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Keep an Eye on Your Opponent -
Christal Ashley
Recently I played a $60 buy-in NLHE tournament in Austin. There
were about 25 players and at my first table there was an even
mixture of loose players, tight players and both experienced
and non-experienced players. I was card dead for most of the
first few rounds of blinds, so I was stealing
where I knew I could get away with it and folding like a mad woman.
When the blinds reached 100-200 I picked up pocket 5’s under the gun. I
made a standard raise to 600. Only the button called my raise, I guess everyone
else noticed that I hadn’t been playing a lot of hands. The flop comes
down 4-6-7 rainbow. I look at the flop, and as I am gazing across the table,
I see my opponent reach for chips. Now I am first to act, so I stare at him quietly
until everyone but him notices what is happening. He had reached for his chips
and counted out a bet and was literally holding it in his hand. When he finally
looked up from his chip stack, he had realized what he had done.
When he looked up I asked, “How much are you going to bet there?” He
quietly
answered, “Twelve hundred”. I paused for about a minute.
I looked at him, looked at the board, looked at my cards, counted out my chips,
looked back at the board again. Finally I say, “What did you hit on thatflop
that you are so proud of?” He didn’t answer. I paused for another minute.
I could literally see the fear in his eyes.
“I check”. He was amazed by my action. He had no clue where I was
in the hand. It confused him that I took so long to act, knew what he was going
to bet and still checked. He thought about it for a moment and put his chips
back
toward his stack. He finally said “I check, too.” This gave
me a huge piece of information. At that point in time I put him on Jacks or Tens.
He was strong enough to make a ¾ of the pot bet, but when faced with a
challenge, he backed down. I knew he had put me on a much stronger hand then what
I was holding. I had now taken control of the hand.
The turn was a deuce. I know at this point he has put me on a hand that beats
his own. I push all-in. His cards hit the muck in a flash. The pot was pushed
toward me and I felt like the Queen of the table. During the
next break, a gentleman who I have played poker against quite a few times asked, “So,
was it Kings or Aces?” I smiled and said with pride “pocket fives”.
He was amazed.
The moral of the story is you have to watch your opponent. While most of the
time
the actions won’t be as blatant as my example, your opponent is always
giving you information. Once you notice those actions, use them against the player.
By connecting their actions with prior experiences, you should be able to put
your opponent on a hand. All you have to do is duplicate the actions of a hand
that can beat them. But you have to watch out, don’t put your opponent
on a hand you can beat and then run straight into the nuts. You have to pick
your
spots. Notice betting patterns and look for signs of weakness.
One way to condition yourself to watch your opponents is pause at your every
action.
I’m not saying hold your cards until time is called on you. All I am saying
is watch every other person react before you act. Pre-flop, I do not look at
my
cards until it is my action. I watch everyone else’s response to their
hole
cards before I look at my own. On the flop, don’t even look at the cards
coming down, focus all of your attention on the
players involved in the hand.
It can sometimes be helpful to watch the players not involved in the hand as
well. Say the flop comes down 8-8-2. It is possible that the person whothrew
away an eight will react to that flop. While it is possible that
someone else could have an eight, the odds are slim. You can use that information
against someone who might check raise you or make a bet to represent trips.
So, the next time you are sitting at the table, slow down. Make sure you watch
every action. Take mental notes. Players are constantly giving you clues to their
hands. You just have to take notice.
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