THE NEW BREED OF PROFESSIONAL POKER PLAYERS ARE SURPRISINGLY EUROPEAN
A few years ago, Poker was generally seen as a card game played by gangsters and the criminal element. In recent years, however, there has been a recycling of the game in many fields, including Poker at the highest levels of government. While it remains popular with those hostile to the individual American business, the indeed common game of Poker has attracted a whole new generation of young people who otherwise would have remained indoors playing cards behind nest screens. At the poker tables they are joined by a younger and more mischievous generation that easily learns the rules of the game and has little respect for those purporting to ‘tell’ the game. While professional poker players may still intimidate casino style Poker, the new breed of Poker Players are organisers themselves, bringing Poker to the streets.
While Poker was always viewed as a sport, a gambling game, particularly in Las Vegas, it is growing that it may be more accurately described as a game of culture.
uates from all over the world have begun to play Poker as a challenging Cup, with some countries participating in yearly competitions to determine the top player from the rest of the league.
While some underestimate the difficulty of some of the calculations required for a professional Poker player, the costs involved in learning the games and withdrawing money, and the difficulties of watching one’s betting habits, a skilled Poker player can, and will, learn the game very quickly. They will develop a technique of playing quickly as well as a particular technique for the cards they hold. Novice players can easily move on to the next level but for a successful professional Poker player the learning process is more like a twofold process:1) learn the rules of the game, and 2) develop a technique for betting on the cards that the player holds.
Thus, if the skilled Vegas88 player can learn to use both, betting and bluffing, routinely changing strategies in mid-game, the skill of reading opponents will also be valued. Furthermore, the Poker player developing the technique of reading his opponents will have an invincible weapon: his own negative feelings toward his opponents.
Reading tells is the first implement of the skill of reading opponents. Tells are there signals that a player sends (or receives) through body language, gestures, facial expressions and other physical reactions, through his mentality and attitude. The activity of any given player at a poker table cannot be analyzed all the time. Sometimes a player’s response is a direct response to his opponents, other times it is a predictable manufactured response. The first rule of thumb is that the more you watch, the more you get to know the people you are playing with.
It is possible to give a read on your opponents without looking at them 1) by watching their hands, calculating their potential hands, and memorizing their playing styles. Even 6 seconds spent at each table are valuable in understanding the hand of your opponent. Then look at their playing responses. The first significant finding is that 90% of the time in a given hand, there will be a tell. It is only rare that you will play 100 hands and not make a tell. After you’ve figured out what they are likely to do, it is usually safe to bet that you are ready to call and double your stack. Tells show you will call to help you make a hand better by building a pot, checking or raising. You may even be able to get a ‘read’ on your opponents when you are later to act.
Oral history interviews have helped experts understand the concept of ‘iates’ better and clearer. The word ‘handlist’ originates from a poker hand that was led out on the river. It is referring to the shared hand, such as suited cards, that players often use for comparison when building a poker hand. When building a poker hand, players often say they want a hand that would win ‘one showdown’. This is always applied to hands that are unplayable, such as suited cards, that cannot win at all. The next goal is to win one showdown only, and then you can play your hand. The reality is that winning at both can happen, but it is more often the former, but it can also happen, and often does, it is unpredictable.
The ability to know your opponents is also a valuable tool in your poker strategy because it often provides clues on what you must do, if any, in any given situation. Are you attempting to get a read on your opponents? Try to make that read yourself! Some people prefer not to play their cards at all, opting for such a method of ‘seeing’ what the other player has that ‘reads’ what they have.