The Trap And Poker Psychology

Posted by Nick Niesen on October 26th, 2010

Everyone who plays poker has heard of "having a poker face" or being trapped. Having a poker face is more than just the look on your face, it's all of your body language and actions combined.

A good poker player is an observant poker player. You have to learn to associate your opponents facial expressions, body language, speech, and even the bet amounts with what they eventually are revealed to have been holding in their hand.

Facial Expressions: With online poker, you of course cannot use this. But in a real poker game you can. Start with the eyes. When they call or raise a hand, do they look down, to the right, to the left, at an object in the room? Then what did they have when they did that?

Do they smile? Grind their teeth? Immediately take a sip of their drink after or before the bet? Look for these things each time they call or raise.

Body Language: Do they play with their poker chips under certain circumstances? Lean back or forward? Look for things they do with their body and then what kind of hand they had each time they do that action.

Betting Amounts: Some poker players don't realize they have a pattern at all or they figure no one will figure out the "code" they use for themselves. Watch how much they bet, then what type of hand they had and see if you can associate a particular hand strength with a specific range of bet or even a specific raise amount.

If you find a pattern where your opponent always does a specific action in relation to having a good hand or bluffing, you have their number and can beat them at poker easily . . . or can you?

The Trap: You can establish a pattern that will be picked up by the other players. Let it cause you to lose a little money here and there. Let your poker opponents think they have your number by doing specific actions associated with different hand strengths.

Don't let it cost you too much money and watch for the signs they are taking the bait and are using your patterns to beat you.

Then you can spring the trap. Wait until you get a really good hand, a sure winner and do the actions you had been doing when bluffing or when you had a lower strength hand.

Your poker opponents will think they have you and bet the limit. You'll win what you lost and a lot more.

Playing poker is a lot more than just knowing how to bet the cards in your hand. There is a lot of psychology involved, mind games, if you really want to play with the best.