Head Games

There are two key things to playing good poker. The first is to get into your opponent's head. Not necesarily get them on tilt, but get to understand their thought process. Know what bets they will call, when will they raise, when will they bluff, et cetera. The other key thing is to prevent your opponents from getting into your head. Sometimes the best way to do this is to keep THEM on the defensive by getting into their heads.

I had decided to make a move. I was on the button with 6-2 and was going to raise. Unfortunately, the player under the gun raised to $22. I decided to make a move on the next hand. I raised to $12 with King-4 of hearts. I knew I would only get one caller, an arrogant New Yorker who paid as much attention to the waitresses as he did the cards. He was also a player who was calling people down on the flop consistently. He also had about $800 in chips so my bets wouldn't be very intimidating. I knew I could bluff him out though and I knew I could tell if he hit something big.

The flop was pretty blank. 10-4-Queen. I focused on the Queen and tried representing Ace-Queen. He checked, and I knew he didn't hit the flop very hard so I bet $15. He pondered, and called. The turn was another blank and he looked dissapointed by it. I figured he was chasing an overcard, probably an Ace. I bet $30, a bet that seems to want to be called with the pot being about twice that big. He thought about it, and folded. I decided to show one card, my 4 of hearts. I then declared, sarcastically "my other card wasn't a 4."

The logic behind showing cards when you don't have to is simple. You want to give your opponents information. You'll then use this information later on to beat them. You'll show a bluff so next time you bet and you have a good hand, you'll get action. You show the big hands you make so that next time you bluff, people will fold. This showing had one purpose. To confuse the shit out of my opponents, particularly this one guy.

The player said outloud that if I had a set of 4s, I wouldn't show just one. He then later said that I wouldn't be betting into him with only 4s and that I wouldn't raise with a hand like 10-4. He was puzzled to say the least. I had gotten into his head.