The Darkest Corner of Your Poker Mind – A couple of thoughts – on chasing and tells

Hi. Come on in. I've cut up several varieties of wholesome, salubrious fruit, some of which I never heard of until this morning at the market. Let's rumble around here in the dark corner of your poker mind while we munch our way to good health.

This is where bad decisions are made while you're in the heat of poker battle. This is the part of your poker mind that makes you say things like, "I'll take off one more card. If I catch that final 7, I might make a nice win." Or, "I've seen too many of my suit to draw to this flush, but what the heck, I haven't played a hand in 12 minutes. I'm going for it." Yes, this is the dark corner of your poker mind that causes you to – chase. There is a Roy's rule about chasing. Simply stated, it says, "Don't!" (It grieves my heart to see a poker player chasing, unless he is, at the moment, an opponent.)

Sometimes, chasing is called "running uphill." Whatever you call it, in the long run, it will cost you money. If you don't have the best hand or the best draw to the best hand, you're chasing.

An illustration should point out the folly of the chase. In a seven-card stud game, you start a hand in an unraised pot with a split pair of tens and a small kicker. On fourth street, you don't improve. An opponent who started with a jack showing catches another jack. Even if that's all he has, you're beat on the board, and he could well have a smaller pair in the hole, giving him two pair already.

Let's say he started with a straight draw of J-10-9. He not only has you beat on the board with his pair, but he has one of your tens, which greatly reduces your chance of making three tens.

You almost certainly must improve to three tens to have a chance of winning this pot. Even then, he could improve to three jacks, which would cost you a lot of money. If you stay in this situation, you are chasing. There are too many possibilities of getting your stack stomped, so don't chase.

When an opponent utters that most expensive of phrases, "Well, I'll see one more card," know that "one more card" means "I'm chasing."

Change of subject: Here is a tell that's good for either hold'em or seven-card stud, on the river. When the final card is dealt, you should look at your opponents rather than at the card being dealt, like most players do. This is an excellent place to pick up a tell from a player who has been drawing to a flush or straight. So, here's another of Roy's Rules: "Don't look at that last card until you've watched your opponents look." The card isn't going anywhere. It'll still be there when you're ready to look.

Many times, after having missed his hand, a player will subconsciously allow a slight look of disgust to briefly cross his face, his shoulders might sag a bit, or he could become visibly disinterested in the hand. He might even show his cards to the friendly player next to him, in which case he did not make the hand.

If a seven-card stud player looks at his last card for only a very short time, folds his cards together, and glances at his chips, he made the hand and is ready to call all bets. If he looks at his holecards, then at his upcards, then at his holecards, then at his upcards, like many recreational players do, he most likely is trying to figure out if he made a straight. It doesn't take that much looking to see if he made a flush or full house. It goes pretty much the same in hold'em. If you are watching the last card being dealt or looking at your seventh card, you'll miss all of this.

I don't know what those yellow things are, but they're as sweet as loquats. Take a pocketful to munch on the way home. Now I feel the need of repose and relaxation. Kill the light on your way out.

Roy West, best-selling poker author, continues giving his successful poker lessons in Las Vegas for both tourists and locals. Ladies are welcome. Get Roy's toll-free 800 number from his ad on Page 119.