Poker Stories | Poker Articles | Poker Room | Online Poker | Texas Holdem | Omaha High | Seven Card Stud | Poker Tournaments

- Poker Tips and Strategies at JazzPokerRoom.com - Español

You Talk Too Much

By JAR

Some time ago, I was remembering that old song "You Talk Too Much" by Run-DMC. It was on my last trip to Borgata in Atlantic City. I was with my opponents and their speaking habits didn't offend me at all. I was thinking that their comments were giving away more information than they intended.

In Borgata, during the tournament my opponents basically told me what they had in their two hands.

I was in the middle position, I raised with A-10, the first hand was early on. I was called by both blinds and the flop came A-10-7. I shoot a value bet which the small blind called, while both players checked to me.

One player was pretty aggressive, so I was a little worried he was trapping me with a set of sevens. I believe he would have raised pre-flop with a bigger Ace and he would have probably bet out post-flop with a fragile ace. He was looking at me, because the turn brought a 2. He asked me if I would call if he went all in. But I preferred not answer. He then analyzed; I bet and he instantly pushed all-in while stating that he goes "all-in with the second best hand."

At that moment, the most important thing to do was to analyze the situation. It seemed he really thought he had the best hand and wanted me to call. At first, I did not say anything; I was concentrating in this move. The only hands I could see him playing this way were pocket sevens or A-7. I needed a plan quickly, because I had him covered at the moment, but not by much. I had 2 options: The first one was call, but if I made it and lost, I would be extremely short stacked. The second option was to fold. If I made this, I would still have plenty of chips to play with. As I was examining, a player not in the hand started talking to him about the hand. He asked how sure he was that he had the 2nd best hand. They were talking then on what they thought I had. The player in the hand answered either A-J or A-10. If he believed I had an A-J, then either of his possible holdings is good. If he thought I maybe have had an A-10 then only his set of sevens would be good, I thought. I asked him if he had a set of sevens and he answered me with a clear "no". Of course, like a good player, he could have been lying, but players rather flat out lie like that. In many occasions, the most common is that they say something cute or evasive. I finally decided what I had to do, I concluded that he had to have A-7 and I called; besides, it seemed like he really wanted me to call.

He actually had an A-7 and I believe is that he has been convinced that I had an A-J hand, that's why he wanted me to call. However, he made a huge mistake by talking so much. I really might have folded otherwise. The reason is that if I had folded I still would have had abundant chips left and there were a lot of bad players that probably would have been advantageous to remain in the tournament.

Risking going all in, was the bigger mistake he made. He could have called, ironically, the river brought another 10 which gave me a full house and counterfeited his 7. Even if he assumes I had A-J, he could have gotten away from the hand on the river so easily when the 10 appeared.

The next hand was even more obvious. The blinds were $100-$200 and I raised to $600 with A-K. I got 4 callers including the big blind. The flop came as K-8-4 rainbow. And when the big blind checked, I bet out $1600. Everyone folded to the big blind, who looked at me with an impressed face. Then he said "that's a huge overbet" and he went all in. I had enough chips, was an easy call on my part, I had him wrapped.

He then turned over K-10 and was very impressed to see that I had A-K; he wanted to know why I would make such a huge overbet with that hand. I finally take the time to explain him that when I do a bet, it is not an overbet whatsoever.

These examples were the most extreme, but I really found players that spoke a lot and gave away much important information. Even if they thought they were being deceptive during the conversation, a good player can see right through it. The best recommendation for you is this: do not speak about your hand.

Back to Articles