New Player

[Scott V]

A weakness I have is I find myself thinking that anybody new to the table that I never played with before is a bad player. /forums/images/icons/confused.gif Any ideas to help me out?

Thanks

[Jeffage]

This isn't a weakness, it is usually correct. Most unknowns that show up....suck. Play them like that till they prove competance.

Jeff

[Mikey]

just because a new face sits at the poker table does not necessarily mean they are terrible at Poker. I never underestimate a player. Let's put it this way when a new player sits down, you should be watching things like:

Hold'em: When the dealer asks him if he wants to post, does he post immediately if he is in early position?
Is he familiar with the Poker terminology?
Does he follow the action when hes out of a hand with his eyes?
Does he fumble chips or does he stack and cut them neatly?

These are things you have to look for.

Also think of this this, make believe that your opponnent doesn't fit any of those descriptions, that he doesn't know what a blind is? He also doesn't know when it's his turn to act and is always making eye contact with the dealer for reassurance, do you still think that he can't pick up a pair of Aces or two high cards or backdoor a flush on you, or flop a set on you? Think about it.

Never underestimate an opponnnet.
Just because a person is terrible or catergorized terrible at poker does not mean that he/she can't beat you. In the long run they'll lose obviously, but not in the short run.

[Ed Miller]

I think it's probably pretty reasonable to assume your opponent plays poorly if you have never seen him before and this is the first or second hand with him. Once you've seen him play (or not play) ten hands or so... you should already have a much clearer perception of his play, though.

It's not very hard to tell who the good players are at a table given thirty minutes or so (or at least whom to suspect of being good... if they haven't played enough postflop to get a real good picture).

[Noo Yawk]

Funny story. I'm playing 3 handed 20-40 with a couple of real good players. A guy wants to learn the game so he decides to watch us as we explain the action to him. 20 Minutes later the game fills up and the new guy sits down. What was the strategy he picked up by watching us play 3 handed? That you should play 75% of your cards pre-flop ,raise and reraise often and rarely fold. He busted out in about 30 minutes.