Excerpt from "Secrets of Professional Tournament Poker"
We have an exclusive excerpt from a classic book by former PokerStrategy.com coach Jonathan Little for you today.
Most things that happen in a normal poker game should not be taken personally. Most professionals know this, but most amateurs still feel that poker is a personal game. Luckily for us, there is a way to exploit this.
Most players try to get under their opponent’s skin, making him dislike them so much that he makes poor plays.
I try to do the opposite. I try to make my opponents like me, especially the ones I will play the most pots with. I do this by making small talk and being generally pleasant.
It is important to realize how people will respond to playing against their newfound friends. Some players ignore the fact that we are friendly and play like we don’t know each other, which they should.
Some players, the ones I will exploit, start playing very straightforwardly against their new friends. This will allow me to run them over.
If your new friend is on your right, re-raise him often and claim to have a big hand when he asks what you are doing. If he’s on your left, you can expect him only to re-raise you with a premium hand.
He will also rarely try to put a play on you post-flop. If one of your new friends does re-raise you, tend to give him credit if he’s been tight against you so far.
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Then for you psychology fans we have 
Very few people will put a play on you in the middle of a conversation. If you and the player on your left are talking about his new house when you decide to raise, if he re-raises you, he will almost always have a premium hand. If you stop talking to each other for around 15 minutes, the play generally reverts back to normal.
Because of this, you should generally talk about more detailed subjects toward the end of the day when the blinds will be highest. Another time to bring out the chattiness is when you are short-stacked. If you only have 10BBs left, you will usually be stealing.
You can make a comment like, “I am only going to go all-in with a big pair or aceking.”
Obviously this isn’t true, but many people, especially your new friends, will believe it and give you credit for a big hand when you push.
One other thing I do often comes up when a player is constantly trying to either re-raise me or steal my blinds. If someone raises my blind two or three times in a row, I will usually say something like, “You are going to steal my blinds every time, huh?”
This is usually enough to let them know I am going to start playing back at them, whether it is true or not. Getting an extra walk deep in a tournament can be enormously valuable.
This is an excerpt of Secrets of Professional Tournament Poker by Jonathan Little. Check out all the books written by our coaches over at our Poker Books page.
