by Mike Caro

First published in Poker Player Newspaper

Whenever I'm seated at a poker table, one of my main missions is to make my opponents feel comfortable with me. I believe the more they enjoy my presence, the more money I'll make.

I'm sure that sounds alien to some players who try to win by antagonizing opponents. Let me tell you what I think is wrong with doing that. It's true that in the short term an irritated opponent might go on tilt and give you a few bad calls out of frustration. But the longrange result of antagonizing opponents is that they might stop selecting you as preferred person to enter pots against. If you try to humiliate or ridicule them for playing weak hands, they often find it unpleasant to play against you.

So, what happens then? Well, then they decide that they're going to target their fun and frivolous play toward those who will giggle and enjoy the adventure along with them. This means that if you ridicule weak opponents, you're likely to be left out often when they willing choose to redistribute their chips about the table.

Most weak opponents are playing for the enjoyment of poker. They play poorly, but if you're not friendly they'll decide you're no fun – and they'll be much more likely to play weakly against someone else. You see, these players have money to spend, but they also get to choose where to spend it.

Invitation

By being friendly, sometimes whimsically weird, and giggling, I invite weak opponents into my pots. So, I have the luxury of effectively playing in a weaker game than a serious but obnoxious player at the same table! You heard it right – we're in the same game, but my "table" is easier to beat. Go figure.

I like to playfully talk opponents in and out of pots, depending on what works best for me at the moment. I'm good at it. But I try not to make the game unpleasant – ever. If I'm not involved in a pot, usually I won't say anything about it. Let the opponents competing for that pot talk to each other.

That's my philosophy. And never be rude to weak opponents. There are other types of players who like to talk at the table, but frequently what they say isn't focused. It's almost random luck whether what they say helps or harms their bankroll. But even worse than random chatter is something I'm going to talk about today. This is a short, old lecture I gave about how some players talk themselves out of the money. Here it is…

Bad poker talk

Sure, I talk a lot about strategy and statistics. In fact, I've spent a good share of my life programming computers to play poker and to analyze data. This means the answers we share that are based on that research are better than anything else you'll get anywhere else. Period. End of story.

Fine. But there's more to poker than mathematics and impersonal strategy. I teach that once you've mastered the basics of winning poker, most of your profit will come from psychological aspects.

That's why I wrote the Book of Tells – the Body Language of Poker. And that's why I spend so much time teaching tells, manipulation, and image. Let me give you a clue about image right now.

Once you know something about poker that others don't know, you're proud and it's only natural to want to let them know how great you are. That's why so many otherwise skillful poker players sit at the table looking alert and superior and making sure everyone knows that they're concentrating. Hey, wait! You don't want to look like you're concentrating. Did you know, that one of the worst possible images you can convey to weak opponents is concentration?

Carefree behavior

Listen. You want weak opponents to feel comfortable giggling and playing badly. One thing that will make them self conscious and bring their party to a halt is if you make them think you're taking poker too seriously. The best image for extracting the most profit is to seem in sync with their carefree behavior. Giggle and have fun.

But most of all, don't do the one thing that kills games and eliminates profit. That one thing is analyzing hands at the table. Sadly, I've seen plenty of times where a smug, smart, alert would-be professional sits down in a game that is like a candy store with mostly weak, happy players and destroys the mood within minutes. All it takes is for him to start talking shop with another professional. "You shouldn't have raised, because there's a thirty percent chance, yak, yak, yak…"

Meanwhile, the very fact that they're discussing this costs them and every other serious player at the table hundreds of dollars or more. Why? Because by discussing strategy seriously, they're alerting carefree opponents that there really is serious strategy. This often makes those opponents self-conscious and changes their mood and their behavior.

They become more cautious and less playful. You get many fewer weak calls and you make much less money. In fact, serious players discussing technical strategy that might only be worth a few pennies of difference can be costing themselves hundreds of dollars. Not a good trade-off, is it?

So, my advice is, when you're against weak players, blend in and don't let them know that you're carefully scrutinizing their play. You should be analytical, of course, but you should keep it to yourself.

This is "The Mad Genius of Poker" Mike Caro and that's my secret today.

Mike Caro is widely regarded as the world's foremost authority on poker strategy, psychology, and statistics. A renowned player and founder of Mike Caro University of Poker, Gaming, and Life Strategy, he is known as "the Mad Genius of Poker," because of his lively delivery of concepts and latest research. You can visit him at www.poker1.com.

by Barry Shulman

Tip # 50 of 52 from the book, 52 Tips for Texas Hold'em

First published in Card Player

This tip is here for encouragement, although the wording may not appear to be uplifting. Tilt is a poker player’s enemy when it happens to him, and friend when it happens to other players in the game. You can use tilt to your advantage by not falling victim to it, even though your opponents do.

What is tilt? Quite simply, tilt occurs when a run of bad luck causes a player to make irrational decisions in a poker game, letting emotion guide him instead of reason. Tilt can be instigated by the turn of a single unfortunate card, or as the culmination of a two-week streak of bad luck. Each player has a different “tilting point,” and it is important to recognize your own.

Unfortunately, it is often extremely difficult to admit to yourself when enough is enough. If you insist on staying in a game after you have reached your tilting point, you are likely to “tilt off” a significant number of chips to your undeserving opponents. Any player who is able to admit to himself when he is emotionally unfit to play further, perhaps due to some bad luck in the game, and is strong enough to stand up and leave, is way ahead of the competition.

A true understanding of the nature of poker is one of the best ways to avoid going on tilt. You should realize that this game has an incredible amount of short-term luck, allowing less skilled or even poor players to win improbably for extended periods of time. Don’t be discouraged by this, though; rather, realize that this is the lure for the weaker players. If the best players always won, there wouldn’t be any poker games. The losers would take up War or some other game in which they had a fighting chance.

Every poker player at one time or another endures a seemingly endless bad streak in which his A-A or K-K never seems to hold up, his A-K is consistently greeted with a flop of 7-8-9, and his J-J is pummeled by a flop of A-K-5. What you must realize when this is happening to you is that you are not alone. This is simply part of the inevitable statistical deviations in the game. It will happen to you just as surely as it happens to everyone else at one time or another. By the way, it is generally not recommended to share your pain with your neighbors in a poker game. Although they may pretend to lend a sympathetic ear, they aren’t really listening. They are simply waiting for a pause into which they might insert their own tales of woe.

You must remember that poker is a long-run proposition. It is of key importance that you play correctly in all situations, even on days when nothing is going right. If you give in and start “playing like them,” you will just lose more money. Regardless of how well you play, though, you will have some losing days. It should be your goal to walk away from these losing sessions saying to yourself, “I lost $100 today, but any other player would have lost $300.”

Striving for perfect play, rather than perfect results, should ultimately help you to avoid going on tilt. If you can come to terms with the fact that occasionally someone will hit a 40-to-1 draw on you, you will be better equipped to handle the swings of the game. Focus on what you can control, and you will maintain the emotional balance necessary to beat the game. And, if you feel that balance slipping away, quit the game for the day, week, or month — until you have regained your composure.

by by John Carlisle

First published in Poker Player Newspaper

Tiger Woods hooked his approach shot into the water at the PGA event at Doral just a couple of weeks ago. Michael Jordan missed the potential game winner versus the Cleveland Cavaliers in 1985. Tiger still won the tournament. Jordan still won the game (by hitting his 2nd winning attempt of the game). The simple lesson: true champions can find a way to overcome mistakes to still achieve greatness. While these legends may have mastered the skill of playing through their faux pas in their chosen sports, this is not an easy exercise for most amateur poker players. Instead, an error can cause a swirl of negative emotion and self-doubt. Mistakes can lead to tilt even faster than a bad beat. In short, one mistake can often ignite the fast track to more costly mistakes.

Sports psychologists often spend large amounts of time mentally preparing athletes for let-downs. The mind must allow the body to perform optimally despite difficult circumstances. One example is that of a major college athlete who was faced with two foul shots as time was about to expire. With the team down by one, the free throws were of vital importance. The first attempt fell a bit short, hitting the front of the rim and bouncing out. The opposing coach, of course, called a time-out to "ice" the shooter before the game-tying attempt. The pressure was intense. The stakes were high. And the athlete had to rebound from the disappointment of missing the first shot. The seasoned athlete had practiced foul shots since he was a child. Although this one held more importance than any before, he just went about his normal foul shooting routine. Two dribbles, a deep breath, the bend of the knees, and …. swish.

I tried a risky bluff last night in pot-limit Omaha tournament at a popular online poker room. The betting style led me to believe that my opposition was weak. I figured him for trips, at best. With my draws missed, I talked myself into the bold bluff with a pot bet (more than enough to put him all in). My opponent called the rest of his chips in a heartbeat, exposing his full house. I had made a ridiculously foolish mistake. My instinct was to immediately play harder and faster to make up for my terrible error. I identified that instinct as a bout of tilt, so I worked to regain control of my emotions and thoughts. It started with a deep breath and some quick self-scolding. "What am I doing?" I said to myself. I shook my head is disgust as if trying to shake the cobwebs out of my skull. "Let's do it," I said aloud in the empty room. That understated mantra is my self-imposed command to get refocused and rededicated. I went on to a cash finish. If I would've allowed that single mistake to railroad my emotions, I would've been out of the tournament 35 minutes too early!

We commonly think that taking a bad beat is the most common pathway toward tilting. That is not correct, in my opinion. We most often steam after we play a hand poorly. The disappointment in ourselves is much more powerful than anger towards the unlucky cards or our opposition. Identify your mistakes, then work to get yourself back into a confident mental state before the completion of the next deal. Like the basketball player facing a tension-filled foul shot after his initial miss, coming back from a poker mistake involves preparation, routine, confidence, and preparedness. Never allow errors to compound upon themselves. Take control of yourself and your game.

Now go make it happen.