They Just Keep Talking

I ended my last column with a warning about talking too much while you're in a hand. You are giving away more information than you realize, and some opponents are probably shrewd enough to use it against you.

You might think it doesn't happen too often, but that type of situation comes up almost every time I play. Someone makes a bet or a raise and follows it up with some chatter, and doesn't realize that he is effectively giving away his hand range by doing so. Very often, I'm the lucky recipient of this free information. For example, here are two hands that took place on back-to-back days recently that demonstrate exactly what I'm talking about.


Hand No. 1



The game was $15-$30 limit hold'em, and I was in the big blind. The under-the-gun player raised preflop, several players called, and I called with the 5 5. The flop was a very pretty K K 5. I checked, the preflop raiser checked, and the next player bet. Everyone folded to me, and I decided to flat-call, as did the preflop raiser.

The turn was the Q, and I checked again. Now the preflop raiser flamboyantly bet out, proclaiming, "I have to bet my flush draw." The flop bettor looked at him skeptically, seemingly unsure of what to make of his antics. "No, really," he reiterated, "I have a flush draw." He was not the type of player to outright lie in that sort of situation, so I was inclined to believe him. And looking at the board of K K 5 Q, it took all of two seconds for me to understand that he had the K with another spade, most likely the A, since he had raised preflop. After some hesitation, the flop bettor called. I check-raised, which I would have done anyway, even if the preflop raiser hadn't said anything. He hesitated, then declared, "I think my flush is coming!" He then made it three bets. The other player mucked, and the action was back to me.

If he had kept quiet, I might have had to flat-call here, since K-Q and Q-Q were distinct possibilities. But now, once he had defined his hand so clearly, I was able to four-bet safely. He quickly called. The river was the 7, and I immediately checked, feigning a little disgust. He looked kind of surprised, and I could see exactly what was going through his mind: "For him to four-bet the turn, I thought he had to have a full house. But he looks upset by the spade on the river. It would be too wimpy of me to check here with the nut flush, so I guess I have to bet." He bet, I check-raised, and he quickly called and flipped up his A K and asked, "I guess this is no good?" I showed him my fives full and raked in the chips as he shook his head dejectedly.

Regardless of anything he did, it was a fortunate flop, and I was destined to win a nice pot. But thanks to his talking, I got an extra big bet out of him on both the turn and the river. Sometimes it's hard to assign a value to the information we get from our opponents, but in this case, his attempt to be clever put an extra $60 of real money into my stack.


Hand No. 2

The game was no-limit hold'em with $1-$2 blinds. The star of our table was an inexperienced, fun-loving player who was moving all in preflop every time he decided to play a hand. Sometimes he got picked off and had to rebuy, but he also had moved all in several times with big hands and gotten action from lesser ones of players who refused to believe he'd raise $100 or more with premium hands. So despite his goofy strategy, he wasn't losing too much when this hand came up.

The action was short and simple. I was in the $2 big blind, everyone folded to him in late position, he moved all in for about $150, everyone else folded to me, and I looked down to find pocket nines. My quick assessment was that I figured to be a favorite over his range of hands, so I was leaning toward a call. He had shown that he was willing to play any pair, and pocket nines were a better-than-average pair. Plus, he could certainly have a lot of two-overcard hands, against which I'd be a small favorite. Taken altogether, I was pretty sure that I wanted to call, but I took a few seconds to contemplate, and that turned out to be a good idea.

Once he saw that I was considering a call, he started trying to goad me into it. "Come on, I raise with everything! … We're here to gamble, right? … Just put your chips in there! … Come on, I'll show you a card, then you can call." The more he talked, the more I realized that he genuinely wanted me in there, and I started to think twice about calling. But it wasn't until the last thing he said that I was sure that I would be correct to lay down my hand.

He separated his two cards and asked me to choose one. But I didn't ask to see a card. At that point, I didn't have to. He had essentially eliminated the possibility of having an underpair, because if he had something like pocket sevens, for example, he certainly wouldn't be asking me to choose a card to see. So now the possibility of being a big favorite was gone. I was either a small favorite or a substantial underdog, and the more he talked, the more I began to suspect that it was the latter.

I laid down my nines, and he groaned and flipped up pocket kings. "Aw, how could you not give me action?" he moaned. I just shrugged and tapped the table in acknowledgement of his nice hand. Thanks to his talking, I was able to go from calling to folding, and there's about an 80 percent chance that I saved $150 by doing so. And for what it's worth, I went on to win almost $1,000 in that session. Had I called and lost, the rest of the day might have gone much differently.

How sure are you that you're not costing yourself money when you talk? If you still have doubts, I'm sure I'll have more examples for you in the future. But until then, do me a favor and keep talking.

Matt Lessinger is the author of The Book of Bluffs: How to Bluff and Win at Poker, available everywhere. You can find other articles of his at www.CardPlayer.com.