Poker: Manipulate Your Opponents.

Occasionally, you can manipulate your opponents in order to force them into making bad decisions. Timing or acting, the simplest tactics are often the lost effective in pushing your opponent into making a mistake.

Maybe he just didn't like me, after all, he'd commented a few rounds earlier, something to the effect of, "you better watch out, I'm going to trap you", qualifying the statement with a finger wag in my direction. For my part, I tried not to embroil myself in any negative situations with him. I didn't want to antagonise him, but I did want his stack.

There were several large stacks sat around the table, and I felt relaxed enough to raise with the 5 of Clubs and the 7 of Clubs to 2.5x the big blind from the hijack. The fact that the cut-off paid me was not alarming, but the situation became more complicated once the button and the small blind entered to round too, by following. I was at the point of asking the neighbouring table to enter in the round too, when Mr Waggy Index Finger came in with a raise. His voice and his attitude made me think that he must have had a good hand.

I was at the point of throwing in the towel when something stopped me in my track. Mr Waggy Index Finger had a large hand. Mr Waggy Index Finger had a stack of more than 100x the big blind, and I covered him. I had the cash game type of hand (limited risk, high return) in a cash game situation (a large stack). The majority of the time, he would bet pre-flop and I would fold, but sometimes...

The action happened really fast, drums rolling, flop-bet-all in-follow.

Instantly eliminating all suspense: with a 9-6-8 flop you good say that I was in a good position. Despite everything, I changed very little in my line of betting, or took my decisions a touch early, Mr W. I. F. could have taken the opportunity to reflect, and maybe make a good fold (note that I said a good fold, and not a difficult fold- if he reflected more on my hand than on his own, folding would not be that hard to do). Instead of this, however, Mr W. I. F. pushed me to go All-In with a single pair. It was a pair of Kings, to be sure, but this is still one pair on a board of many implied combinations.

We both had a good depth to our stack at that point in the tournament, so this occasioned no single reason why I should put my entire stack on the table on a single pair. I took my time, reflected on my possible options, my opponent could have told himself "this bloke is a clown but he could well have two pairs, three of a kind, or a double draw hand. Even if he only has a drawing hand, I have a really good stack behind me and I could wait for a better opportunity". Even worse, if I attempted to act my way through, I would probably have set off the alarm bells in his head to alert him to his reflection process.

Poker is a question of schemes, a game of rhythm. If you push aside all the habitual strategies of your opponent, you disturb their natural rhythm. When I was reporting on various poker tournaments, I often carried around a notebook to note down all the little foibles I noticed the professionals doing. Somewhere in one of my notebooks I had written, "react quickly, and they will react quickly. Slow down, and so will they".

In other words, if you do not want your opponent to reflect on what they are doing, then do not take the time to reflect yourself. Conversely, if you want them to take the time to reflect, then be prudent in your playing style, reflect and consider each action carefully. Against an opponent who plays tight, you should do this especially when you are attempting to semi-bluff, and the table is worrying for you. This will give your opponent the possibility to reflect on all possible hands, and occasionally force them into folding their hand.

By manipulating something as simple as tempo, you can manipulate your opponents and make them react in a manner that is more convenient for you. From one point of view, it is not that much different to when Mr W. I. F. tried to intimidate me in order to dominate me later in the game. But, this tactic works better because it is subtler; you are manipulating your opponents on a subconscious level.

In body language, this is known as mirroring behaviour. When you practice this technique on an inexperienced person, at the extreme, you can make them accomplish a gesture that you pre-determine in your own mind. If you decide that you want to make them scratch their ear, you can bring this about without too much difficulty, as treacherous as this behaviour appears; it is actually to do with rapport and empathy, rather than control.

I have seen many veteran poker players apply this mirroring concept in some very creative ways. Greg Raymer described this as his tactic when he won the Main Event at the World Series Of Poker, in Steve Rosenbloom ‘The Best Hand I Ever Played'. With 50 players still in the game, a very active Marcel Luske raises pre-flop in first position to speak. The following is an approximation of his thoughts at the time:

"I said to myself before looking at my cards, if I get an Ace-Ace or a King-King, instead of raising the value of the pot, which at that point represented a third of my stack, I would go All-In with my $300,000"

"But what I will do if I receive one of these hands, is to very quickly go All-In. I will then stay very, very passive, and make believe that all this was following a script, which it was"

"Then, he will say to himself: ‘this guy seems to be following a script, he decided to go All-In whatever cards he had'. And if he has Ace-10 or King-Queen, and any lower hand, then he will pay.

"I lifted my cards. And I had a pair of Aces. Did what I planned and won"

It goes without saying that you should use this technique carefully and sparingly. Otherwise you will lose its effectiveness. Occasionally it will not bring great rewards however well you pull it off, at the end of the day it is the cards you hold that have the greatest influence. But, if you find a good situation against a good potential player, you can win huge amounts and head straight for the final table.