Copyright 2005 Full
Tilt Poker
April 25, 2005
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Poker Lesson: Why I Leave My Sunglasses
And iPod At Home
Author: Howard Lederer
I know this newsletter is being written for an online
poker site, but I hope that most of you still find time to
play live poker. As much as I love online
poker, I would never completely give up sitting at a table
and getting the chance to size up an opponent. This week's lesson
will examine why I think it is a mistake to wear headphones or
sunglasses during live play.
Poker
is a game of information. You give information to your opponents,
and they give information to you. Most of that information is
in the form of betting patterns, which is why online poker is
such a great form of the game. All of the betting information
is right there for you to use while playing a hand. But when you
play live, there is a small amount of additional information that
is given off through physical tells and audio cues. I am a very
visual player, and am blessed with good eyesight. I wear contacts,
and with them, my vision is 20/15. I constantly use my eyes to
take in every nuance of what's going on around me at the table.
If I wore sunglasses, much of that information would be lost to
me. I am confident that the information I take in with my eyes
far exceeds what I give away.
If you currently employ sunglasses when you play,
I would encourage you to try playing without them. Yeah, you look
cool in them. Maybe. But, if you try playing without them while
staying committed to taking in as much visual information as possible,
you might find that not only are you doing better, the game is
suddenly more interesting as well.
I reserve special scorn for the rampant use of headphones
in poker tournaments. They
slow down the action and, on the whole, I believe they hurt the
people who use them. When a player throws a single, large chip
into the pot, he usually announces 'raise' or 'call'. But all
the guys at the table wearing headphones can't hear the call.
Invariably, they have to take off their headphones and ask the
dealer what the bet is. It is annoying when the action comes to
a grinding halt to clarify something that anyone without headphones
already knows. Also, poker is a social game. It would make me
sad if poker someday becomes a game where nine people are sitting
at a table listening to music, and no one is talking to one another.
Also, there are some valuable things you can pick
up on simply by paying attention to the conversation around the
table. You can sometimes tell when someone is over his head just
by listening to him talk. In a recent tournament, I won a very
large pot as we were nearing the last few tables because I heard
someone speaking a few minutes earlier.
It was the Bellagio $15K WPT poker tournament. The
blinds were $4K-$8K and I was in the big blind. A player who'd
been playing very tight so far opened the pot from an early position
for $25K. The small blind called and I looked down at 9-9. I often
re-raise with this hand, but this seemed like a good time to just
call. The flop was 8s 5s 3c. The small blind checked and, with
about $275K in front of me and $100K in the pot, I continued playing
cautiously and checked. The opener checked, too. The turn was
(8s 5s 3c) 6c and the small blind checked. I felt like I must
have the best hand, so I bet $50K. I was very surprised when the
original opener raised all-in for a total of $175K. The small
blind folded and now I had a big $125K decision to make. If I
call and win, I have $550K and am in great shape. If I call and
lose I'm in real trouble.
I didn't think he had a big hand, but it didn't
seem like a very good bluffing situation either. The board looked
really dangerous. Plus, I hadn't seen this player get out of line
at all. But then I remembered a comment he had made to his neighbor
about ten minutes earlier. He had hardly played a hand for about
an hour, and said to the guy next him that his cards had been
so bad, it would have been just as well if he had stayed in his
room after the last break. Remembering that comment, I felt there
was a good chance that he was frustrated. With that factored in,
I made the call. He turned over the Kd-Qd, and with a 2 on the
river, I won a key hand that put me in great shape in a big tournament.
If I had been listening to music, I don't think I could have made
the call.
Poker
is a game of information. Sunglasses might keep some information
from getting out, but they stop more from coming in. Headphones
simply give you fewer opportunities to gain valuable information
about other players. These are handicaps I am not willing to spot
my opponents.
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