Betfair Official Blog

Don't scream at them!!

Last night I was playing poker and I made a mistake. Nothing new there - I make loads of them all the time - but this was quite an unusual mistake.

I was in a three-handed limit game with two pretty weak opponents and I was well on top. Both of them were frequently limping in from the button and - as anyone who is remotely familiar with short-handed games knows - this is dreadful play.

Naturally, when I was on the button I was raising much of the time (otherwise folding) and either stealing their blinds or forcing them to play raised pots from out of position. However, when I was playing from the blinds I was getting to see a whole load of free or cheap flops. We were rattling through the hands and the chips were coming my way. Life was sweet.

Then I made my mistake. However, it didn't even occur to me that I had done anything wrong until after the session. My mistake was a rather peculiar one - I just kept on playing in a good, aggressive style.

Bad move. After a while my opponents awoke from their snooze. I could almost sense each of them thinking: "Just a minute. This guy is raising almost every single time from the button and - it's horrible. I am always under pressure. And yet when he is in the blinds, he's doing okay. Well, I'm not putting up with that..."

Indeed they weren't. Sure enough - they soon started raising from the button themselves. They also began playing in a generally more aggressive style and - not surprisingly - started to do much better. The game was still good but I was no longer taking candy from babies. It was now more like taking candy from teenagers with attitude.

In retrospect what I should have done was to start limping from the button occasionally myself. Not all the time, but just often enough to let them know that it was an OK play.

This would be like saying, "Limping from the button is fine guys. Look. I'm doing it now." By endlessly raising when I had the button it was almost as if I was yelling at them: "Look - dummies - this is the way to do it. Don't limp - raise!!" They may not have been the most observant players in the world but when someone is screaming in your face it is hard not to notice.

• Poker