EVENTS THAT CAN TIGHTEN UP A TABLE
Fun games tend to be loose games.
Most people play poker because it’s fun, and when they’re having fun, they tend to play a lot of hands.
Such games tend to have a lot of table banter, joking back and forth among the players.
Anything that is likely to interject a note of seriousness or discord into this banter will likely cause many of the players to tighten up,at least temporarily.
Often the table banter is being driven by a single, jovial, fun-loving player.
Everyone may be joining in the fun, but it’s that one player who’s been driving it.
In such a situation, game conditions can change immediately if the jovial player leaves the game.
He doesn’t actually have to leave for this to happen.
Anything that might cause a change in his mood tends to cause a change in mood for the table.
Things like a particularly beat or another player slow-rolling him on the river might cause it.
Even a business-related phone call on his cell phone might cause it.
There is a good chance the table will tighten up if one of the more loose-aggressive players at the table is distracted, maybe eating, maybe talking to a cocktail waitress, he just got a call on his cell phone,a friend of his walked up to the table, or any one of a number of possible distractions.
This is because loose players tend to be attracted to pots that have a loose-aggressive player active in the pot.
Even loose players who don’t do much raising often seem to enjoy competing in a pot where they know someone will be raising with probably weak hands.
If that player is distracted and not involved temporarily, the other loose players will tend to pass.
Pick the Right Table / Picking a Seat / Theories of Poker / Betting Theory: The Odds
A Theory of Starting Hand Value
A Theory of Flop Play: Counting Outs and Evaluating Draws
Table Image / Player Stereotypes
Women and Poker / Spread-Limit Games / Double Bet on the End Games / Kill Games
Short-handed Games / Tournaments / No-limit and Pot-Limit Poker
