It's very hard to make a hand in Texas Holdem
Howdy from Down Under,
In your advice to "Jenna" on your website, you mention playing the player and not playing the cards. Can you elaborate on that a bit and what it means and how you do it? What keys do you look for in the other player? Surely the cards you hold must come into the calculations somewhere?
BoxerShorts
Hi BoxerShorts,
The main thing I look for is fear. If I see that the guy I'm up against has no stomach for the fight, then I'll go up against him with anything or nothing. Remember, in hold'em it's very hard to make a hand. Two-thirds of the time, your opponent will not pair the board. If he's the sort of guy who's playing "fit or fold" poker, you can easily take the pot away from him with a bet on the flop. To take another example, there are guys who just have to bet on the flop if they raised preflop. Most of the time they don't have a hand (because... like I said... it's hard to make a hand in hold'em) so most of the time you can raise them when they bet and take the pot away. It's all about finding flaws or finding fear, and then tearing into that sh*t.
· Antonio
