April 30th, 2012 Poker Strategy: Probing effectively
In poker, there are winners and losers. One difference between the two is that winners effectively and frequently probe than the other players. Probing is your process of getting information about the hand of your opponents and how they plan to play it. You do probing by making a bet, raising, asking a question, or saying something.
Here are some probing techniques which you can use on the poker table:
Raising, Betting, Calling, and Checking
These are standard probes that you can use. Use them well. Players will raise because they are confident that they have strong hands while they will call, check, or fold if they have doubts or dislike their hand. You need to know what you want to probe for and see how you want to get the inforation.
Ask questions, a lot of them
Majority of players rarely ask questions while playing poker but if you have noticed, top poker players ask a lot of questions. They probe if their opponents made a flush, bluffing maybe, or ask why they had to bet. Of course players will not give you honest replies but somehow you will see something with their reactions. Some do not like asking people on the game table and feel that it is unprofessional, but who do you mimic, the professionals are doing it.
Gentle probing
There are also actions, words, and questions that somehow make other players relax and make them open up. Your goal is to lower the level of discomfort as opponents on the table, so a good tone will be just in conversational tone.
In probing, one of the most important elements you must remember is how you act and how your opponents will perceive you. Make them feel you want to understand them and most likely you will be getting the information that you need.
