2007 September | All Africa Poker Blog

September | 2007 | All Africa Poker Blog

Watch and Learn!

Sep.21, 2007

Surely one of the best pieces of advice that any poker player could follow- whether you are a newbie, or an old hand- is to WATCH THE GAME. One learns a tremendous amount by being an objective spectator- which you will not necessarily be able to pick up when you are IN the game. When I kicked off my “poker career”- I did all the basics that one normally does: Learning the poker hands, the variants of poker, the poker lingo, and the poker etiquette. And from there on of course, I started playing….

In spite of my enthusiastic approach, the penny only really dropped for me, when I started watching the poker tournaments. While you’re playing, you have to focus on the game and cannot afford to let your attention be divided. But while you’re watching, you get to listen to all the little snippets that the commentators dish out, and you get to hear their explanations of why certain hands have the better chance of winning the pot, even before they get on the river.

It is actually great to sit and plot with them, calculate the odds and test yourself to see how many times you indeed manage to predict the outcome correctly. And you get to see when players could have really stayed, rather than folded, or vice versa. It also opens your eyes up towards the fact that you do not necessarily have to have the best hand to win the game, or that you should think twice before simply folding. When you start watching, you will quickly see what I mean. It’s like all those bits and pieces of the elusive poker strategy puzzle finally start to come together.

However, even seasoned poker junkies can gain a lot from simply watching, especially if you’re entering a tournament where you will be playing against many of the players that you are watching. You gain invaluable insight into the players’ style, their strategy and you start to recognize their “tells”- knowing when they are most probably bluffing, slow playing a winning hand, or maximizing a great hand. So go get some of the action, but this time around- join in from the audience side. You will be amazed at how much more you can learn- and how many tips you pick up, which many will not necessarily want to share otherwise….

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Category: All Africa Poker Info

Keeping up appearances with poker apparel

Sep.12, 2007

Apart from unique behavioral patterns, distinctive lingo and etiquette, the poker fraternity seem to now also have a dress code of its own. So remember to put on your poker face and dress up in your poker apparel, to keep up your poker appearance.

Lately, there are even specific manufacturers who produce clothing, which they claim “are designed to create class at the table”, or “to meet the special needs of poker players”. Which kind of makes us wonder, do poker players have special needs pertaining to their clothing, when playing poker, and if so, what are they exactly?

What we do know, is that there is definitely a certain way of dressing, which many poker players seem to adhere to, just watch them on the All Africa Poker channel on DSTV, and you will see for yourself.

Of course, every seasoned poker player has a cupboard full of logo’d wear already. Poker Chip T-Shirts or T-shirts with poker inspired phrases are at the order of the day, and let’s not forget the hoodies, hats, caps, visors and especially sunglasses … I mean, who can imagine the formidable Chris “Jesus” Ferguson staring down his opponents without his intimidating dark glasses under his black stetson? But there’s more than meets the eye with these sunglasses. “See all, but reveal nothing”, is how they are advertised by the suppliers. And indeed, many poker players purposefully wear glasses to prevent their competitors from reading them, although most swear that it actually makes no difference at all, as the rest of the body language normally gives them away anyway. Greg “Fossilman” Raymer has his legendary reptile eye sunglasses, which you can purchase from his website.

Some say that many poker players can be recognized from a distance, simply because of their signature wear. So what are the thoughts of you poker junkies out there? Do you have any special needs, any preferences or signature style with regards to your poker clothing? Do you have a poker fashion style and what moves you to wear what you wear when you are playing poker?

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Category: WSOP 2007