[mshalen]

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for about 30 hands in a row, the guy to my right kept pretending he had certain hands based on flops and exclaiming them proudly every time.

i.e. flop comes 7[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] 6[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] J[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] and he says, "guess i shouldnt have folded 98 of diamonds!"

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Hi. Nice to meet you online. I am that guy. Do you see why?

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No, why?

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Yeah, I don't get it either.

FWIW, I cut that crap when in the box. "One player to a hand." "Let the players play their own hands, please." "Don't talk about the board." If that finally doesn't get the point across, I get very pointed and direct.

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TT deserves both a gold star for the best comment/strategy post (super strategy hidden as a throw away line catagory)of the month but also a demerit for exposing a tremendous psychological advantage you can gain when playing live.

Since today seems to be the AA meeeting of 2+2 then "Hi my name is Michael and I also look for every edge I can get when playing my opponents".

Since no one seems to understand what TT, in his sly and understated manner, said is that when you are playing live there are many opportunities that present themselves where you can influence your opponents perception of you. Poker is a game of deception and misdirection. On line you are playing in a sensory deprevation tank but live you can pick up so much information about your opponent by just observing them. I am not just talking about tells (ie. how does he hold his cards when he has the nuts or how does he push his chips into the pot) but when you speak with people they are usually (but unintentionally) happy to disclose a lot of information about how they play.

In the above example if I tell another player that I folded the 9d8d because "how could you play that hand" then (if he is aware) he will assume that on a flop of T76 his JJ will always be the nuts and will happily stack off to my 98 since I couldn't possibly play a 98. Also he is happy to lay down QQ when I brought it in for a raise and bet out on any flop with an Ace in it, since he will believe that I am a very tight player who only plays/bets with top hands.

Someday people will realize that poker is not just game of holding the best cards but is a game of mind, spirit and mental sleight of hand. There are many opportunities to provide your opponents with false information about how you play. A good player needs to take advantage of every opportunity to mold his opponents opinion of him into soemthing that is very different then reality.