Matt Damon kicks off Rounders, perhaps the greatest poker movie ever made, with an iconic opening line that holds a deep lesson for every aspiring poker professional:
Here’s the thing — if you can’t spot the sucker in your first half hour at the table, then you are the sucker.
If Matt Damon is right and every table has its sucker, then it makes sense for us as poker players to learn how to spot them, not only to try to exploit them, but to make sure we ourselves are not that sucker.
With that in mind, here are three things to look for when trying to spot the mark at the poker table and how to avoid becoming them.
Sign 1: Poor Hand Selection
Opens J9o in early position? Sucker.
Limps A3o from middle position? Sucker.
Calls a raise in the small blind with T6s? Sucker.
When an opponent proves to you that they like to play a lot of hands and are not overly concerned with position or previous action, your sucker spidey senses should begin to tingle. Unless they’re playing far below their level, or are Phil Ivey, there are very few players in the world who can play overly wide preflop ranges profitably. So when you see it happen, watch closely and look for more evidence that they’re the mark at the table. If they’re making mistakes in hand selection preflop, they’ll likely make even bigger ones after the flop.
Adjustment: Generally speaking, the way to beat a weak player who refuses to fold preflop is to aggressively isolate their preflop limps, 3-bet their preflop raises, and apply a lot of pressure throughout each hand. However, figuring out exactly what type of “sucker” they are will help you decide exactly which approach to take. Let’s look at the two most common types.
Sign 2: Folding Too Often to Pressure
Folds to a high number of c-bets? Sucker.
Rarely puts up a fight blind versus blind? Sucker.
Constantly folds on the river after checking back the turn? Sucker.
Fit-or-fold players will make your life easy as a poker player. They’re both too passive to properly challenge aggression, and too predictable to be threatening. Although WSOP highlight reels make it look like every hand is a monster, the reality of poker is that it’s relatively hard to make a good hand. Wherever you find a player who is unable to put up a good fight with marginal or even weak holdings, look upwards and thank the heavens for your good fortune.
Adjustment: Once again, the trick is to attack this player relentlessly. The only difference between the fit-or-fold player and the poor hand selection player is that against the former, you need to recognize that if they’re betting aggressively or calling multiple streets, trying to bluff them in all but the most perfect spots (for example, when the flush overcard comes in on the river), will be money suicide. So C-bet liberally, double-barrel more often, and target their blinds with impunity until they give you a reason to stop.
Sign 3: Overplaying Weak Hands
Refuses to fold no matter the bet size?
Sucker (maybe).
Hero-calls top pair on a four-flush board? Sucker (maybe).
Pays off a big river bet with ace-high? Sucker (maybe).
Overplayers don’t know when to slow down. They’ll hang on to their marginal hands to the bitter end and convince themselves they could be ahead even when the board and action should be screaming danger. They are the perfect opponents to get max value with all your good holdings and should rarely be slow-played against.
However, a word of caution before you go blasting off your chips with second pair because you got hero-called: make sure your opponent’s behavior isn’t just reserved for hands against you—otherwise, you might be giving off a tell, or worse, have been marked as the sucker yourself.
Adjustment: Against calling-stations, you want to aggressively value-bet your holdings with an expanded range of hands and make sure to remain mindful of bluffing them only in ideal spots, since they’ll often find an excuse to call. To extract maximum value against them, size up your bets and force them to pay for their stubbornness.
Now that you know what to look for, see if you can spot the sucker the next time you sit at the poker table; if 30 minutes have passed and you still haven’t figured it out, take Matt Damon’s advice and request a seat change…because it might be you.
Will Watson is a writer, poker player and enthusiastic student of the human mind.
Contact me at: willwatsonpoker@gmail.com
