Made it Back to Borgata

I finally arrived at the Borgata after a long travel day from Hong Kong. The time change is crazy, it's 11 hours off for me but I'm off to play the 2.5k event today. I think the preliminary events here at The Borgata are a very good value because you get a lot of chips to start with and the blinds progress slowly. The tournament room here is a great room, large and well organized.

In the last blog I went through some physical tells and received a lot of positive feedback so I thought I'd go through the more of what I think about when I sit down to play. I would like to move on to what I call pattern tells. Just like in on line play, betting patterns which are extremely important. They are comprised of many variables including the size of the bet in relation to the BB, Their position when they bet or raise, how they actually physically bet, time to act, and if you're lucky what they say when they bet or raise.

Starting with size of bet, some players always raise the same amount. The thinking is that it's hard to obtain pattern information from this. While there is some truth to that it may also lead to a false sense of security. For instance the player that always raises 3 BB when they enter an un-raised pot might vary the way in which they put the money in, or how quickly they act when their turn comes. If a bet is barely put in versus thrown in forcefully, or neatly stacked, or moved in with both hands will at times relay a large amount of information. Equally as important is someone's time to act. Once it is their turn to act what is their "cadence?" Does it change, or is it very consistent. I try to be so repetitive it's almost boring. I remember watching a story about Tiger Woods, and when he went through his pre-shot routing you could time it and it was always the same to the second. That stuck with me and I attempt to do the same thing. Jack Nicklaus said when a player's pre shot routine fell apart in the late stages of a tournament their game followed suit. Although golf and poker share little with regard to the physical performance, the mental side is somewhat similar.

A player's verbal communication is also very important. Are they usually talkative and go stone mute in some situations, or when someone is contemplating calling a large bet, do they start talking in an attempt to discourage a call, which usually works against them. In any event watch for these things and as with the physical tells, you must confirm them, and use them as a piece of the puzzle.

You can be a poker player or a card player. As the name implies a card player plays the hand their dealt, while a true poker player, plays the situation. A good card player can be a winning and successful player, but will never have that instinct or edge that belongs to the true poker player. Being able to look your opponent in the eyes, and play the player is what it's about, at least for me.