talking at the poker table

I am one of those players who likes talking at the poker table. I have tried to keep my mouth shut but the best I can do is to swear quietly under my breath for the first three hands after a bad beat, then it’s back to conversation and commentary.

Eventually, after weighing up the pros and cons, I decided to stop trying to be quiet and to put my weakness to the best use I could.

If my chat makes it easier for other players to read me, so then does other peoples reactions or responses to my talking.

You can get some great information from other players that will give you an idea about how to play against them. You can determine their level of experience, their moods, their financial status, if they are driven by winning or are just amusing themselves, the list goes on and on.

Here is an example of where talking at the poker table can be useful.

I am playing a tournament with a $300 buy in. I talk to all the players and learn that the guy sitting on my right is a student who got talked into playing this tournament by his ‘poker fanatic’ mate, even though he could barely afford it.

I might reasonably assume he doesn’t have a lot of money (student) or skills (he says his mate is the fanatic). He will probably call more than he should, but fold to bigger than normal bets because of the financial pressure to finish with some winnings.

I also like to put my talking at the poker table to good use with false tells. A simple way to do this is to remember the way you talked during a hand that you won (particularly on the river) and repeat that when you are making a bluff.

I recently hit a flush on the river and said to the guy I was up against (who just bet at me) “you just hit your straight didn’t you?” and then I said “nah, I don’t believe you hit it” and I raised, he called, I took the chips.

An hour later I had a hand that was clearly not the best hand when a third club hit the board on the river, which was no help to me. The same player bet, I repeated the sequence and my raise was met with a “yeah I seen that before, you just hit your flush” he folded.

These are just a couple of ways chatty players like me can turn this weakness into a strength, or perhaps just less of a weakness. Of course blogging every poker thought you have ever had is taking talking at the poker table to the extreme if your mates read your blog.

Finished with talking at the poker table ?

read how i get my online poker advantage and where I play home poker games