THE WORLD'S #1 POKER MANUAL - Card Games

Poker Book, Increasing the Edge Odds
XII
Behavior (37)
The good poker player directs his actions toward achieving maximum advantages while preventing his
opponents from realizing that he is motivated entirely by profit. He is a winner acting like a loser.
1. Systemization and Blandness (38)
To prevent opponents from reading his hand or sensing his strategy, the good player systemizes his--
● procedures for observing opponents
● physical movements
● verbal expressions
● vocal tones.
While playing his hand, the good player is seldom an actor. Instead he practices a bland behavior that--
● minimizes his readable patterns or tells
● frustrates and confuses his opponents
● allows greater concentration.
A good player never loses interest in his hand until the moment he folds. If opponents can sense his
intention to fold before his turn, they will become more defensive when he does hold a playable hand,
thus decreasing his edge odds.
Improvised acting while playing a hand is usually ineffective because the act does not develop from a
well-planned basis. Yet when not involved in the action, the good player has many opportunities to act
effectively on a carefully planned basis. Occasionally while playing in a hand, he deviates from his
systemized behavior when he knows a certain behavior will cause an opponent to make a desired move
(call, drop, bet, or raise).
"What's John doing now?" Scotty Nichols whines. He rubs his whiskered face while wondering if
he should call John's $50 raise. "Can't ever read him."
"That's 'cause he sits like a tree stump," Quintin Merck says. "Gives you nothing to grab. You
guys that act are easy to read."
John Finn will act, however, when he is reasonably certain of his opponents' reactions. Consider
that hand in which he is supposedly sitting like the tree stump:
http://www.neo-tech.com/poker/part3b.html (3 of 21)9/17/2004 12:18:47 PM