Winners Prepare Thoroughly: Part V

This series of columns is based on the military maxim, "The battle is often won or lost before it is fought." In Part II, Nolan Dalla, the World Series of Poker media director, related it to game selection, but it applies to every step of the battle.

In poker battles, information is the critically important weapon, and winners know that their results depend primarily on the information balance. The more they know, and the less their opponents know, the stronger they are. They therefore work hard to maximize the information they get and minimize the information they give away.

Because most information must be acquired and processed before it is needed, preparation is critical to winning the information battle. They skip or carelessly perform various preparation steps, but winners thoroughly take every one that this series has already discussed:

• Study strategic principles
• Plan for this specific event or session
• Get into the right state of mind
• Choose a good table and seat
• Categorize the players and game
• Plan a general strategy
• Plan the play of this hand

Now, I'll discuss preparation for future hands. This preparation includes two phases:

• After you fold
• After the hand is over

After You Fold
Countless writers have urged you to stay focused on the action after folding. Unfortunately, if you are like most people, you may casually watch the action, but focus more on your bad beats, lucky catches, results for the session, or what you will have for lunch. You may even ignore the action and chat or watch television.

Winners ignore distractions and stay focused on their opponents. They know they can learn more after folding than while playing. When your money is at risk, you naturally focus on your cards and strategy. You hope or fear that certain cards will come and - if you are thinking well - make tentative plans for how you will react if various cards come and your opponents check, bet, and so on.

After folding, you have nothing at risk and can focus more intently on learning about your opponents. Your hopes and fears for this hand disappear. Since you don't have to plan your strategy, you can see your opponents more clearly and think about them more thoroughly and objectively.

To maximize your learning, forget about the cards you folded and the money you would have won or lost with them. Don't play "Wudda, cudda, shudda," because it reduces learning. Instead of studying your opponents, you may think, "I should have called that raise with my 10-9 offsuit. I would have flopped the nut straight, and look at that action! I would have won …"

If you watch the action like a television show, you will often read your opponents' hands much better than you do while playing. You will pick up more tells, see betting patterns more clearly, understand their styles more completely, and generally learn much more about them than you can while playing.

After the Hand is Over
The tendency to shift your attention away from the recent action is even stronger after the hand is over. You naturally think more about the next hand than the previous one, especially if you were not involved in it. But it's the ideal time to learn.

You probably think that a hold'em hand has only five streets, but Tommy Angelo's new book, Elements of Poker, goes one street further:

"Sixth street starts when the betting stops … players relax, which is why it pays not to.

"While playing … players are stoic, doing their best to give up as little information as possible. … as soon as the betting stops … they start broadcasting information about their thoughts, their feelings, and their cards. Sixth street is when players let their guard down, as if all of a sudden it's safe to reveal classified secrets to the enemy. It's like they don't even know the war is still going on." (Pages 106-107)

You must recognize that - since the information battle never stops - you must never give away information. I wrote about this mistake in "We Need a Miranda Warning."

"Every poker room should have a sign saying: 'Warning, anything you say can be used against you.' … Every time you give away information, you are essentially giving away chips.

"Yet people do it all the time. They tell bad-beat stories, show their hands, discuss their strategy, criticize and lecture other players, and give away lots of other information …

"The next time you're tempted to talk, show your cards, or give away any other information, remember the Miranda Warning: Anything you say can be used against you …" (Your Worst Poker Enemy, (Pages 177-179)

But don't keep completely silent. You know that the information war never ends, but you don't want your opponents to realize it and clam up. Instead, talk in a friendly way that yields information, but also preserves the relaxed, "let's have fun" atmosphere. In Advanced Limit Hold'em Strategies, Barry Tanenbaum wrote: Asking questions "is the friendly thing to do, and it's more fun than just sitting there like a puma in the tall weeds, waiting to pounce. Second, players will tell you things that may help." (Page 64)

Don't ask, "What cards did you have?" That question tells them you're trying to get information that they don't want to give you, but people love to talk about how they think and why they play in certain ways. So, ask questions like the ones I suggested in The Psychology of Poker:

"I wonder why you didn't check-raise."

"I'm surprised that you called with that hand."

"Why would you try to bluff such a loose player?"

"That was a strange raise."

"I never thought you had anything like that. I thought you had …"

"You can often get important information by criticizing people, but do it gently. For example, lots of people defend calling or raising with bad cards by explaining their reasons.

"I always protect my big blind for one raise."

"I'll see the next card if I've got three cards to any straight."

"I raised because they are my lucky cards."

"These statements provide you with valuable information you could not get any other way, and that knowledge helps you to understand and beat them …

"Occasionally, someone will object to your probing. So what? Getting information is like panning for gold; it takes a lot of work to get a little bit of it. But it's worth the effort." (Pages 102-103)

Final Remarks
Poker is a battle for information, and it takes hard work to acquire and process it. You must also resist your natural impulses to give it away. Much of this work and discipline must be done at times that most people just relax, but winners keep working, getting ready for future battles. They constantly ask a question that you should often ask yourself: "How can I get more and give away less information?"

To learn more about yourself and other players, you can buy Dr. Schoonmaker's books, Your Worst Poker Enemy and Your Best Poker Friend, at CardPlayer.com.