There are two essential skills for playing no-limit hold'em. They are starting-hand selection and reading your opponents. If you read virtually any good hold'em book, you will get a reasonable idea of appropriate starting hands. It is much harder to develop the skill of reading your opponents. There is one old classic, Mike Caro's
Book of Tells, and there is now a second book that I highly recommend:
Read 'Em and Reap by Phil Hellmuth and Joe Navarro. Phil needs no introduction, but Joe Navarro is a former FBI investigator who presents his thoughts on reading your opponents' strength and credibility. This book presents ideas that I have never been exposed to in more than 40 years of playing poker. For example, Navarro tells you that you should trust your opponents' feet. (Read the book to learn more.)
Sherlock Holmes, a fictional detective, specialized in studying people and circumstances. He was able to deduce a remarkable amount from seemingly minor clues. Reading Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories is not only a pleasurable experience, but also may give you some ideas of how close observation of your opponents can lead to remarkably accurate conclusions about their hands. The following conversation occurs in "Silver Blaze," one of the most famous stories:
Gregory (A detective from Scotland Yard): "Is there any other point to which you would wish to draw my attention?"
Holmes: "To the curious incident of the dog in the night-time."
Gregory: "The dog did nothing in the night-time."
Holmes: "That was the curious incident."
The fact that the dog didn't bark in the night leads Holmes to the solution. In this year's
World Series of Poker $1,500 no-limit hold'em event, I find that my starting table is in the pavilion, a tent in back of the main room, where it is hot and muggy (the poker sauna). We are playing with experimental cards that are extremely difficult to read. (In a much appreciated burst of efficiency, the
WSOP staff got these horrendous cards out of circulation within two days.) I decide to follow Mike Laing's advice, and since I can't read the cards, I focus on trying to read my opponents.
There is a man two seats to my left who is following a strange procedure. He looks at his cards as soon as they are dealt. (I always advise students to wait until it is their turn to act before looking. If you don't know what you have, you can't give anything away.) When he intends to fold, he continues to hold them in his hand. When he intends to play, he places them lengthwise in front of him and puts a small metal dog on top of them as a card protector. The dog appears to be a pointer made of silver or pewter, and also is placed lengthwise, with its paw pointing at the opponent on his left.
About an hour into the tournament, he is in the big blind and I am on the button. There are several limpers. I have A-J suited, and as I decide how much to raise, I note that this man's cards are placed vertically in front of him, and the dog is now pointing at the pot. For some reason, this worries me. I'm not a big fan of A-J anyway, so I decide to fold instead of raise. The man raises about the size of the pot, and gets two callers. The flop is 8-8-7, he moves in, and is promptly called. He turns over K-K, but the caller has 9-8 suited and wins easily. The man and dog are gone. I have dodged this bullet, only to suffer with the heat and cards for another hour before I, too, get K-K and lose to suited connectors.
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 Full Tilt, 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.
