Quote:
Originally Posted by -evlife
but maybe my hand face up could be an.advantagen at 2/4-4/8
Can't speak to the other's good advice on mental issues with poker. I'd tend to trust what they said, as the advice seems really reasonable.
Good poker players are hard to read because they don't think about poker like beginners. Everyone's hand shakes the first time they get quads and try to bet. It is a big deal to get quads. They're really excited. When you're excited and doing something new, your hands shake when you put money in the pot. Let's use Doyle as an example. He's played for 50+ years. He's had quads a bunch of times. He has 77 on a Q7742 board, he's bored. Nobody is every going to call much. He's a little sad that he doesn't have a different situation. If you could read his feelings on his sleeve it wouldn't be "OMG!!! QUADDDSSSS!!!" it would be "oh well, maybe the other guy will go nuts. I'm sadly betting."
Getting a poker face isn't about learning to conceal your emotions. Playing a lot means you don't have as many emotions in a given poker hand. Playing well means that you don't think about your absolute hand value or care about it as much. If it is a good spot to bluff, you're happy to have the chance. Someone soul reads your bet, they
know you're happy. It just isn't exciting, as it is a totally standard spot to bluff. Semi-bluff raising the same way, you're making your opponent miserable, there's nothing he can do, and you're glad that the board lays such that you get to punish him -- you feel the same as if you had the actual nuts. The spot is good for you and miserable for him, especially if he continuation bets the turn too much.
The secret to a good poker face isn't in learning to hide your emotions. It is in not having many related to poker. Getting bored with hands is the key. Play half a million hands (or a million or 5 million). It actually sucks, because poker is less fun at that point... or maybe it becomes something else. Also, few people in a small stakes game are good at reading people -- they're so busy feeling their strong feelings as beginners that they project things on you (things that let them not fold). They then tell you that they had a tell. Mostly, they wanted get to showdown and maybe win.
However, the advice to being at a place in your life where it is good to play poker is really key.