How To Spot The Sucker At The Poker Tables!
Quickly Spotting The Worst Players At The Poker Tables Will Ensure You Are In A Position To Win As Much As Possible From Them!
There is an old saying in popular poker culture: ‘If you can not spot the sucker at the poker table within 20 minutes then you are the sucker”. Of course, this is for live play – you could probably say 5 or 7 minutes for the internet game. The saying definitely rings true, it is the inexperienced players who are the profit in most poker games – and if you can not spot one then you might just be the least experienced at your table.
This article looks at some of the ways that inexperienced players aka ‘suckers’ can be spotted. Once you have them identified then make sure you play as many hands as possible with them.
How To Spot The Poker Sucker #1 – Passive Play
Players who call, call and call some more in poker but rarely bet or raise without a monster hand are not going to last very long at all. If you see a player who limps, calls and then calls some more then they are either rich, the sucker at the table or have a genius-like read on the player doing the betting.
How To Spot The Poker Sucker #2 – Bet Sizes
Bet sizing in no limit games is often an easy give away. By betting 3 times the big blind or half the pot on the flop we manipulate the odds offered to opponents in the hope that they will make errors. New players bet too much, or too little at the wrong times. For example opening for 6 times the big blind will only see hands that beat you enter the pot. Pushing all-in on the flop will not make money because the hands you are beating will fold and the hand that beat you will often play. Minimum betting offers too good odds to your opponents and doing it often is a sure sign of a sucker.
How To Spot The Poker Sucker #3 – Predictable Bets
Experienced poker players love opponents who bet in predictable patterns. Opponents who always raise 4 times with medium pairs, 3 times with high aces and min bet with monsters (or some other combination) are both common and easy to spot. If you see someone who minimum re-raises only with Aces or Kings then you will often have a great opportunity to win their entire stack if you hit the flop hard enough – and can get away cheaply if you miss.
How To Spot The Sucker In Poker #4 – Position Awareness
Good poker players are very aware of the power of position. They play many more hands when last to act after the flop and will play them positively. Suckers will make inappropriate raises when first to act after the flop, raises which are often too small to chase opponents away, and will compound the error by making them with medium-strength hands. Spotting an opponent who is not position aware can be a profitable find!
How To Spot The Sucker In Poker #5 – Easily Dominated Hands
While there are many very good players who play a wide selection of starting hands, the types of hands you see opponents play will often reveal the sucker at the tables. Good players avoid hands which lead to difficult decisions after the flop – particularly when they are in early position. For example, if a player raises Ace-Seven and is called in 3 places what are they hoping to hit? Any Ace on the flop leads to danger of an opponent with a bigger kicker (side card) and pairing the 7 might mean an opponent beats them with an over-pair. This is an example of a hand which is easily dominated – these hands are often overplayed by the table suckers.
How To Spot The Sucker In Poker – Final Thoughts
Spotting the suckers becomes easy with practice – but what many (even experienced) players fail to realize is that some poker sites have a far bigger proportion of inexperienced opponents than others. We recommend the following as some of the best examples of places where spotting the sucker will mean keeping track of several on each table!!
Titan Poker Bonus Code = SNGPLANET
