How to Make Poker Fun

Every budding poker champion wants to learn from the best. If you hope to hold your own in a poker tournament, whether it's a $50 buy-in event at your local casino or the World Series of Poker, you want to take advantage of the factors that will contribute to your stack of chips and help you win.

Over the years, I have interviewed hundreds of poker players, from rank beginners to the major contenders in the WSOP, World Poker Open and other top tournaments around the world. One of the questions I ask these players deals with the types of players they would rather play against.

A common factor in their answers is that they want to play at a table where the players are relaxed and talk to one another. A silent table is a tough table to beat. A table where the players are talking and joking is not only much easier to beat, it provides more fun to the players.

One of my favorite tactics when I sit down at a table with players I have never played against before is to stand behind my chair before sitting down and comment, "This is the kind of table my mother warned me against, but here I am any how. Oh, well, let the game begin!''

Or I might approach a table and say to the dealer, loud enough so all the players hear me, 'W.C. Fields said all poker tables are made up of thieves, varlets, scoundrels and an occasional gentleman. It looks like this table fits his description pretty well.'

You would be amazed at the reaction I get from the players.

A couple might smile. One will scowl at his chips. And another player will laugh out loud and say, 'Which one are you?"

My response will vary, but the important thing is that I have established myself as somebody they notice is different. My quips open up the table to comments and before long, players are talking to one another. If I lose a pot, I might say, 'Lusky, lucky, lucky. Where did you hide the four-leaf clover?" Or if a player comes out betting and I don't have a calling or raising hand, I might say as I fold my hand, "I'm folding to that obvious bluff.'

Some poker players don't like talk at a poker table. It disturbs them and changes their game. A player with a lot of chips, for example, uses his stack to intimidate other players. They don't like to be singled out by a player who might make a comment as I did to such a player, 'You know, even without that mountain of chips, you'd be intimidating." In this particular case, the player weighed well over 200 pounds, wore shades and had a beard. The other players howled and the player I targeted seemed to shrink just a little.

Be relaxed at a poker table. Joke with the dealer. Ask him where he is from or how long has he been dealing.

Ask him to give the deck a 'bad beat shuffle.' In most cases, the dealer will accommodate you with a smile. You are controlling the conversation and the table talk, and it can only help your cause.

I always wear a black Stetson when I play poker. If there is a player wearing a hat sitting at the table, I will congratulate him. He will say, 'For what?" I'll respond, "When I came into this casino, I thought I had the coolest hat in the place, and you had to walk in"

Silly? Maybe it is. But psychologically it works. Try it yourself and watch your game -- and your earnings -- improve sharply.

Author: Geno Lawrenzi Jr.

(Geno Lawrenzi Jr. is an international journalist, magazine author and ghostwriter and poker player who lives in Phoenx, AZ. He has published 2,000 articles in 50 magazines and 125 newspapers. If you want to share a gambling story or book idea with him, send an email to glawrenzi@gmail.com ).