#pokernuget#tells

I always look for ways that people self-soothe at the table. This is usually a great tell. I've found the best way to pick up on those tells is to be the first person at your table and watch people settle in. No one is completely comfortable when they first get to the table and sit down. So watch what they do to make themselves comfortable and take note of it. 

Also, practice by watching your friends and coworkers in different situations, particularly stressful ones, or when they're telling stories. This is a great time to practice, and nothing is on the line.

If you want to know if you're being watched, wear a watch and check the time. It's contagious. If someone is watching you closely, they'll feel the need to also check the time or the tournament clock. It really works!

Finally, there are a lot of great books and videos out there for poker tells. If you haven't checked any of them out, I strongly suggest that you do! Understanding the physical behavior of your opponent is paramount to your success in reading behavior!

I'm headed out to play a smal $65 tournament to tune up for this weekend's $180 event. 

I bought into a $340 deep stack tournament at Canterbury in Minneapolis and crushed it for a $4500 payday! 

Hey everyone! I'm headed to Canterbury Park to play a small $50 tournament. Just using it as a warm-up for this weekend. I'll be playing five cash tournaments this month, so wish me luck! This is a big month for me, without going to the WSOP this year. If it goes well, it funds the rest of my summer poker! I love this stuff!

#OOPS365 

So there I am, mildly embarrassed by my mistake with the complete stranger, who passes by looking at me with a raised eye brow. The whole table is staring at me, some of them looking perplexed, some knowingly. This is bad.

I finally clear my throat and take my first peak at my cards. 7-5 suited. Hearts. Hmmm.... Maybe I could make a straight frush or something. Wait. Did I just think the word 'frush' in my head? I'm gonna get myself in trouble if I'm not careful here. 

I scan the table and realize that there's an early position raise and a middle position smooth call. I might be able to manage a squeeze play here. Unlikely, but I don't have a lot of choices left. I could shove, but I don't think they're falling for that, and the early position raise may well be loaded here. So I double the raise and push the chips out. I know they're watching me closely now, so I stand up and turn around the other direction. Let them see if they can get a read from my butt.

Sorry I missed out on the turn and river with the promotion. But with some of the groups helping promote each other, it just didn't seem like I stood a chance. I could have posted the most brilliant response in the world and still would only have gotten a handful of likes. Good luck to the popular ones!

#HandMalta #BOMpreflop 

So the dealer has fanned a monotone board of all spades. The Swede has opened with a 12,000 chip bet into a pot of 28,800. He's stoic, and gives off no tells. But I already know a few things. 

First of all, it's highly unlikely that he's hit a flush on the flop. If you play suited cards, you're only going to flop a flush about .84% of the time. And if you manage to flop a draw, you'll only get there about 6.5% of the time. So I'm fine with the spades because I know I can draw to the full house if he hits.

Secondly, if he has a draw, it's likely he will try betting to freeze me up here and see the turn for a cheap price that he sets himself. But I'm having none of that.

However, I still want maximum value here, and I want him to believe I don't like this board. If I flat him and he has no spade, I can kill my own action. So I need to raise here to deceive him and to add value to this pot. But how much?

I decide that if I double his raise, it will string him along. There's just way too much value to this pot to fold, and I'm counting on him being confident in his ability to outplay me for this pot. After a little bit of time thinking it over, I raise to 24,000 chips. It should serve as enough of a play to give him pause, and if he jams here, I'm willing to call because I believe I'm ahead and am willing to gamble for a chance to move up the leader board as we head into the money. I place my bet and assume a Helmuthian pose and wait for his response, which I anticipate to be a call.

#BOMpreflop #HandMalta

The Swedish pro knows that most players tighten up near the bubble, and play is getting timid. I know that my table image is somewhere between TAG and LAG, leaning closer to tight at this point. I want to extract chips from this player, but I want to eliminate the blinds from the hand if possible. So a three bet is my best bet here, but how much? The minimum raise preflop would be to 8000 chips, but I think this would raise a red flag to the pro. So I'm going to raise to somewhere between 9500 and 10,000. One of two things will likely occur. One of the blinds will read the raise as weak and try to make a squeeze play. If this happens, the Swedish pro will either fold or reraise. if he folds, I can then make a decision about flat calling the blind or five betting. If the pro calls or reraises, I can either five bet shove if I'm happy with the pot size or just call to keep him in the hand.

So for now, I'm only raising to 9500-10,000 range from the button, and then giving off physical tells of weakness.