Looking to Your Left

We have all heard that position in Texas Hold’Em (indeed, in all forms of poker) is one of the most important aspects of the game. Intuitively, it just makes sense; being able to act after other the players allows you to make a more informed decision.

As a poker session progresses, the players to your left will have position on you in the majority of hands. They will have the best chances to take pots away from you with aggression, and to get out of the way when you're the one showing strength. As a result, it is generally optimal to play the hands in which you have as few players on your left between you and button as possible.

But we don’t always get to play under optimal conditions, do we? Most everyone can figure out what to do when the pot is folded to you and you’re holding A-J on the button. I don’t think many players have a problem folding 7-2 offsuit under the gun before the flop. It gets a bit tricker, however, when you’re dealt something like A-8 of spades and are second to act preflop. You don’t want to get caught in a tough situation later in the hand, which is what a holding like this will often do to you. At the same time, there’s a chance it might be the best hand at this point in the action. You don’t necessarily want to automatically throw it away, even though you’re out of position.

This is why I think it is important to get into the habit of looking to your left at the poker table. I played in a home game recently where they observed a house policy called “Karen Rules.” The way it worked was that if the pot was unraised before the flop, the small blind could ask the big blind whether or not he intended to raise before calling the big blind. The big blind was then obligated to give a truthful answer, and the small blind could then call, raise, or fold based upon that answer.

Unfortunately, in the vast majority of the poker games out there, the players after you are not going to tell you what they intend to do. At least not verbally. But quite often, players will subconsciously give off information about how strong their hands are. The tells that I’m about to list are not that deep or complicated, nor do they require a lot of practice to spot. A glance at the players to your left will often reveal some basic things about how they are planning to act. What does this do? It effectively gives you position on those players, because you know, with pretty good reliability, what their coming action will be.

Ready to Muck
One of the most common of these tells is the player that has examined his hole cards, decided not to play them, and is holding them in his hands, ready to toss them in the muck. This player is typically the impatient type, and wants to get on to the next hand. Thus, they hold their cards ready because the faster they can fold, the sooner the next hand can be dealt. It is typically safe to bet out against these players.

Reaching for Chips
Similar to the last tell, this one is another sign of an impatient player. It is generally an indicator that the player likes his cards, and plans to make a bet or raise. Oftentimes, a player will actually have the chips ready in his hand that he plans to raise with. He is just waiting for the action to get to him so he can pop it up. Typically, the correct move here is to fold, limp in or check. If you have a weak hand, you don’t want to make a raise only to get re-raised by this guy. And if you have a strong hand, you can get more value from it by acting weakly, allowing the guy to go ahead and bet, and then coming over the top for a raise.

Suddenly Paying Attention
If a player on your left has been casual most of the game, watching television or whatever, and suddenly perks up after looking at his cards, it means he likes what he saw! All of a sudden he’ll be looking around at the other players, paying attention to what the action is. If he’s been slouching, he’ll often sit upright. Suddenly he’ll be very interested in what everyone else is doing.

Remains Disinterested
This tell is the flip side of the last tell. If a player is not interested in the game, checks his cards, and then resumes his disinterest, chances are these were not cards that he’s excited about and he’s probably going to fold – or at least not raise. It is often combined with the "Ready to Muck" tell.

Best case scenario, you want to be able to get a read on everyone at the table. But this is often very difficult to do. A player’s reaction to his cards might only last a for split second – so for you to get an accurate idea of each player’s intentions, while also checking your own cards in the time before you have to make a decision can be rather difficult. But if you work on making just a quick glance to your left, you can sometimes pick up information on the players that act immediately after you. The other players will either be across from you (and thus easier to read) or to your right. And you’ll generally have position on the players to your right anyway, so you should be able to pick up tells based upon the way they bet.

Another point to remember -- few things in poker are true across the board. There are certain players out there that are aware of these reaction tells, and will do one of two things to counter them. First, there are players that are aware of these tells and will do the opposite in order to fool you. For instance, if a good player knows you’re watching, he may pretend to be ready to fold his cards in order to get you to bet out. Or he may pick up chips so that you’ll think he’s betting, in order to get you to check or bet less. The problem with their acting is, these players tend to do the opposite action consistently, and it usually becomes just as reliable as if they were giving the tell they're pretending to.

Second, there are players that don’t look at their cards until the action comes to them. This is something I actually recommend, as you can use the time before you have to act to glean information on other players’ holdings, while at the same time not giving away information about your own hand.

How will you know if your opponent is giving a tell or acting? It’s not that hard. Just remember this general rule of thumb: Bad players give true information about their hands. Good players give false information. Great players don’t give any information about their hands at all, true or false.

I hope all that makes sense to you the way it made sense in my head. And I hope that it wins you some money.

Or saves you some.

Same thing, I guess.

The preceding is an expansion on a concept from Matt Lessinger’s instructional poker book, “The Book of Bluffs.