Poker Superstitions/Rituals.... What are yours? (1 Viewer)

[WedgeRock]

it's scented with Hops, Cannabis, Coffee, and Tobacco

Damn. Don't speed to/from the game... You don't want to get pulled over.

 

[Beakertwang]

Damn. Don't speed to/from the game... You don't want to get pulled over.

Sir, have you been drinking coffee flavored blunt beer this evening? Please step out of the car.

 

[arch3r]

Many people do this. Why wait until everyone is focused on you to check your cards? If also slows the game down, as @Gobbs' friend mentioned.

I hear ya. And I should be better at playing the action, instead of my cards, but when I see my hand, I usually decide right then and there what I am doing, regardless of the action in front of me. Bad habit that I need to break.

 

[daschuck77]

Sir, have you been drinking coffee flavored blunt beer this evening? Please step out of the car.

LOL!!! Luckily it doesn't smell I like drove through a liquor store after a Phish show. Kind of a mellow chocolately coffee smell. Very subtle. The stuff is called 'Four Vices'. We could add a 5th vice...Degenerate. If they could bottle the smell of fresh minty paulsons, I would wear it.

 

[SendThatStack]

I hear ya. And I should be better at playing the action, instead of my cards, but when I see my hand, I usually decide right then and there what I am doing, regardless of the action in front of me. Bad habit that I need to break.

Yeah thats pretty bad tbh. You should check em when you get them then watch the action ahead of you and adjust your plan as they make moves. Helps you to stay sharp and focused on the game.

Another thing I do thats not really a superstition but more of a habit to make is to always only check my hole cards once.

 

[arch3r]

Yeah thats pretty bad tbh. You should check em when you get them then watch the action ahead of you and adjust your plan as they make moves. Helps you to stay sharp and focused on the game.

Another thing I do thats not really a superstition but more of a habit to make is to always only check my hole cards once.

I know what I should do, but like I said, it's a bad habit. I see my hole cards and fall in love and then play my cards and not the table. I'm getting better at it, but I don't think I'll be quitting my day job anytime soon.

Edit: speling is hard.

 

[trever]

I have several "unlucky" hats which I refuse to wear to the poker table. No success so far in my search for a lucky one

 

[PlaidDragon]

I make it a point to never play with my cards exposed and stuck to my forehead.

I've done well with that.

 

[Gobbs]

Must admit, I'm also in the "do it when all the attention is on someone else's tells" corner. Just makes more sense.

Not really....if you can't control your initial reaction to your cards, you're pretty much doomed, anyway. Besides, you're still going to have to conceal your mental/emotional state when the action is on you, you've given people to your right the opportunity to pick up a tell (is he/she interested in playing this hand, not interested in playing this hand, etc.), and you're assuming nobody is looking at you when you look at your cards which may not be true.

I often am not looking at just the person whom the action is on, but the people to the right of that person, too. When action is on me, I'm looking to my left. Is anybody to my left looking to play the hand. That can dictate my action. If I see a couple people who look like they are ready to fold, I may play a more speculative hand. If I see somebody ready to put chips in the pot, I may smooth call pocket aces so I can call/raise. I love it when people look at their hands early. It can tell me a lot.

Also, don't forget....I'm looking at you on the flop. If you can't control your reactions when you initially look at your cards, you can't control it when you see the flop, either.

 

[Beakertwang]

Q

LOL!!! Luckily it doesn't smell I like drove through a liquor store after a Phish show. Kind of a mellow chocolately coffee smell. Very subtle. The stuff is called 'Four Vices'. We could add a 5th vice...Degenerate. If they could bottle the smell of fresh minty paulsons, I would wear it.

Sounds pleasant! If I could grow a proper beard, I’d give it a shot.

 

[Wils]

Not really....if you can't control your initial reaction to your cards, you're pretty much doomed, anyway.

Any edge is an edge. You're saying, "why bother making racing cars/golf balls/random sports item faster/lighter? If you need it made faster/lighter you're too slow/heavy to be playing that sport in the first place."

And yet the guys who make racing cars invest huge amounts of money in shaving off a fraction of a gram here, a fraction of a gram there.

In all honesty, it's whatever works for you.

 

[xblode]

I never touch the first card dealt to me till the second comes.
I never look at my cards till it's my turn to act.
10 4 diamonds is the nuts preflop and must be played accordingly.
I never play a hand if my mate Jimmy Vegas is in it. He is the cooler that coolers other coolers.
I mess up peoples stacks "splash pot" style if they have 23 towers of 5 high chips. This has nothing to do with this thread but it must be done to stamp out this sort of behaviour.

 

[WedgeRock]

I mess up peoples stacks "splash pot" style if they have 23 towers of 5 high chips. This has nothing to do with this thread but it must be done to stamp out this sort of behaviour.

Detroit Crew: heads up match between @xblode and Player X. Make sure it's deep with lots of chips. Over/under on how long until xblode goes on perma-tilt?

@detroitdad, @mike32, @Azcat, @Boother36, @Marc Hedrick, @Sprouty, @ThePunk know what I'm talking about.

EDIT: Player X stacks chips below rail level so he doesn't knock them over with his arms. Okay fine. Whatever. But he stacks, for example, T5 in stacks of 7, T25 in stacks of 5, T100 in stacks of 6, etc. Just random tower heights. If he is on the corner and doing well, he takes up a lot of real estate.

 

[xblode]

First big pot he wins and only AFTER he’s stacked them.

 

[WedgeRock]

I think we got the makings of a cage match! We need like a 10' table, tho, with @xblode and Player X on opposite ends. And yes, there must be a cage around the table. 2 men go in, only one comes out. No dedicated dealers.

BTW, Player X is also the Human Rain Delay. You will pause, being polite to give him time to ponder his action and he won't even know it's on him. And if he wins a pot and it's also his turn to shuffle or deal, well the cards wait until the mini-towers are set in place.

Unfortunately (fortunately?), Player X is a super nice guy, both at and away from the table. A seriously good person.

 

[Rhodeman77]

I have one major ritual I try to follow every game. Sometimes it I’m not able to, but most of the time I am able to. It’s call WIN!

Sometimes I’ll use a token of some sort for a card cap, sometimes just a chip from my stack. Sometimes I look at my cards as soon I have my hand, other times I wait. Sometimes I wear a hat, other times I don’t. Sometimes my stacks are all 20 high, sometimes I stack them all higher as long as they are even with each other.

I am at least consistently inconsistent!

 

[xblode]

Lol!!! If I can be allowed to leave the cage for “snacks” I accept this challenge.

All stacks not exceeding the height of the padded rail, shall be demolished.

 

[Gobbs]

Any edge is an edge. You're saying, "why bother making racing cars/golf balls/random sports item faster/lighter? If you need it made faster/lighter you're too slow/heavy to be playing that sport in the first place."

And yet the guys who make racing cars invest huge amounts of money in shaving off a fraction of a gram here, a fraction of a gram there.

In all honesty, it's whatever works for you.

That's not even close to what I said. If you want to use that analogy, I'm saying, if you have tells like that, worrying about when to look at your cards is like worrying about taking an ounce out of the front bumper when your back end weighs a ton. You have a lot more important things to worry about.

In all honesty, it's not whatever works for you. It's whatever doesn't work for your opponent. I love it when people look at their cards early because it gives me an advantage a lot of times. People looking at their cards early works for me. They may think it works for them, but it often doesn't.

Also, and maybe more importantly, while you're busy looking at your cards, you aren't looking at other people who may be acting. You're certainly not observing the table. I would rather do that when I'm least likely to miss something - which is during my turn. I'm confident enough that I don't mind people looking at me, but I certainly don't want to miss an opportunity to look at them.

Bottom line, if you're worried about people looking at you, you have something you need to work on.

 

[Beakertwang]

I don't look at my cards until action is on me. I always watch the table while everyone else is looking at their cards. I am unable to acquire any useful info, besides what action has taken place up till now, which is helpful. Try as I might, I can't tell if someone is playing J7o from mid position because he is bored, or if someone else has picked up rockets, and she is limping early to shove my 3BB raise from the cutoff. I suspect, however, that everyone else at the table can tell exactly what I'm thinking, and that's why I don't win.

As they say, if you can't tell who the sucker is...

 

[Marc Hedrick]

Detroit Crew: heads up match between @xblode and Player X. Make sure it's deep with lots of chips. Over/under on how long until xblode goes on perma-tilt?

@detroitdad, @mike32, @Azcat, @Boother36, @Marc Hedrick, @Sprouty, @ThePunk know what I'm talking about.

EDIT: Player X stacks chips below rail level so he doesn't knock them over with his arms. Okay fine. Whatever. But he stacks, for example, T5 in stacks of 7, T25 in stacks of 5, T100 in stacks of 6, etc. Just random tower heights. If he is on the corner and doing well, he takes up a lot of real estate.

 

[SendThatStack]

That's not even close to what I said. If you want to use that analogy, I'm saying, if you have tells like that, worrying about when to look at your cards is like worrying about taking an ounce out of the front bumper when your back end weighs a ton. You have a lot more important things to worry about.

In all honesty, it's not whatever works for you. It's whatever doesn't work for your opponent. I love it when people look at their cards early because it gives me an advantage a lot of times. People looking at their cards early works for me. They may think it works for them, but it often doesn't.

Also, and maybe more importantly, while you're busy looking at your cards, you aren't looking at other people who may be acting. You're certainly not observing the table. I would rather do that when I'm least likely to miss something - which is during my turn. I'm confident enough that I don't mind people looking at me, but I certainly don't want to miss an opportunity to look at them.

Bottom line, if you're worried about people looking at you, you have something you need to work on.

I seriously doubt that you can gain much useful info off of your opponents by watching them check their cards, and if you do, it is probably negated by seeing less hands per hours because of the action slowing down because you dont check your own hand until its on you. The other thing is that you can still quickly check your hand as soon as you get it then watch the rest of the table and that gives the added benefit of not having all eyes on you when you finally check your hand.

 

[upNdown]

I always make sure my cards are in the order they were dealt, before I peek. Very often when the second card is dealt, it slides under the first card. I always fix this egregious error before I peek. (I have to abandon this strategy when playing omaha, which probably explains why that game freaks me out so much.)

Also, those of you who never touch your cards before its your turn to act - you're making a real mistake. If a couple of cards stuck together and you actually have three cards, it's too late to correct that error once others have acted, and your hand is dead. ALWAYS make sure you have the right number of cards as soon as the pitching is done!

 

[upNdown]

I seriously doubt that you can gain much useful info off of your opponents by watching them check their cards, and if you do

You are wrong. Probably the most basic tell is that when somebody has two really good cards, they look very quickly. When their cards aren't so good, they look at them longer, to decide if they're worth playing.

 

[BGinGA]

Also, when looking early..... many players will cap their cards if planning on playing, but leave them uncapped if already planning on folding when action reaches them.

Not gonna tap in the glass any more, but there are a LOT of potential tells that can be picked up by watching players view their hole cards.

 

[trigs]

You are wrong. Probably the most basic tell is that when somebody has two really good cards, they look very quickly. When their cards aren't so good, they look at them longer, to decide if they're worth playing.

Also, swallowing/clenching jaw = big hand.

 

[upNdown]

Also, when looking early..... many players will cap their cards if planning on playing, but leave them uncapped if already planning on folding when action reaches them.

That's another good reason not to look at your cards until the action is on you. I only use a card protector when sitting in seats 1 or 10, so I'm not well practiced at avoiding card protector tells. So I just wait until it's my turn.

 

[SendThatStack]

You are wrong. Probably the most basic tell is that when somebody has two really good cards, they look very quickly. When their cards aren't so good, they look at them longer, to decide if they're worth playing.

Im not wrong, but even if I was, you can still check your cards quickly, then watch the rest of the table. And that tell would basically just tell you how close to the top half or bottom half of their range they are, not much more. The same reaction for AA could be for 55.

That's another good reason not to look at your cards until the action is on you. I only use a card protector when sitting in seats 1 or 10, so I'm not well practiced at avoiding card protector tells. So I just wait until it's my turn.

See here's your problem. You say there is so much to be gained by watching people check their cards, but at the same time you wait until all eyes are on you (and hold up the game) to check your own cards. You should use a card protector every hand until your hand is folded not just to avoid tells but to protect your hand, if you are making that mistake then you are probably making other mistakes/tells that you dont even know about. Just check both your cards when you get them.

 

[WedgeRock]

I only use a card protector when sitting in seats 1 or 10

You usually start a tournament with 35-40 card protectors and always have at least 1 until your last hand.

 

[Gobbs]

I seriously doubt that you can gain much useful info off of your opponents by watching them check their cards,

Isn't that a reason to wait until it's your turn to check your cards? If somebody can't get much info by watching you check your cards, but sure as heck can gain information after you've seen your cards, why check early? That would be dumb.

... and if you do, it is probably negated by seeing less hands per hours because of the action slowing down because you dont check your own hand until its on you.

My primary concern is doing what wins, not what speeds up the game by two seconds. If I have an obvious folding hand, I may have taken an extra two seconds. If I have an obvious betting/raising hand, I haven't taken any extra time by waiting to look when it's my turn because, either way, I'm going to wait the same amount of time, check the players to my left and right, etc. and make my perceived best play. If I have a marginal hand, I probably saved time by looking when it was my turn because I don't have to get rid of any pre-conceived moves I planned on making but that need to be changed because of action taken after I looked at my hand.

The other thing is that you can still quickly check your hand as soon as you get it then watch the rest of the table and that gives the added benefit of not having all eyes on you when you finally check your hand.

Didn't you just say above that you seriously doubted anybody can gain much by watching players check cards? So, how can you count it as a benefit here? You can't have it both ways. I completely agree with you, that watching somebody check their cards doesn't do you much good in most cases, but I guarantee you, people who have already checked their cards are giving tells a lot. In fact, I would say there are people who act almost criminally when they check their hands early by not protecting all players at the table. I can't tell you how many times I was contemplating calling a raise from the button or small blind and looked to my left to see one or two completely disinterested players. By watching them a few hands, you know this means they are folding...and you can make a much more informed decision.

 

[Gobbs]

Also, when looking early..... many players will cap their cards if planning on playing, but leave them uncapped if already planning on folding when action reaches them.

Not gonna tap in the glass any more, but there are a LOT of potential tells that can be picked up by watching players view their hole cards.

Dangit...I went out of my way not to mention that one!!!!