Mike Caro makes me some money

So back at the casino, playing 1-1 NL 100 max buyin

The table is breaking up a bit, so this hand is short-handed.
So far I have a rock solid image, so I've switched gears and I started open raising a relatively wide range.

It'd folded to me in MP, I open the pot with T8s.

BU is a young guy who is loose preflop and is putting the live straddle on whenever he's UTG. Loves to try steal pots when the opponent has shown weakness. Underbets pots when he has a hand. He calls my preflop raise, flop is heads up.

The board comes paired, 669 two tone, or something like that. I bet like I would with TT or something, and he calls. Turn double pairs the board, 6699. I check, he checks behind.

River comes a harmless card. I'm pretty ready to give up on this hand, thinking he might be calling here with an A. But as the river card is dealt, he starts reaching for chips, out of turn. Tell #1: the player reaching for chips out of turn is weak, acting strong. He's also staring at me. Tell #2, the guy with the big hand is staring away from you, not at you. The one who is staring at you is usually weak.

So I fire a bet here, to his surprise and disgust. He looks obviously uncomfortable, and hesitates for a few seconds before throwing his hand away.

Thanks Mr Caro!

Nice. I liked Mike's book though I think it's a little outdated. Nice read.

What I really like the most about reading Mike Caro's book is that I can read it over and over again. This book in particular is one of the books that I am happy to read frequently since it is always good to brush up on skills. But more importantly I try and read it for the art of deception.

When I play live there is always a pot that I am involved in that is of a good dollar value (maybe $200-$300)and this is where I will use the book primarily to my advantage to try and give the right amount of false tells to get the most out of my hand.

Since I am happy playing with out really giving too much away and more focussed on (value) bet sizing, when the pot is rather large with respect to the blinds and I am holding a monster I will take a second to start acting out a few tells, like the ones you mention - the stare and chips out of turn and I find that it works really well.

Something that you should think about and try it out for a hand or two. But make it count and then table hop because I doubt you will get away with it the second or third time around

Originally Posted by idfk

What I really like the most about reading Mike Caro's book is that I can read it over and over again. This book in particular is one of the books that I am happy to read frequently since it is always good to brush up on skills. But more importantly I try and read it for the art of deception.

When I play live there is always a pot that I am involved in that is of a good dollar value (maybe $200-$300)and this is where I will use the book primarily to my advantage to try and give the right amount of false tells to get the most out of my hand.

Since I am happy playing with out really giving too much away and more focussed on (value) bet sizing, when the pot is rather large with respect to the blinds and I am holding a monster I will take a second to start acting out a few tells, like the ones you mention - the stare and chips out of turn and I find that it works really well.

Something that you should think about and try it out for a hand or two. But make it count and then table hop because I doubt you will get away with it the second or third time around

Yeah, fake tells are definitely a factor to think about, especially these bad players who think poker is 100% about tells and psychology. I went with my gut feeling here though, which made me believe this was a straightforward tell rather than a reverse-psychology act.

edit: actually in this specific situation a reverse-psychology play just wouldn't have made sense - he's reaching for chips and stuff out of turn because he has a full house and he wants me to read him as weak, then bluff into his big hand? wouldn't make a whole lot of sense.

How do you know he wasn't trying to prevent a bet, BUT still calling even if you did anyway?

Of course I don't know that 100% but I figured that I had enough fold equity, say that I had the feeling he would fold over 50% of the time, that I would lose the pot 100% of the time if I check, it's +EV isn't it?

I had this exact same thing happen to me the other night.... flop was AAx two spades, one guy bet, I didn't believe so raised with air, another guy called - pretty much sure he has an ace. turn is a spade, check check, river a spade... I'm about to chuck my hand and he starts playing with his chips! half pot bet, he folds showing ace face up! Thank you Mike Caro!