The ITBSMCTBPA trick

I didn't invent this trick, but I witnessed someone using it once to great effect and I have used it more than once myself. I call it the "I'm too busy stacking my chips to be paying attention" trick.

Here is how it works. Whenever I have just won a really big pot I let myself talk about how happy -or lucky- I am. I send the message that I'm just some shlub who doesn't play a lot of poker and gee I'm really happy I won this big pot. I really take my time gathering, sorting and stacking my chips and I pay no attention to the cards dealt for the next hand until its my turn to act. Usually I have rags and I muck them and that's that. If, however, I have been dealt strong cards I will bet them with a kind "whatever" attitude. The message I hope to send is that I just won all these chips so I'm gonna gamble now because I can afford to lose. I go right back to sorting my chips and I don't even look up until the flop is dealt.

I try to give out a "yeah, sure - I'm here to gamble vibe" and it is surprising how often this works. Opponents often do not give me credit for actually having a hand and call bets they would normally fold to.

It takes some acting, but not much since I really am happy and excited about winning that last pot - it's more just looking distracted until the point comes that I do the "gee - I guess I should be paying attention here" act. This usually involves me checking my hole cards again ( message: I am so distracted I can't remember what I have) before playing the hand out.

So there you go. That's the ITBSMCTBPA trick. Try it sometime.

And be careful that someone doesn't try it on you.