If you have experience with playing poker, you should know that it is easy to see all the players because they sit around a table in a circle. Believe it or not, this is the most important concept when it comes to poker strategy; being able to see your opponents.
For most people, they generally think that the most important part of the game has more to do with the cards, i.e. the cards you are dealt and how you can utilize them. Although these aspects are highly significant, it actually begins with how you make use of your body language for your benefit. In poker, you will find that the chances of getting dealt a good hand are pretty much the same for all players sitting at the table. Due to this factor, luck is usually something which does not come into play.
However, if you do find yourself on a lucky streak, the question is, how should you continue to play? There are four primary options; you can either bet, check, raise, call or fold.
On the other hand, if you do find that the cards you are getting are not as good as you would like, and you choose to fold, this choice isn’t necessarily the best one. The main reason is because every time you fold, you will be leaving your money in the pot. After a while, all that folding will start to add up. Although you won’t be losing as much money, you will still be giving up the opportunity to win big. This is where your body language and the art of bluffing come in. The concept behind bluffing involves being able to misguide your opponents at the table. The trick is to get them to believe that the cards in your hand are bad. Once you have mastered this skill, it will make winning that much easier.
The way to do this is all down to the language of your body. At first, if you are dealt a good hand, act as though you are on top of the world. Although you do not really want the other players to see that you have a good hand, this is all part of the trick to manipulate the way they read your body language. So, each time you appear to be “happy”, your opponents will always believe that you have been dealt a good hand and, most of the time, they will fold. On the flip side, if the cards you have are bad and you act as though you are happy, the other players will be too afraid to continue and will usually fold.
The key is to build a complex pattern of emotions; happy, sad, indifferent, angry, excited and so forth. Your aim is to confuse them while they try and read your play.