's Bible and the co-author of Gambling for Dummies. He can be reached at [email protected].