Know How To Judge The Other Guy At The Table

If you play at a club often enough, and especially in a small tournament circuit, you will come to recognize which people are frequent tournament players and which are not. The infrequent players may not be used to surroundings where they know there are going to be some sharp players watching them. If you've got some newbies populating your table, perhaps those are some people worth keeping your focus on.

How do you do that?

Well, I'll go back to the days when I used to play touch football on the playground. When I had to cover a receiver, I kept my focus on him - not the quarterback or the ball - entirely, all the way down the field, because I knew that a receiver always opens his eyes a little wider when he sees the ball coming. That's a TELL. And I was able to determine that the ball was being thrown to him, even if my back was turned to the line of scrimmage.

At poker holdem betting, that kind of thing is natural to happen on the flop.

I wouldn't even look at the flop right away - I would instead look at the newbie who's stayed in the pot, and get his immediate reaction when he sees those three cards being laid down. The reaction is likely to tell you quite a bit. See if you can make a connection between that reaction and whether the player raises after it. If he folds after giving off a subtle LOOK like someone who wants to fold, that might tell you something down the road when he stays in the pot despite being a little unsure of the strength of his hand.

In fact, I would go back even further than the flop, to the first two cards being dealt to the player. When they peek at their hole cards, watch them, not your own cards. Of course, this assumes you can afford to take less time to make your own decision. HIS reaction might be more important than your own. Trace strong hands the players turns out to have back to what their reaction on the initial deal was. Make mental notes of this - particularly whether this player has success with any strong moves, because after all, you don't want to find yourself being trapped.