2006 has been a long and frustrating poker year for me. I have not had particularly good results in tournaments or cash games. I never like to blame bad results on bad luck, but I sure think I've been unlucky in a lot of key situations. Possibly, there are too many talented young players with more drive and stamina. Perhaps I have been pushing myself too hard. Whatever the reasons, I decided to take a break recently and escape from poker for a week or so. One of my first outings was dinner and a movie. After an excellent dinner, we went to see
Casino Royale, the new James Bond movie.
The new James Bond is Daniel Craig. Unlike the procession of Bonds who never came close to capturing Sean Connery's magic, he creates a magic of his own. He is more of a low-tech, back-alley thug than a suave international jet-setter. But he also is more interesting, and even has a vulnerable side. Most of the middle section of the movie consists of a high-stakes poker game - sort of a $10 million sit-and-go with a $5 million rebuy option; so much for my escape from poker. But at least movie poker is so unrealistic that it really is quite an escape. Just imagine the four day ones of the main event of the
World Series of Poker edited down to a few hands in which massive hands collide and improbable situations are standard. Maybe I'm just a poker junkie, but even unrealistic poker is a lot more interesting to me than baccarat, which was the game played in the original version of
Casino Royale.
I want to discuss one hand from the movie and then provide some generic recommendations for the use of tells. For those not familiar with the term, a tell is a behavior that reveals something about a player's hand.
Bond is involved in a huge pot against his arch rival, the criminal financier Le Chiffre. The board is A-A-K-J-J. As I recall, the action on the river went like this: Le Chiffre bets a million, Bond raises a million, and Le Chiffre moves all in. Bond has A-K. I would try to curb my enthusiasm and call in turn. I can't imagine folding. In fact, it would be hard to imagine folding in pot-limit Omaha, where my opponent has four cards with which to work. Bond, however, has uncovered a Le Chiffre tell. The tell proves Le Chiffre is bluffing, so he calls. I would consider this tell to be really valuable if it enabled me to call in this pot with K-Q. Making an automatic call because of a tell doesn't seem meaningful to me. It is a waste of a tell. I won't reveal the result of this hand or the game, but Bond fans will suspect that this type of movie has a tell: The good guy eventually triumphs.
Now, the Zee's Tips on Tells:
• On the river in limit poker, you are usually getting high pot odds, and your tendency should be to always call the final bet. Fold only when you are sure you are beaten, and an opponent's strength-showing tell is one way of being sure.
• In no-limit poker, you are usually getting much smaller pot odds, and thus your tendency should be to fold when you can beat only a bluff. The only times you should call are when you are relatively sure that your opponent is bluffing.
Here again, a tell can be crucial in making the right decision.
• With players you don't know perfectly, look for a reinforced tell. By this I mean not only the physical tell, but also another factor. The factor might be something suspicious or unusual about the way the hand was played. It might be the fact that it is late at night and your opponent seems desperate to get even. It might be that there is a flush draw on board; your opponent appeared to be drawing, and appears to have missed.
• If you are very confident that you spotted a tell, act slowly. Think about your decision. If your opponent bluffs, and you make a quick, confident call, he won't bluff you again very soon. Since the tell lets you know when he's bluffing, you want to encourage him to keep throwing this extra bet at you. Think for a long time, almost fold, and reluctantly call. This shouldn't discourage his future bluffs the way that a quick, snappy call would. (The reverse applies to strength-showing tells: Think, then fold reluctantly.)
Steve "Zee" Zolotow, aka The Bald Eagle, is a successful games player. He currently devotes most of his time to poker. He can be found at many major tournaments and playing on FullTilt, as one of its pros. When escaping from poker, he hangs out in his bar, Nice Guy Eddie's on Houston and Avenue A in New York City.
