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Maryann Guberman has been a writer and editor with many gaming publications, including Sports Form, Card Player, Poker World, Player's Panorama and Systems and Methods. She also has written and edited numerous books on gambling.

Sep 18, 2004

Respect: Who Needs It?

To acquire knowledge, one must study; but to acquire wisdom, one must observe. -- Marilyn vos Savant

With all the current hoopla about amateur poker players striking it rich in tournament action, serious students might forget-or might not even think about-that those who have been fighting the green felt wars for most of their careers, cannot be ignored.

In any given competition (and especially those contests with very large fields), any contender can win on any given day. Very often getting to the final table depends as much on the flow of the cards as it does on poker skill.

What this means to your play should be obvious. Everybody who has chips on the table demands your respect. Obviously, a player such as Howard Lederer deserves a lot more respect than, say, yours truly, but that fact stretches only as far as the flop. Someone with Lederer's expertise can trap you right out of the box without giving you a single tell. He could be holding the worst possible starting cards but because he combines his intense observation of your style with his expert card sense, he can bluff you out of contention.

Now, once there's a flop, it's an entirely different story. Everyone who is still in action deserves your respect as soon as those three community cards hit the table. This is the time for acute observation. When that dealer gets ready to turn over the cards, your eyes should be on your opponent, not on the table. You already know what you have and what you need; you should already know what can beat you; now you must hope to catch a flicker of confidence or dismay from those who are in the fray with you.

Hold'em isn't the kind of game that ensures you a win if you hold the best cards. A lowly pair of eights can wipe out an ace-king suited with two cards to come even when big slick finds a pair on the flop. So it doesn't matter what's on the flop as much as what your opponents want to see on the flop.

So you respect that player who already knows what you have to learn here.

You also have to respect the player who understands that the hand isn't over, the pot isn't won, until the river card. That's a player who knows a pair of eights in a three-handed game are as strong as ace-king suited.

More dangerous, however, is the player who try (often openly) to put you off your game, to cause you to tilt, even if it's ever so slightly. This is the guy who chatters too much, who jumps up and down nervously, who (where it's allowed) makes sure his cigarette smoke flows in your direction.

If you caught the final battle of the World Poker Tour Legends of Poker tournament, you know what this means. Phil Laak, who eventually won the event, and his antics seemed to draw his predator Humberto Brenes into a battle of bad acting. The usually cool-headed Brenes was under constant sensory attack by an opponent who talked incessantly, jumped up and down, rolled on the floor, bent down as if to kiss the table, and in essence, act crazy. Who knows, maybe he is. I'm not acquainted with Laak; he appears to be a clever and decent player. But near the end of the contest, the man's demeanor really did affect his opponent.Laak eventually prevailed. Of course, some good hands helped, but I'm of the belief that had Brenes kept his head down and his mind on the game rather than on the fooling around of his opponent, he would have been the one to cart home all the marbles.

So here's the skinny. Whether you're in a tournament or a ring game or even in a not-for-money practice game, respect the best players; respect the worst players; respect every player. Respect will improve your game overall and if you don't show this respect, then when you least expect it, someone is going to jump up and steal your pot.