Talk to me

"Do you want me to call, or do you want me to fold?"

"Can you beat queens?"

"If I shove here, are you gonna call? Come on, buddy. Talk to me."

Believe it or not, you hear guys asking such questions at the poker table all the time. The askers of such questions are looking for information, obviously. They don't expect honest answers - they are just looking for clues. If you react to such queries, your reaction will be evaluated and you are giving information. Perhaps, you think, you can mislead your opponent with your answer, and maybe you can, but I think the best course of action is to do your best statue impersonation.

I was once in such a situation. I had pocket jacks and saw the flop against one opponent. The flop had a queen and two small cards. My opponent bet the pot, and I made a substantial re-raise. My opponent started peppering me with questions; "You got Kings?" "You got Ace Queen?" "You got Jacks, don't you?"

It dawned on me that if this guy was so desperate for information he must not have a very strong hand. So, rather stupidly, I said "If you have to ask, then I'm pretty sure I have you beat." Man that was a dumb thing to say. I might as well have just shown him my cards. Not surprisingly, he called bet. Even though I went on to win the hand, it was a mistake to give my opponent information. Now, if I had the nuts and said such a thing, maybe it would have been a brilliant move, but I think if you start getting into the psychological warfare stuff you are just asking for trouble.

My advice is until you have logged 10,000 hours of live poker, (I haven't) don't say anything. Pick a spot on the table and try to stare a hole in it. The temptation is to say something weak when you are strong and vice-versa, but if your opponent has logged more table time than you, no matter what you say or do will be giving him or her information.

And speaking of information, it has been drawn to my attention that some people are having trouble leaving comments on this blog. I really want to encourage dialogue here - I want to learn from you guys! I think it may be harder to leave a comment if you are not logged in as a blogger user, so please feel free to e-mail me your thoughts:

mondaywingnut@hotmail.com

Come on, buddy. Talk to me.