The object of poker is to win money, and you do this by making positive “expected value” (EV), which is just the average outcome. Pros frequently do some little thing to catch a bit of extra EV per hour for minimal effort. Each little thing might be worth only pennies per hour, but the pennies add up once you are doing a lot of them.
Spread Your Blinds.
Spread out the chips you put in for the blinds. This way the dealer won’t toss one of your cards into the stack of chips, causing it to tip over and the hand to be declared a misdeal, which would waste valuable time. Had a pro named David not pointed this out to me, I wonder if I would be wasting time to this day. Also, you should place bets out in the middle of the table, so that the dealer does not have to waste time leaning far over or asking you to push the bets in. The dealer will also greatly appreciate this.
Time Your Breaks.
In stud you can leave any time, but in hold’em leaving for a minute usually means missing the blinds. I think it’s too costly to make up the blinds after the button, since some of the money is dead. I usually just take a break for a full lap, but if the game is very juicy or if I’m paying time, I may dash out a hand before my under-the-gun hand. In a $20-$40 hold’em game, this hand is worth about $2.25 in a tough game. You can leave a bit earlier if you look at your first card and it’s a card you wouldn’t play, like a 6 or less in a tough game. Just push it in slightly and leave before your second card is dealt. This may allow you to get back before the hand is done, or at least before the big blind passes you.
Negotiate to Avoid Revealing Your Cards.
Exposing your hand at the end gives away information. Instead, if called, and you have AQ high, first tell your opponent that you have no pair, then if he doesn’t turn over his hand, tell him you have ace high, then if he doesn’t turn over his hand, you can finally give up and turn it over. Usually your opponent will cooperate by participating in this process. It does consume time, but not much, and I think it’s worth it.
Put Maniacs to the Right, Rocks to the Left.
You want unpredictable aggressive opponents to your right, so you can know what they are doing before you have to decide on your action. You know what rocks are usually going to do—they will usually fold—so you want them on your left. However, for the seat immediately to your right, you want a very tight and/or passive player in a tight game, so that you don’t automatically face a raise when it’s folded around to the button. Conversely, if you really fear someone in a tight game, it’s better to have them immediately behind you than two spots behind you, so that when you raise on the button you don’t so often have to play against that player. (However, it’s best to have players you fear on the opposite side of the table, to minimize the number of confrontations.) Seat selection actually is a very important point, but so many ignore it, or choose based on superstition, that I felt I should mention it here in the finer points.
Scoot Your Butt Left.
When a seat opens up immediately to your left, scoot your butt into it, everything else being equal. By the end of the night, you may have made a full lap of the table, which is worth about the amount of the blinds. Many pros go a step further, placing a chip to lock up the seat, and waiting to see who the new player will be, before deciding whether they prefer to be on the left or right of this player.
Look at Your Opponents.
When the first two cards are dealt, or the flop, turn, or river card is dealt, you should be looking at your opponents for tells. Sometimes I can put an opponent on an exact hand, like AA or even AJo, before the flop, just based on his tells. More often I get a tell of the general strength of the hand. Even if you rarely get useful information, when you do, it’s often extremely valuable.
Look for Klingon Brow Ridges.
A very common tell is the scrunching together of the forehead between the eyes after you bet or raise. If someone looks like one of the new klingons, they are probably concerned. You might be able to push them off their hand, but be careful, they are likely thinking of calling you down with a marginal hand, though they feel rather ill about it. A safer response is to value bet or raise with your not so marginal hands. This tell seems especially common among women. It’s rarely an act, unlike sighs, shoulder slumping, headshaking, or ttttch sounds, which are acts of weakness meaning they are actually strong.
Wait Until Your Turn to Look at Your Cards.
When you get your initial cards, wait until it’s your turn to look at them, but have them ready to spread quickly. This prevents others from getting fold/call/raise tells on you before the flop. Of course, conceal your cards while peeking and protect them with a stack of chips once you have made your play, securing them with a hand in the meantime. (Protecting hole cards isn’t usually done in stud, but don’t let this stop you.) Memorize your hole cards, exactly, to avoid slowing down the game and giving away tells. More generally, always wait until the opponent before you has given a binding indication of his action before you give any hint of your intention, even if you intend to fold. For example, if an opponent bets, and a second opponent comes out with a huge stack of chips, wait to see if he is calling or raising (or even folding, if the cardroom allows this move) before you move a muscle.
Come Armed for Bear.
Bring lots of chips to the table, like two racks. Not only can this allow you to establish an intimidating presence, but also it allows you to sell chips to other players, to help keep the game going and the players gambling chips instead of money. I usually then call for a chip runner to turn the bills back into chips to maintain my chip intimidation factor. If you lose more than a rack, but think you should stay in the game, quietly buy a couple more racks.
Put Your Name on the Transfer List.
You might as well put your name on the transfer list, even if you are in a good game now. You never know when your game may suddenly become bad.
Keep Your Chips Racked.
If your casino allows it, keep your chips in racks. This allows you to quickly move to a more advantageous seat should one open up.
The thing about such a list is that it can never be complete. There’s always one more thing you can do to improve your expected value, and perhaps the above will inspire you to find other ways. Good luck, or more properly, good expected value.