"Don't get around much anymore"...ah.. words from a famous old song, but they also describe my live poker playing for the past year or so. I just don't seem to get to the Casino much anymore.

So this past Friday was more the exception than the rule. When I play live I play at the Bellagio here in Vegas. I play 15-30 Limit Hold em with an occasional shot at 30-60. While i was waiting for a seat in a 15-30 game I watched a few hands of an ongoing 30-60 Hold em game in which Barry Tannenbaum was playing. I like to watch good players when I get a chance to see if I can pick up (learn) anything from them.

The following hand occurred that I found interesting for a number of reasons. First and foremost I believed that I had picked up a tell on Barry. Anyway, let's see what you think.

The game was 10 handed. Barry was the big blind. It was folded around to a loose aggressive player who raised from the cutoff (one off the button). the button, another loose aggressive player, cold called two bets. The small blind called and Barry tossed in another three ten dollar chips for a call. I immediately thought to myself. "Wow the way he tossed in those chips is a tell. He's saying I don't have Aces or Kings or queens, well maybe queens, but I don't think so, but he has enough to call".

The flop came Qh,8h,3h. It was checked to the original raiser who bet 30. The button couldn't wait to get his money in and called. The small blind folded and Barry to my surprise called. I fully expected him to fold. I though wither he has the A of hearts or the nuts already. I couldn't see him playing the hand this way with out having something very Strong.

The turn was the 7 of diamonds. Barry checked, the original raiser checked and now the button bets. Barry didn't hesitate, bang, he raised. What's his hand? Well, I was now pretty sure that he had a flush, maybe even the nuts. Now the original raiser folded and the button who I'm sure has played quite a lot with Barry reluctantly called.

The river was the 7 of clubs now giving a board of Qh,8h,3h,7d,7c. Barry did a double take of the board and bet out. The button immediately grabbed a stack of chips and raised. I expected Barry to make a crying call because now I believed that the button filled up and beat Barry's flush. Barry unhesitatingly re-raised. Now I was sure that my read on Barry was wrong. He must have 8,8 I thought to re-raise. The button now re-raises and the only hand I can give him is Q,Q. But to my surprise, notice how I am being surprised to often, Barry re-raises. What's his hand? Of course he has Q,Q. The button finally figures it out and calls. Barry turns over Q,Q and wins a big pot. The button mucks so I'm guessing that he had 8,8 to play the way he did.

The whole point of this story was to point out that I indeed spotted a tell from Barry with his nonchalant tossing of the chips. I just didn't carry it far enough. Sure I thought that he might have queens but really didn't think so. But in fact it should have been my first guess. Caro's first rule of tells is "acting strong means weak, acting weak means strong". Barry tossed the chips in preflop as if he had nothing. I picked up on that. Good players like Barry are capable of reverse tells but this was not a situation in which a reverse tell was a reasonable option. He put on an act to try and conceal a strong hand. I'm not sure if anyone at the table noticed it but I did. I just didn't make the right call. Could be I'm just rusty. Anyway I thought this might be an interesting look at putting someone on a hand based not on the way they played the hand so much as how they acted during the hand.

Vinpoker

Very interesting post. One of the best poker players I've seen for making reads is Daniel Negreanu. There is a video in the video section of him making some sick reads. Being observant of any patterns or changes in patterns is important. You even do it when you're not even playing but just watching another poker game going on.

I've watched Daniel on t.v. quite a bit. I know him from his days in Vegas before he became a big star. He was a wild and crazy kid (poker player) back then. My "read" on Daniel is that he is good at putting "2 and 2" together to make his reads. By that I mean Danil makes his read based on how the hand is played and what the board is. He seems to me to use a method that is fundamental to hand reading. That is, put your opponent on a range of hands and the narrow that range by how the hand is played. Daniel seems to be very good at that. However. that said, Daniel does not, from what I've seen, appear to trust his own read in many situations and makes calls that if he trusted those reads he should clearly fold.

vinpoker

I'd say your read on "Daniel" is about right, he is a bit of a payoff station actually, even when he knows he is beat and doesn't seem to trust his instinct enough.

Remember "a bet saved is just as good as a bet earned". This is really a key principle for success.

Jason

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