The 14 Virtues of a Winning Poker Player: Perceptive

What it Means: Being perceptive in poker means that you are aware of the information your opponents are giving off, and more importantly able to process this information into something usable. Perceptive poker players are able to discern what their opponents body language means, process their bets/checks/calls into tendencies, spot when a player is beginning to tilt, or has had too much to drink.

The Flip-Side: Players who ignore these small clues, and are unable to process any information they do gather, are at a severe disadvantage at the poker tables. By ignoring, or paying little attention to these clues you are essentially relying solely on strategy for your profits -which might work at the lowers limits of poker, but will fail miserably as you progress up the poker ladder. As the saying goes, “The devil is in the details.”

How it Relates to Poker: One of the great things about poker is that you don’t have a sole adversary to contend with, you have upwards of nine opponents, and each one requires different strategic decisions on your part in order to take advantage of their individual weaknesses. By using your power of perception and learning the subtle nuances of each player, you will have a much easier go of it when you try to figure out what your best options are. This will also help you identify who you should be fighting it out with, and who you should be avoiding.

A subtle body language tell, or a certain amount bet on their bluffs, could mean the difference between a player who has the advantage over you, or if you have the advantage over them.

Think of it this way, if you and a certain opponent are equally matched in every way, you’ll break even in the long-run, there is little incentive to go head-to-head with this player. However, if you have a picked up a tell, or tendency, on your opponent; than this EV neutral opponent has suddenly turned into someone whose presence you welcome in your game: Even if the tell is only worth ½ BB/100 hands, in a $20/$40 game this player is worth $20/100 hands to you! In a live game this equates to about $8/hour, not a bad pay raise if you already earn $20/hour.

How to cope: Players who have trouble perceiving what their opponent true intentions are need to really buckle down and concentrate on the game. You simply can’t let any information pass you by without making note of it, and processing it, to see if it will be beneficial later on.

How to Improve your Perception: Improving your perception has a lot to do with paying attention, but it also requires you be educated. Reading body language books and psychology books is a good start -not every great poker book has the word “Poker” in the title. Also, by paying attention to what players are drinking, if they appear tired, or how lucky/unlucky they have been running will give you a valuable insight into their current state of mind.