How did Matt Flynn know?

[rwperu34]

In your two recent posts, you used physical tells to help you determine a course of action (I think). As an online player getting ready to delve into the world of live play, this is the kind of stuff that scares me most (followed in a close second by not being able to play 7 games at once).

In the first post, "Saved by Cero," you raise with AKs, flat called by the button. Flop comes AT6. How did you know he hit his set? Was he shaking? Did he glance at his chips? Did little horns start growing from his head? Did he have an orgasm?

Or was it his betting pattern? I know a likely holding for someone calling a raise cold is a small pocket pair, but how did you know to check the flop? Or is this a normal line of action for you? What would you have done if he bet $200 on the flop?

In the second post, "Old Man Equity," you asked your opponent a question to reveal more information.

[ QUOTE ]
"Will you bet me another $620 on the side that I can name your exact two cards minus the suits?"

[/ QUOTE ]

My knee jerk reaction to this question is, "Yes, in this hand and every hand in the future and I'll lay you 2 to 1." Would you have called a 76 year old who said that? What are the things he could have said that would have made you call? Some other things to get you to fold?

You also said, [ QUOTE ]
"If he were twenty years younger all those chips would be here."

[/ QUOTE ]

What if he were 40 years younger (I'm 32)?

[Matt Flynn]

in the first hand he slightly hitched his head (somewhat helpful), made a rapid eye movement suggesting a big hand (very helpful), got relaxed moving his shoulders back slightly (also very helpful) and had no fear at all when he asked whether i had a set of aces (also helpful). plus over the hour i had seen no duplicity in his mannerisms. Cero was also reading him well.

in the old man hand he had every mannerism you could imagine for someone trying to look confident and it seemed like an acting job. had he not been experienced with banter he may have given away his hand by his response to my question. i am not kidding when i say had he been 50 i would have called.

you will, of course, try to dissemble when you play live. chances are you will do it the same way most newer players do and thus be readable.

matt

[rwperu34]

[ QUOTE ]
you will, of course, try to dissemble when you play live. chances are you will do it the same way most newer players do and thus be readable.


[/ QUOTE ]


LOL...Thanks for the vote of confidence. [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img] My approach is going to be strong and confident all the time. But since I have no idea what that's like, who knows how it's going to come off.

Fortunatly for me I'm going start limits low enough where most of the other people will not be able to take advantage of this. I suspect it will be just like online. Every time I move up a limit, I MUST pick up a new skill.

Thanks for the info, and I hope to never have you see right through me. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[fimbulwinter]

As someone who really only plays big bet live now, I'm astounded at the wealth of information available; this in turn makes my reads much more solid than online, but nowhere near being able to lay down TPTK against a set without losing anything but my PFR. To me, that's simply astounding.

How long did you play live before you reached this level of ability/confidence in your reads? can you suggest any materials/exercises (aside from obviously being an active watcher at the table) which would help with this skill?

also,

Playing live, i realize that some players who may not be as mechanically strong as me do have me far outclassed in reading players and not giving tells of their own. when i started, i got in the habit of looking straight down at my chips, never verbalizing bets and cutting all bets into neat stacks next to my stack and pushing them forward to bet. I figured this gave off the least amount of info possible. dumb idea? should i even consider trying to be more lively and possibly "faking" tells?

thanks

fim

[PokerSlut]

Fake tells work, but only against a certain type of player. You have to find that guy who just read Caro's Book of Tells and now thinks they've got a read on the whole table.