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The first rule given to a beginner learning about poker tells is this: When a player acts strong, he is weak. And when a player acts weak, he is strong. Sometimes, playing poker by the book can mean rewriting the pages yourself. So I am going to talk to you about a play called “the weak lead.”
The weak lead is the physical poker tell equivalent Of a reverse tell. When you know a player is what I like to call “book smart,” or a student of the game, you can often take the fact that he has some knowledge of poker and use that knowledge against him. Knowing that he thinks weak means strong and strong means weak, you can sometimes pull a move out of your arsenal that involves thinking about what he’s thinking and then outthinking his thought. Confused yet? Well, stay with me, because this play is as good as money in your pocket if you can pull it off. Let’s look at a quick example:
You’re heads up in a pot where the blinds are 25/50 and the button raised small to 125. The small blind folds and you call from the big blind with J-9 of spades to see a flop of 9-J-6.
Now normally your first thought in this situation would be to check over to the pre-flop raiser who’s in position, throwing out your fishing line to hook a continuation bettor for a check-raise. Now, while this is a standard play, you know that nowadays in poker, varying your play and mixing it up a bit is going to help elevate your game to another level.
So we are going to try the weak lead. The pot is 275. Bet out a small amount, somewhere between 100-125. Your opponent may shoot you a confused look, or a “?” in the chat box if you’re playing online, because this play often makes people think. That means that the play worked. You successfully made your opponent think that something is fishy; but more often than not, he will interpret your play to mean that you’re either trying to get away with seeing a cheap turn card or taking a stab at the pot because you think you might have a shot at taking it down. Now you have your opponent is right where you want them.
The good thing about this play is that it can work against both a large and a small stack. The small stack might view this bet as trying to bully him off the pot and reraise you. The large stack might view the bet as weak and figure that he has enough chips to make a substantial raise and get you off your likely bluff. This is when you re-pop him and let him know that weak means strong, just like the books said, and take the pot when your opponent realizes he was duped.
Although this play seems so simple, it is highly effective against not only short-or-large-stack opponents, but against both beginning and sophisticated players as well. While beginner players tend to read weak leads as weak and attempt to make their own tricky play, not knowing that you have them crushed, the play can also be used effectively against stronger opponents.
When you weak lead against a good player, the strategy just adds another layer to your play. The experienced player will sniff out your weak lead as strong most of the time, and will either just call your bet to see another card or fold outright to a bet much smaller than the average bet it would take to get an opponent to lay down his hand. You can use this knowledge to see a cheap turn card on a draw, or you can bluff! However, you can use the bluff weak lead only against thinking opponents, because they will almost always outthink themselves and leave you with a hand won for a very small amount of chips risked, which is why it’s okay if the plan backfires.
So by the standard for poker tells, weak still does mean strong, but an actual bet is a lot harder to ignore than a reverse tell that you put out physically with a goofy facial expression or a shaking hand. This move tends to work especially well in online tournaments, just because of the natural aggression that opponents display. But the move can translate profitably in live tournaments as well.
However, too much of a good thing can leave you with a bad ending – and bad endings in poker will leave you broke. Remember, any new poker play you add to your poker arsenal should be implemented in moderation. Try it out, and I’ll see you on the felt.
Josh Arieh is a Team Bodog Pro and Bodog Nation Contributing Writer. Considered one of the best all-round tournament poker players, Arieh has won two World Series of Poker bracelets (2000 WSOP Limit Hold’em and 2005 WSOP Pot-Limit Omaha) and has earned more than $4 million in tournament winnings. Known for his aggressive, high-pressure, pedal-to-the-metal style, Arieh routinely plays at his own table in the Bodog Poker Room.
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