Playing winning poker is so much more than just playing your cards.
You need to know your cards, what your opponents might be holding, how each community card affects your hand and your opponent’s hand, not to mention how much they bet and how they bet indicates what they may or may not hold.
It can be confusing, thinking about all those levels at the same time!
Here are some simple tips for using your opponent’s betting patterns against them while covering up what you say.
Texas holdem is all about information on many different levels as I mentioned above.
The idea is to gain an informed advantage on your opponents so you can make calculated decisions and place the odds of the outcome in your favor.
One way to do this is to observe and understand how your opponent is betting.
Many players try and change their style when they make certain bets.
While this is a great idea, the problem is that most of them never forget the simple idea of acting against the truth.
And you can take advantage of that fact by closely observing how your opponent acts when he bets.
When a player tries to appear strong when he bets, he can project his voice as he bets (sounding authoritative and controlled), dump his chips into the pot with force and essentially turn his entire body language into one of projection power.
Oftentimes, this means he is actually weak at hand.
The opposite is true as well.
When a player is, in fact, strong, he may seem unsure whether he wants to play a hand or not.
He would wait and wait and wait as if contemplating a difficult decision, avoiding eye contact, speaking softly and half-heartedly moving his chips into the pot.
When he does this, there’s a good chance he has a strong hand and you’d better think twice about your next move.
Understanding your opponent can give you an information advantage.
In the long run, it can make the difference between winning big at texas hold em or busting out and hitting home.