Sunday, October 7, 2007

Spying on Texas Holdem Poker Opponents

While we all know that the game of poker, is all about taking a chance, many people have developed techniques and strategies that can help you improve your game of poker. The key to being a successful poker playing is having extensive knowledge of the specific poker game you play, the better you understand the game, the better understanding you will have about the players along side of you. This is important to mastering the game of poker and can mean every difference in the world between win or lose when it comes time to play.

Yes, your poker game can only be as good as the hand you are dealt; however, a crucial part of the game is how you play the hand in the first place. Being able to understand and recognize the strategies and tells of the opponents near you, as well as understanding why they play poker in the way that they do, helps you understand which decisions you should be making. Of course, if you simply have a bad hand dealt to you, you will have no choice but to lose, but you can still try to win.

The key to success when it comes to placing your wagers is watching your opponents. Poker wagers are not one size fits all, therefore, there is no specific tip on how you should be wagering. Any advice you are given is all the result of common sense and will greatly depend on which variant of poker you ware playing at the time. That being said, here are some tips that you should think about while playing poker.

Watch and access the other players. This creates an advantage for you, if you can understand how the other players act and respond in a variety of situations. The games outcome generally depends on how each player responds to the other players. You should keep in mind that, yes, you are watching everyone else, but they are probably watching you at the same time.

When it comes to poker tells, watch for them. Without even realizing it, when confronted with certain situations a player may make a facial expression or perform a gesture. This can be habit forming and something you should be watching for. The perfect example of this is perhaps when a player is bluffing they may unconsciously put their hand to their face. As you play more often with specific players, you will tend to notice this action and realize what the actions means.

However, this is not fool proof, because other players know you are watching them and their actions, they may perform what are called 'false tells', just to throw you off track. Players want to make you believe they have a horrible hand, to keep you betting, however, in reality they have a killer hand.

The more you play with the same people, the better you will come to know them and their characteristics during the game of poker. This is even true when it comes to online poker.

Online poker, is not played in a personal setting, in other words you are not able to see the actual players face in general. However, it is still possible to identify certain tells. An example of this may be lengthy pauses before taking any type of action. When it comes to poker and playing a good game, it is crucial that you understand your opponents and how to read them.