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by Keith Ecker
You consider yourself an experienced poker player, no professional per se, but you've read the books, frequented the casinos and play online every night. You have all the key strategy points down such as how to act when in an early position, whether to bet big to steal the pot or small to induce players to bet into you, and how to calculate pot odds on the fly. Thanks to Caro's Book of Poker Tells, you know that a player with a shaky hand is a force to be reckoned with and an eager player probably has a poor hand.
This level of skill comes in handy when you are playing against other players who understand the strategies behind poker. Their moves are predictable. You understand how they think because they think like you. Playing against other experienced players is a lot like a game of chess where you are trying to outsmart your opponent while also remaining several steps ahead of him at all times.
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But what if you find yourself surrounded by beginners? You might think this is an easier challenge than usual. Inexperienced players don't have the finesse that you do, the comprehensive understanding of how to win big and how to lose little. But what you might realize soon after starting a game is that beginners tend to throw off all the skill you have learned. If you don't take caution when playing the novice, there is a good chance you will end up losing your money to a player who knows how to handle the poker virgin.
For starters, beginners tend to play erratically. They have an understanding of the rules of the game but not the strategy. Some may have read some strategy or gained some pointers from watching poker on television. But most don't have a personal technique down. Instead, they choose to use the poker table as a realm for trial and error. Whereas an experienced player might never play a certain hand like 8,4 suited, an inexperienced player might play such a hand one time and then fold the next time it comes up. Their moves are unpredictable and thus must not necessarily be analyzed using the same criteria as when analyzing a good player.
Beginners also tend to not know how to bet. Whereas the advanced player understands the crucial skill of calculating pot odds, the beginner tends to splash the pot on a whim. One thing to watch out for when playing beginners is the cocky loose cannon. These beginners feel that bluffing is a key essential to the game of poker. Of course, bluffing is an important aspect of the game but should only be done once a player has mastered other skills of the game such as playing his opponents' cards rather than his own and being able to identify tells. These beginners, however, will bluff even when the bluff is completely apparent. This is a good thing for an advanced player. Yet sometimes, the motivation behind these inexperienced big spenders is more difficult to detect. When you are against a beginner who continually bets on every set of pocket cards and subsequently bets on every flop, turn and river, play cautiously. Many times, these players are just hoping to scare the other players off, or worse yet, wishing for a bad beat. Of course, the odds are in your favor if a player is hoping for a bad beat, but this doesn't mean you shouldn't play cautiously. Just because someone is a beginner doesn't mean he can't get lucky. Always try to figure out what exactly these loose cannons are holding in their hand based on prior pocket cards they have taken to the river. If they tend to play with crap, then you'll know not to take their big bets seriously.
Conversely, some beginners are the tightest players you will ever play. They only bet on a pair of pocket cards if they are either a couple of face cards or a pocket pair. When you sit around these players, who can typically be identified by their stoicism and lack of calling the big bind, be wary when they actually do decide to bet on a hand. This typically means they've landed something good. This, of course, can work to your favor. Because you know they only play when they have a strong hand, if the flop obviously does not come up in their favor, you can be sure to turn up the heat by placing a hefty bet. This tends to scare these tightwad players, and thus they fold. However, some will take their doomed hand all the way to the river in hopes of landing at least a pair. In this case, milk them for all they've got, but be cautious because beginners luck may spell catastrophe for you on the river.
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