I Told You So
Thursday, May 03, 2007
Sadly, I am unable to embed video at the moment, but while I was perusing the poker clips available on YouTube, I came across something that I found compelling. In THIS CLIP from High Stakes Poker, Brad Booth makes a royal flush against Daniel Negreanu. Negreanu rivers a straight, and while he is deciding whether or not to call the big bet by Booth, Booth tells him "I hit the straight flush." If you recall, a while ago, I stated that among the many tells, one of the most reliable is when your opponent speaks at the table. As human beings, we are programmed from a very young age to tell the truth. Even though we might act at the poker table, it's usually non-verbal, like staring down your opponent when you actually have crap cards, or sighing and acting upset when you have the nuts and are facing a raise. Once a player gets talking, however, you should listen carefully. More often than not, they are telling the truth. This is why I highly recommend asking questions at the table. When you are faced with a tough decision, just go ahead and ask, "Do you have the straight?" If they do, they may be evasive, "You'll have to call to find out." But often, they'll say, "Yes" or "No" and they mean it.
Notably, the clip involves seasoned pros and they still give off these tells. So, watch the clip and enjoy.
On an unrelated note, I just cancelled my home game on Sunday. I could only get 4 definite players, and frankly, now I remember why I don't like to throw home games. No one wants to commit. They may end up calling me Sunday morning about the game, but I don't like running that risk. I feel an obligation to have a sufficient amount of players for those who said they would play, and if I don't cancel today, I know I'll be spending Saturday afternoon and evening worrying. Well, damnit, I ain't going out like that. NiceLook is back on the schedule.
Until next time, make mine poker!
posted by Jordan @ 11:20 PM,
3 Comments:
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At 11:56 AM,
said...
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Talking at the table like that and telling the truth can pay off later. If I make a big hand where I know no one else hit fuck all, I sometimes talk like that and show my hand to set up something later on where I'll either feign the truth to bluff someone out of a pot, or give what seems like an honest answer to "did you miss your draw? you're betting like you did" so I can snap someone off for a little value.
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At 4:23 AM,
Karol said...
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Texting about your game was a bad idea, honestly. Email would've been better. I read the text, thought "of that might be cool" and promptly forgot about it. In my inbox, I can save it as new as a reminder. Just a thought.
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At 12:49 PM,
Jordan said...
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Karol, I have another friend who told me that text messaging is better, so I went with that one. Lesson learned, although the lesson was "Why is it a bad idea to throw a home game?"
