The title question is one asked by a sentry on guard duty to determine if the person approaching is a friend or foe. When an opponent checks, calls, or raises, do you just check, call or re-raise based upon your position and hand strength, or do you really attempt to understand what his action means?
A simple, innocuous check could mean one of several different dynamics are at work. Is your opponent checking because he is weak, hoping for a free card for his draw or is he attempting to trap you with a monster hand? Wow, a simple little check and it could mean almost anything. What if your opponent bets into you or check raises? Who goes there, friend or foe? The answer to that question is easy when playing poker... it is never a friend, always a foe!
Many players who believe they are quite cunning utilize all kinds of devious plays such as slow playing monsters to trap their opponents, raising on the flop to gain a free card on the turn for a draw, and checking the river in order to induce a bluff. Many of these same players never attribute their opponents' with the wisdom and moxie to perform in the same way.
There are other players that ascribe the exact qualities to their opponents as they themselves possess. Their narrow view of the rest of the world is... "This is how I think and act so everyone else must do the same thing too." Where do you stand on the spectrum of analyzing your various foes' thinking? It is paramount to winning play and it is why you have read about a bazillion times that learning your opponents' tendencies is so critical.
Let's look at just one deceptive play viewed in context of your opinion of your opponent. Slow playing a strong hand is very exciting to some, and when they spring the trap they find the rush of adrenalin to be euphoric. The question is how do you know if a player is slow playing or just weak? Do you believe the player in question is accomplished or just a duffer?
There are not that many situations where slow playing is the best course of action. One needs to believe he is way out in front and the texture of the board would support someone improving to second best status. Also, the pot should be small because large pots encourage calls anyway. Since poker is a game of incomplete information we need to make our best guess. However, attempt to make that guess an informed decision.
In trying to ferret out whether an opponent is slow playing or not, the two elements I look to are the previous history of his attempts to check raise and slow play strong holdings and my opinion of his overall skill level. The reason my perception of his understanding of the game is important is that it is rarely correct to slow play a strong hand and I am more inclined to put his check on weakness. Also, stronger players do not tend to offer free cards... they understand that aggression pays dividends.
We've determined that in poker "Who goes there" is always a foe because we are all competing to take each other's money. Our goal for today is to study our opponents to enable better, more informed decision making at the table. Put your fellow players on a scale of understanding and knowledge of the game to help identify what their actions really mean. This can be hard work but once it becomes part of your regimen it will become second nature.
See you next "TIME"
Tom "Time" Leonard has played poker in Atlantic City, Las Vegas, and California for more than 30 years and written about the game since 1994. Contact Tom at thleonard@msn.com.
