Strangers on a train

When you sit down at your first table in a live tournament you usually see seven or eight strangers and maybe one or two players you know. Poker is a game of information so you need to get good reads  on these people in a short time. You want to know if someone is nervous, experienced, playing a lot online, not afraid to gamble and use these reads to adjust the way you play. 

In movies the hero usually spots a huge tell within five minutes, most of you will remember the Bond movie Casino Royale. After a few hands bond spots that the super villain Le Chiffre scratches his eyelid when bluffing, not a read i want to risk a 5 million $ buy-in on!

Although an amusing and entertaining piece of fiction most poker players ( and MI-6 agents) will agree  it is not realistic. Real reads you get from observing, conversation and listening to conversations.  I always talk to my neighbors at the table, people love to talk about their poker career. After 10 minutes you know exactly the type of player sitting next to you with just a few questions. And if you listen to their stories you will trick them in thinking you are a nice guy :). After they think you are a nice guy they start showing you hands and folding a lot more when you are trying to steal a pot. With an aggressive approach to the game it is definitely better that people fold a lot to your bets. 

For these reasons I really don't understand why so many good young players just sit there with their ipods or playing with their phones completely ignoring the rest of the table, they are trowing away free information!

Because I don't own a car I travel a lot by public transportation and taxi's.  For some reason every time I sit in a train an old person starts talking to me. Because I am a bit of a history freak I always enjoy these conversations. A lady in her 70's once told me how student life was in the 50's in my hometown  Groningen. These conversations are much more memorable than a fellow student telling you about how drunk he was last thursday.  A lot of people only move within their own circles, i see a lot of students for example that only hang out and talk to other students and who have severe prejudices about people outside their group. This is fine but id rather stay in touch with people from different backgrounds and age groups, it makes life a little more exciting for me. A traveling live style combined with playing poker definitely gives you the opportunity to meet interesting strangers! 

 

Song:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FLDdjj27kQ&feature=fvw