Have you ever been riding in the passenger seat of a vehicle, glanced over at the instrument panel, and noticed the car you are in is about out of gas? Mention that to the driver and he will likely say, “Nah, we are fine, we have a quarter of a tank still.” The difference in the angle changes the perception of where the needle is on the gauge and gives the passenger an inaccurate view of the situation.In poker, our perception of our opponents is important. We have to fight a constant battle to make sure we are looking at things head-on and not at an angle that will give us false readings. Just because a player has been active for 15 minutes doesn’t mean he is always a maniac; even tight players go on card rushes every now and then. Just because an opponent is middle-aged doesn’t mean he is going to be tight and passive.
See someone in their 20s with headphones and a hoodie? It doesn’t mean they are a hyper-aggressive student of the game. Getting reads on your opponents, adapting your play to their tendencies, and controlling their perception of your game are all part of being successful in poker. But, it is too easy to put blinders on and only see things from your personal perspective. If you only see what you want to and hear what you want to, you won’t be able to make the best decisions possible at the table.
Constantly putting yourself in other players' shoes and trying to understand their actions can be mentally taxing and difficult. But, to get your poker game past the stage of hoping to catch cards and complaining about running bad when you don’t win, you have to go to the next level of using all of the information available to you to find better situations and make more advanced and optimal decisions.
When I encounter players who stay focused on themselves, I wonder how they can ever pay attention to everything else at the table – the answer is often simply that they are not. Complaining about never getting a hand pre-flop or regaling your tablemates with tales of how many coin flips you have lost in a row or how you have had pocket kings cracked three times already today is only looking at the game from your perspective. Everyone encounters those types of runs and situations, but instead of focusing on them, put that focus into what is happening around you.As you study up on the what, why, and how of everything the other players are doing, you will become less emotionally invested in your own ups and downs. At the same time, you will be finding ways to take advantage of tells, mistakes, and flaws in your opponents' play. Bad beats and runs are inevitable, but minimizing your losses and maximizing your wins go a long way toward dampening a bad run and capitalizing on a good run.
Perception is extremely important. A read on a player is only valuable if it is accurate. Many times, a “read” is just one player convincing themselves of something about another player to rationalize or justify a play they probably know they shouldn’t be making. Depending on your personal tendencies, this can go a number of ways.A too tight player will find a way to fold by convincing himself the other guy has to have it. A player who hates to turn over a hand will find some way to decide his opponent is likely bluffing. The “I had a gut feeling” player will come up with a scenario where he can’t get rid of his draw no matter what.
We all have to fight against looking at a hand through our own rose-colored glasses. Instead, we should try to get a panoramic view of the situation that allows us to make the best decision we can based on the most accurate information and assumptions we can put together from the time we have had with our opponents.
And go ahead and make the guy driving stop and fill up pretty soon. There's no reason to run that quarter of a tank down to empty anyway.
Court Harrington has worked on the business side of the poker industry in roles including tournament reporting for PocketFives, radio hosting for PokerRoad Radio, coaching for the WSOP Academy and privately, and a variety of behind-the-scenes responsibilities. He also plays in cash games and tournaments. Harrington is currently doing consulting work and exploring business opportunities outside of the poker industry. You can contact him at Court@CourtHarrington.com.
