How to use table talk to your advantage

A good poker player will know how to use table talk to their advantage, in a variety of ways:

• Table talk is a good way to learn your opponents motivations
• Table talk can produce tells
• Table talk creates a good gambling environment

A good way to grab some easy information from your opponents is by striking up a one-on-one conversation with them. A word of caution, you don’t want to delve to deep or come across as snooping, your goal is to simply learn the person’s motivations. If someone thinks you are trying to feel them out, they may dummy up or feed you false information.
Your best course of action is to keep the conversation general, and like a good bluff, don’t come out of left field with the questions; let the questions come from the converstaion. Here a couple examples of good table talk:

“I finally deposited some money online last week, have you ever played at Full Tilt , is it a good site?”

“I didn’t think there would be so many people here, is it always this crowded?”

And a couple examples of bad table talk:

“I play at Full Tilt , where do you play?”

“Do you play a lot of poker?”

The above questions will garner the same responses: What you’re interested in is, if the person plays online, and if they frequent the card-room. However, the ‘good’ questions will be taken as idle chit chat. In fact, I would normally answer these questions honestly if posed to me while playing. On the other hand, the ‘bad’ questions would raise my suspicions, since they appear to be nothing more than a probe for information. I would be thinking the whole time: “why is this guy asking me if I play online, or how much I play???”

Once you strike up a conversation, some people will flat out tell you what hands they play, and why! Finding just one of these people can be a gold mine. If someone wants to tell me their strategies and their thinking, I’m not going to stop them: They may as well show me their cards while they’re at it –which they often do before mucking them-!

In addition to learning about a player, table talk can also elicit tells. If you are able to see a person’s natural reaction to something you can then compare this with how they react to your question. For example:

Suppose you are part of a conversation about California, and the whole time a guy named Fred is ranting and raving about how he loved living there. Well, if you happen to get involved in a hand with Fred you may want to ask how much he likes his hand, then you can compare his reaction to his California remarks. Since you’ve seen Fred in an honest moment of joy, you’ll have an easier time distinguishing between his true emotions and his acting.

Finally, being social creates a good atmosphere. Most recreational players dislike playing with jerks. They would much rather lose to the person who is smiling and being friendly, than to the guy berating the table and making them feel stupid.

Don’t underestimate a good atmosphere, especially if the rest of the players realize you are much better than they are: It may be the only thing gets you invited back to a home game.