Has any else been watching the main event of the wored series of poker? If not, i will not include any spoilers. If you have, you probably know Will Kassouf, the British player who talks up a storm and puts pressure on his opponents using tactics like offering to show his cards, saying he has a big hand, and taking a ton of time to make his own decisions. It really seems to get under his opponent’s skin. At first, I thought Will was a terrible person and wanted to see him lose, but over time the other players gang up on him, and I became sympathetic because he wasn’t actually breaking any rules. Does anybody have any thoughts on Will, speech play in poker or the WSOP in general?
This type of play can work, not just live, but also in online poker. Just yesterday I was heads up at the end of an MTT and I noticed that when I raised preflop my opponent would often 3bet and get me to fold marginal hands. In order to affect their play and protect my raises, I said in the chat “you’ve been 3 betting too many hands, like 66%”. Because a realistic 3 bet range heads up is more like 25% or less. Two hands later I raised with A6, and instead of 3 betting small like they always did, my opponent shoved and I called. They had 95 and I won the tournament. While it may seem contradictory that telling him he was raising light caused him to raise even more, that is generally how people react in poker, by trying to prove their opponent wrong. So when he shoved, I inferred he didn’t have a real hand. A6 is not usually a good hand to call shoves with.