Posted by The Captain | Filed under The Pros Speak
Whenever there’s a large tournament coming up, conversation always turns to strategies and tactics for making the big score. Whether or not we’re actually playing, we’ve all got opinions on how it should be done. This is especially true when it comes to talking about tells or reads in live play.
Rather than sharing the explicitly unprofessional views of my colleagues and I, we thought it was in order to seek out the opinion of someone who has a demonstrated mastery of the subject. To that end, Team Full Tilt’s Jennifer Harman has a few thoughts on what her opponents are telling her about their game – before they even start playing. Here’s what she had to say:
To start with, I hope that I don’t pick up a hand right away when I sit down at a table – I like to watch my opponents before I play against them so I can make better decisions. Some things that I’m watching for are really easy, like the way they’re dressed and the way they’re sitting at the table. It says a lot about how they play. That’s basically the first thing that I do – look to see how my opponents are dressed, how they’re sitting at the table, and maybe how they stack their chips. They’re already giving me information on how they’re going to play.
Let me get into how an opponent’s dressed a little more: people tend to dress how they play. A lot of times, when they’re sloppily dressed, they play kind of sloppy, and when they’re conservatively dressed, they play more conservatively.
Let’s say a guy sits down in a suit and tie: I’m generally going to view him as being more conservative. While it’s likely that I’m going to be able to steal more pots from this guy, I’ll stay away from him when he’s raising in earlier positions because I feel that he’s most likely going to have a hand there. As a rule, they’re going to play tighter than the person who’s dressed pretty sloppy.
When I’m talking about sloppy, I’m talking about the player with a collared shirt that’s unbuttoned and one collar is up. They’re wearing a baseball cap, kind of unshaven, and maybe the baseball cap’s not on straight – maybe even a big belly. (Sorry – I hate to stereotype.) There’s always one button that’s not buttoned, things like that. They usually play sloppy and are into more pots. I find that they’re more recreational and there to have fun – not to try hard and win money. They’re not taking it as seriously as, let’s say, a guy in his jeans and t-shirt. I think the guy in his jeans and t-shirt takes it more seriously. I think that maybe the guy in his suit is there for entertainment too, but he doesn’t want to lose his money.
That’s another view that I have – a different take on dress – the player in a t-shirt and a pair of jeans: a pair of jeans and a t-shirt means a solid player. They’re usually kids that are coming from the Internet. When they’re playing in a tournament or a side game, they’re going to try. They tend to take things seriously.
Keeping all of this in mind, I try not to ever let myself fall into a trap. You always have to be objective about how somebody might play. A guy might look sloppy or like he’s completely ruffled – with his shirt hanging out of his pants or something – but he might actually play conservatively. You just can’t let yourself fall into that trap. Even though someone looks or dresses a certain way, you have to stay objective. Keeping this in mind and staying on guard, looking at how someone is dressed can give you valuable information about how they play.
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