David Williams - No Mucking Way

By David WIlliams

ABOUT 95 PERCENT OF THE TIME, I won’t show a hand if I don’t have to. I don’t want to give any information away for free, because when people have no clue how you work, that’s what gets them to do crazy things against you. But poker is all about playing the player, not just playing the cards, and if you know you can show someone something to get under their skin and it will make them play worse, then every now and then you should capitalize on that.

If I pulled off a bluff, I might like to needle the other player by showing it to him. Or maybe I’ll show my opponent one of my two cards, often the less significant card, just to make him wonder. I might show him a 3, just so he’ll say to himself, He raised me with a 3 in his hand?! When the other player is a target, someone whose head you can get into, then there are benefits to giving him that free information.

Here’s an example from an early-round hand at the World Poker Tour World Championship at the Bellagio in April: I had 10-7 and I raised from an early position, making it look like I had a big hand. The board came up K-9-7, giving me bottom pair, and I fired the flop, and one opponent called. On the turn came an A, so I bet it even bigger, hoping he’d think I had an A, and he called again. Then the river came a 7, and I bet it even bigger, because I now had trip 7s, which I was pretty sure was the best hand. The other guy folded. And I showed him my 10. So he was thinking, Did this maniac have pocket 10s and jam the whole way with an ace and a king up there, or did he have A-10, and how could he bet A-10 with a board of K-9-7? The guy just sat there thinking, What did you have? No clue I had 10-7. He couldn’t figure me out, and he just kept thinking about it, and it wore on him.

There’s something to be said for just mucking all the time, but there’s also something to be said for finding ways to create confusion and get guys on tilt. You establish yourself as an unpredictable player, so they just have no clue where you are and they always have to worry, What the hell does Dave have? He could have anything at any time!

It’s ironic, but you can make yourself harder to read by giving your opponent a little bit more information. And if he gets confused and angry, then you’ve put yourself at a huge advantage.