Nick takes time away from the virtual tables and rediscovers his love for the live game of poker
I’ve been a fool. A crazy, naive, unbelievably handsome, reckless fool. I’ve neglected something I really love and I’ve no idea how it happened. Recently, as part of my build- up to the WSOP, I started playing some live games again, having spent the last year playing from the comfort of my flat. In doing so I’ve rediscovered a lifelong love that should never have gone away, like toasted cheese sandwiches with ketchup.
The problem is, the more online poker you play and the more you multi-table, the slower live poker becomes. After a couple of years of solid online play, live games can feel painfully slow. When you have a dry run of cards it can feel like time is slowing down. It can go so slowly in fact that I’ve had time to write this column in the gap between playable hands.
Anyway, as I sat there and embraced bricks-and-mortar games again, I soon realised that the key to enjoying live poker, after its much faster digital variant, is to embrace the new rhythm. You have to relax into it as you watch the cards fly round and chips move back and forth – sink down into your own personal bubble-laden poker bath if you will. And to pass the time, try learning one or two chip tricks – they’re a hit with the girls (in my head at least) – or invest in an MP3 player and some ambient tunes to hum along to.
During my recent return to live poker, slowly but surely my old rhythm returned. An old habit of mine is to profile everyone at the table; after all, I want my opponents’ money, so knowing how they’re going to give it to me ahead of time is useful.
Player profiles In a cash game I sat in this month there was a standard line-up of three solid, regular players, a really good young player I’d be avoiding, a series of casual players I wouldn’t be avoiding and the table captain. Actually he was a self-appointed table captain; he obviously played regularly and was keen to let everyone know it, as he played far too many hands, had a bullying demeanour, and slow-rolled someone with a big hand. Now it’s bad in poker to set out to beat an individual, but if I got the chance to win a big pot from him it would be particularly sweet.
It didn’t take long for us to tangle. I’d raised with A-K and he’d called, as he’d been doing almost on auto-pilot; he also had a big stack in front of him with which he was trying to intimidate. The flop came 10-6-2 and I made my continuation bet; he called again without too much thought. He called so quickly I thought he must have a little something but not something to make him think too much about doing anything rash.
The turn brought a Queen, which was an okay card for me as it’s a scare card for him if he’d called with a Six or a pocket pair; plus, it gave me a few more outs. I guess giving up here would have been okay, but he had often been calling on the flop only to take pots away later, and it was still possible that my ‘double- barrel bluff’ was actually a value bet with the best hand.
Whatever, I wasn’t giving up at this point, so I made a decent-sized bet. As the chips splashed across the felt in front of me I looked up to my opponent. Out of nowhere his cards twitched. Imagine someone half throwing their cards into the muck – his hand and cards made the start of that movement before he pulled them back into his hand. It was as though his hand had subconsciously acted out his thoughts – instinctively he was going to muck, before reconsidering.
He thought for a while then made a big meaty raise. Now under normal circumstances this is a good move by him, no matter what his cards, as even if I have a good hand it puts me to the test. As it happened my Ace-high now looked pretty sick, except for that little movement he made – that one tiny gesture that gave away everything. I only had one decision to make – whether I trusted what I saw or not. Well, I didn’t get where I am today and so forth… And if I was wrong I still had four outs – that’s equity, right?!
I stuck my chips in the middle as confidently as possible, re-raising him right back. It only took a couple of moments before he muttered something about ‘nice catch’ and mucked his cards.
Now online he might have given me a similar tell by waiting to raise, but playing a few tables I’m not sure I would have noticed it, and it couldn’t have given me the same transparent read as that unconscious twitch had.
What’s also beyond debate is that I wouldn’t have got the same satisfaction from either making the move or seeing his face crumble ever so slightly when I did. And of course, that’s the biggest reason of all to play poker live – the buzz it gives you is second to none. There’s no comparison to staring someone down, making the right play, and dragging the chips towards you where they belong…
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