MY SPECIAL SLIGHT-OF -HAND

What with this being an election year in the United States, I felt it would be helpful to share with you a special strategy that I use sometimes in low-limit fixed Holdem games.  I call it the "Politician Method", which is really very simple…….win the confidence of the people, then steal them blind!

Sometime during the past year, I saw a story about this guy who worked at a large bank.  He brought his lunch every day, and usually had three or four bottles of soda with him.  Anyway, every Friday, he would collect all his empty bottles and carry them out of the bank, usually in three or four brown paper shopping bags.

Our hero did this for about a year, and on his final day, a Friday, of course, he walked out of the bank with three or four brown shopping bags filled with CASH…lots of it!  The bills were all of very large denomination, unmarked, and untraceable.  I do not know if he was ever found, but I do know this……he worked this method perfectly.

Realize what this dude pulled off, and you can see the analogy to Poker.  First, he gained the confidence of his co-workers, who thought nothing of seeing him leave work every Friday, toting his bags of bottles.  They just took it for granted.  Then, of course, he pulled off his act of piracy and nobody blinked an eye.

This, then, is not a bad method to keep in mind if you wish to steal some chips from your unwary opponents.  So, how do you accomplish this???

Glad you asked!  The very first thing that is necessary, especially in very low limit games, is to gain the confidence of your adversaries (in poker, we call it respect.)  We do this by only playing premium or semi-premium starting hands, from advantageous position.  After you've shown down three or four winners with your big hands, you should have very little problem swiping a few hands with some bets that are…..lets say "less than honest".

If you are successful, don't try it again for a while…you don't want to spoil the confidence you worked so hard to create.

Win a few, then put your 5-2 offsuit to work again…..you will be driving the action, and most will not want to have anything to do with you.

Of course, there is always the chance that someone will call, and if that happens, you will have to back off.  Then again, there is always the chance that your 5-2 off will be greeted with a flop of 5-5-2! 

Hey, we can dream, can't we?

I'm Coach Don…..time for me to fold.  I'm out.