Live poker is a game played by all from a casual businessman to a seasoned online poker player. But when you are sitting in a poker room in India, it becomes difficult to guess the poker expertise level of the player. Following are the signs that can help you spot a professional poker player at your table:
Alcohol Consumption
This is the most easiest way to identify a poker pro. If your opponent is having alcohol like a beer or a double jack, you can count him out of pro list because professional poker players do not consume alcohol while playing the game at Indian poker rooms.
Chip Stacking
How a player stacks his chips can help you spot the poker pro? A novice player hardly pays any attention to chip stacking. Moreover, many new players stack big chips behind the small chips and this is incorrect as per the poker rules. While poker pros place higher denomination chips in the front and not hide them behind lower ones because as per poker rules higher denomination chips should be visible.
Emotions
While playing live poker tournaments in India, you will come across many amateur players who actually get excited and overjoyed when they receive strong hole cards or when they hit the flop. You can witness it in their behavior. On the contrary, professional poker players are usually patient and do not over-react in such situations, and moreover prefer to be quiet and conversing with their opponents on the poker table. Moreover, they do not get upset with bad beats and bad run of cards or get thrilled after winning a big pot. Thus, ability to control emotions is the strongest advantage that poker pros have on new players.
Hole Cards
The players who are new to poker are customarily eager to see their hole cards as soon as the cards are dealt which gives off tells to their opponents on the table. While poker professionals do not see their hole cards right away but wait for their turn to arrive. In the mean time, they observe the game moves of other players on the live poker table.
Age
Age is the other factor that can help you determine whether the player is a professional or an amateur. You will usually find mature players on medium and high stakes tables while amateur players on low stake tables. Moreover, if you see a kid sitting across the high-stakes table, then he is definitely not an experienced player and is playing poker just for fun.