We’ve put patience into our ‘real money’ game play arsenal, and we’ve developed a fairly comprehensive understanding of the vast differences between free online poker play and Felt Table play.

Plus, as mentioned in both Articles 1 and 2, we’ve learned that our ‘real money’ play must be limited to Brick and Mortar casinos, card rooms, or home games. We’ll never play for cash on the online poker sites….we’ve learned that their games have become corrupt, we’ve learned that their games host various forms of cheating.

Conversely, we’ve learned that our time spent on free poker NoPayPOKER.com can produce a number of ‘game improving’ elements; including….self-tutorials, practice, strategy testing, confidence building, skills development, and pennies pocketed (with the knowledge that pennies become dollars).

Yet, the word ‘deceit’ has not entered our preamble descriptor regarding the game of poker.
And, it should….it needs to; once we learn to use ‘deceit’ purposefully, we’ll be adding rather large amounts of money to our respective wallets, purses, and belly-bags (fanny-packs).

Moreover, as we embark on our excursion into the ‘deceit’ aspects of the game, please recognize that there are 3 separate components associated with poker ‘deceit’.

Possibly, one of the best examples of deceitful play (that’s 1), deceitful chat (that’s 2), and deceitful tells (that’s 3) I could present to you, would be the way in which Jamie Gold…great cards aside…toyed with the minds of all the players he sat with at the 2006 World Series of Poker.

If you haven’t already done so, take the time to watch the TV replays of the final table; and, while you’re watching, keep in mind that Mr. Gold is predominately a cash game player; he’s not a tournament player….neither by reputation, nor by participation. Cash tables are where he is usually found.

He frequently lied…He often told the truth.

• He taunted – He coached.
• He showed – He mucked.
• He was aggressive – He was passive.
• He was tight – He was loose.
• He was stoic – He was emotional.
• He was talkative – He was silent.
• He was sympathetic – He was indifferent.
• He was polite -He was rude.

Frankly, the only thing that remained a constant, was the fact that he was always ‘non-constant’.
Everything varied, everything flip-flopped. And, all of it was done purposely…he was the consummate bearer of deceit.

Do you think he solidified any friendships while he played…excluding Johnny Chan? I don’t.

Do you think he gave a rat’s butt about the absence of new friends? I don’t.

Do you think it bothered him that Norman Chad consistently cast aspersions on his play? I don’t.

Do you think his deceitfulness is NOT a regular and formidable component of his cash game play? I don’t.

Do you think he’s routinely donating money to other players in cash games? I don’t.

In all honesty, he’s a very profitable player; someone who completely dominates ring games with a frequency that is well known to the professional players community. And, he is amongst the group of players who sit atop the ‘most disliked’ list.

Good for him…he’s mastered a part of the game that we all need to learn; especially me. I can’t count the number of times I wished that I possessed his ability to offer up deceitful vocalizations.

Maybe…just maybe…we don’t need to be as arrogant, obnoxious, and disdainful as he is; or, as he appears to be. Maybe we simply need to incorporate the right balance between social interaction and deceptive strategies.

Maybe we can be liked by some, tolerated by others, respected by a bunch, and despised by a few. Is that something we can accomplish? Can we do it? Sure, and I can think of no reason to allow me to believe otherwise.

Thus, we’re going to move forward in an attempt to create the necessary balance between ‘being social’ and ‘being deceptive’.
Do we need to alter our personalities in order to attain such an idyllic ritual? Do we need to become altogether different people versus what we’re like in daily life?

Well…the answer isn’t simple; It’s not black and white…it’s not yes or no. It’s gray. It rests somewhere in our personal depository of capabilities. And, we’ll need to be able to call upon one of them at will; making it present itself whenever we so choose.

Let’s call it our ‘Zone’. A state of mind that we enter and exit as ever we wish. When we’re in this ‘Zone’, we’re not ourselves…we possess no fiscal compassion; we have no regard for others and their money (except we won’t cheat…not once, not ever).

When we’re not in the ‘Zone’…we’re our usual pleasant, courteous, caring, and compassionate selves. Well, at least y’all are. I’m not sure how many people would describe me that way.

Learning to include ‘deceit’ in your cash games, much like Jamie Gold has done in his cash games, will involve a bit more than just deceitful chat, false banter, and contrived utterances.

You’ll also need to bring both deceitful play and deceitful tells to your space at the felt table…and, you’ll need to do it with regularity.

Each and every step you take toward perfecting the art of putting forth ‘deception’, brings you closer to filling your pockets with your competitors’ cash.

The latter of the two, deceitful tells, would be the easier to master. It’s simply a matter of developing the where-with-all to let our body language deliver a false message. Sometimes we’ll want our movements or expressions to tell people that we’ve got rags; when, in fact, we’re actually holding the ‘nuts’.

Conversely, sometimes we’ll want our movements or expressions to tell people that we’ve got the ‘nuts’; when, in fact, we’re actually holding rags.

Now, this can’t be all that difficult to implement. And, as an example, let’s assume you’re holding a ‘nuts’ hand.

• Before you raise, let your left hand brush both of your eyebrows (or, anything similar)…let it happen subtlety, don’t make it overtly obvious.
• Do this the first 2 or 3 times you’re in possession of the best hand post-river.
• It’s not a false signal that you’re sending; you actually hold the winning hand.
  
• What you are accomplishing here is the ‘deceit set-up’.
• Then, the very next time you’re holding the ‘nuts’, don’t allow your left hand to move at all…don’t let anything move.
• This lack of movement is now sending the deceitful tell. Your opponents…at least the observant competitors…are going to read this tell.
• They will believe that you are not holding a winning hand, they’ll believe that you’re stabbing at the pot…attempting to steal it.
• And, since you are holding a ‘nuts’ hand, when this happens, you’ll almost assuredly move a mountain of chips to your stack.

Undoubtedly, you’ve now recognized that the opposite can be done.

• By that I mean, post-river, you’re holding rags…but, you want to steal the pot.
• So, get that left hand in motion, rub your eyebrows, and proceed to bet.
• The tell will be read by the other players at the table.
• They’ll believe that you’re again holding the ‘nuts’.
• Each will fold. And, the chips will be moved to your spot on the green felt.
• Or, do you think that the ‘opposite play’ just described might not be that easy?

If you do, you’re correct. Principally because this can only be done when a very definitive board is laid out before you.

The five exposed cards must be patterned such that a ‘nuts’ hand would be very hard to come by for any of your competitors; no straight possibilities, no flush possibilities, and no exposed pair. Again, keep caution in mind.

This type of deceitful tell is considerably more risk-oriented than it’s converse (the times when you’re actually holding the ‘nuts’ hand)…use it infrequently. Also, you can never use it when the deceitful tell, in a hand where you held the ‘nuts’, had been previously used to take down a large pot.

By that I mean, if you’ve NOT ‘rubbed your eyebrows’, and won with a ‘nuts’ hand that ended up being seen by everyone, you can’t ‘NOT rub your eyebrows’, and expect to win with rags.

Additionally, you’re going to have to alter your body language on a ‘play session’ basis…with regularity.

Each time you sit down at a new table, you’ll need to contrive a different tell. It can’t always be something like ‘brushing your eyebrows’ as described above. You’ll need to be changing it with rigorous consistency…day to day…every day.

Try scratching your right ear, rubbing your chin, tapping your fingers, toying with chips, or any other detectable movement.

And, while it’s perfectly okay that a few players who are often with you at a table come to fully comprehend your deceptions, please note that they are not the targets of your deceit. Certainly not after you’ve played with the same 2 or 3 people on a regular basis.

Your targets are the players who are new to you; the players who sit down at a B & M table as tourists…or, as local visitors…or, as occasional gamblers…or, as recreational day-trippers…or, as poker professionals. Who cares? It doesn’t matter who they are! What matters is that their currency is green, and that we develop the skills to move their cash to our wallets.

Deceitful plays, the third and last form of deception, can have many dimensions…many practical applications.
Yet, one stands far above all of the others combined. Therefore, it is the only practical application that I’d like to present in this article.

It has to do with betting…specifically, initiating bets and raising bets. And, prior to my making any reference to the betting strategy that will create the desired deception we seek, allow me to paraphrase a lesson I learned from my mentor…a well known poker professional who taught me the fundamentals of the game, and so much more.

The following is what he had to say…again, I’m paraphrasing, but I’ll put it in quotes anyway.

“Many experienced cash game players prefer to make all of their bets and raises equal to the size of the pot. This consistency helps to conceal the actual strength of their cards. Plus, any pot size bet generally creates a disadvantaged draw situation for most opponents; they’re just not able to get suitable pot odds. And, the absence of sufficient pot odds almost always puts the better players in a position where they’re inclined to fold. Or, if they do put money into the pot, whether they are good or bad players, they’re doing so with you holding the edge”.

Clearly, there’s a great deal of wisdom in those words. And, we’re going to use that wisdom while we attempt to define our third deception…deceitful plays. Which, as indicated above, for our current purposes, is solely related to betting…more accurately, solely related to pot size betting.

It should become our standard bet. If we hold cards that merit a bet, we pretty much hold cards that are worthy of a pot size bet. So, if we regularly make pot size bets, the other players at the table are going to mentally record our betting habit.

They will routinely see us making these bets, and they will frequently see us taking down pots as an adjunct to these bets. Where’s the deception? None…as yet. But, our tell has been handed to all those who are present: a pot size bet by us equals premium cards…they have all seen it, they have all watched us scoop up winnings that resulted from the pot size bets, from the premium cards. What could be better? Wonderful! Each of them has been set-up for the deception to come.

And, with the set-up in place, we now need to wait on our next ‘nuts’ hand. Patience, patience, patience…the rewards are endless.

The hand will come. It might take some time for it to arrive, but it will come. And when it does, we’ll put forth our deceitful play. How?

I think you likely already know the answer. We’ll simply alter the way in which we bet; it won’t be a pot size bet; that’s for certain. It’ll be an overbet, an underbet, or no bet. All three have a reasonable chance of working.

If the pot is $300, we could bet $500…the overbet. We could bet $100…the underbet. Or, we could check….the no bet. No matter which way we play it, our bet, or lack thereof, has let everyone seated at the table know that we’re not holding the ‘nuts’. Yet, we are.

And, no one at the table knows it; everyone has become acclimated to our pot size bets. Goal accomplished. We’ve managed to implement a ‘deceitful play’…and, hopefully, it was timed to coincide with a large pot.

Now, having been introduced to all three deceptions…deceitful chat, deceitful tells, and deceitful plays, and having developed some idea as to how we use them, and having come to realize the monetary benefits that will accrue to our favor when it’s all done correctly, it’s now time to introduce a reality that you may not have given any thought to…a reality that presents itself on a continual track.

And, the train that rides this track, day-in and day-out, carries new players to the B & M of your choice…new players who bring pockets full of cash to your table; everyday. Be exceedingly grateful for that track, welcome the train, smile at the new players, initiate some pleasant conversation, and make room in your wallet. What’s the reality? Read on.

Never lose sight of the fact that the newcomer who possesses any level of poker knowledge arrives at the table with both eyes wide open…he’s usually well versed on the importance of picking up tells. And, we’re intent on making him pay for the ‘deceit’ show in which we, individually, are the leading actor.

The show was staged by us, we did a great job in putting on the show, we established three completely different false tells, and the new guy has a stiff admission price to pay.

Now, back up, and think this through; it’s that important. New player, eyes wide open, intent on picking up tells, listening to your chat, noting your body language, memorizing your bets, then waiting to use the information he gathered against you.

And, remember, the information he’s holding, with dreams of a payday, was deceitfully given to him by you. So, while there is little doubt that a payday will occur sometime during the next few hours, the fact is that it won’t be the new guy’s payday, it’s going to be your payday.

Last, I want to render some words of advice. I offered them to you at the beginning of this Article, and I’m going to end the Article by repeating them.

Get a DVD copy of the 2006 WSOP Main Event Final Table play. Then, take the time to study Jamie Gold in action….the ‘deceits’ are an absolute constant in his play.

And, there aren’t too many people in the world who get to earn twelve million dollars because they demonstrate an expertise at deception.

Best of Luck at the Tables

Michael

(c) copyright 2009; no reproduction, all rights reserved by D. M. Vadnais