Last time we led with a bar bet, and let’s do that again. Challenge your friend to pick a number between one and ten, while you do the same – bringing raised fingers up from under the table at the same time works quite well – and bet her the next round that your two picks will multiply together to an even number. The catch? You always pick an even number; no matter what number she picks, you can’t lose. Note: This is a fairly easy trick to unravel, so it helps if your friend is already squiffy when you start.

Enough frivolity, let’s get down to work. Last time we talked about patterns of deception, and the need to recognize and counteract these patterns in your foes’ play. Fortunately, many poker players will do you the favor of being so routine and predictable in their style that you can assign labels or nicknames to them, and devise general strategies for taking them off their coin. Since I never use a one-syllable word when a three-syllable word will do, I call these styles archetypes, and rank them here according to the level of difficulty they present.

TIGHTY TIGHTERSON: As the name implies, a Tighty Tighterson is a fairly tight player who carries over his habits of selective, hit-to-win fullhanded poker into his shorthanded games. He fails utterly to realize that aggressiveness is the key to shorthanded success, and his lack of aggressiveness is your key to controlling and defeating him. Simply take his actions at face value. When he has a hand, he bets; when he doesn’t, he folds. Check-raising with a monster is about the limit of his deceptive capabilities; big bluffs are beyond him. With this in mind, feel free to attack him whether you have a hand or not, for he’ll only play back at you when he really has the goods.

CALLY WALLY: A Cally Wally is out of his depth in a shorthanded game, because he knows that he has to play a lot more hands, but he doesn’t quite know how. Timid by nature, he becomes weak-loose in shorthanded play, which is a disaster for him, but a profit opportunity for you. Recognize the Cally by the infrequency of his raises. Like his Tighty cousin, he’s a “get the goods, then bet the goods” type who shouldn’t give you too much trouble. Paradoxically, Cally Wallies are often preflop-loose, postflop-tight. They’ll limp with almost anything, but fold when they don’t connect to the flop (which, of course, most of the time they won’t). Against such a player, simply dial down your preflop raises and dial up your postflop pressure. He’ll contribute dead money in hand after hand after hand.

SERIAL DATER: A Serial Dater is a blend of Cally Wally and Tighty Tighterson, being a slightly more aggressive version of the former preflop and a slightly looser version of the latter postflop. Serial Daters have a problem with commitment. They’ll splash around in a lot of pots for cheap, but when the price gets too high, they’ll head for the hills. If they don’t head for the hills, you can be sure that they’re in there with something – and that they’ll likely overvalue just how strong that something is. For example, while it’s true that middle pair, top kicker is a strong hand shorthanded, your typical Serial Dater might do you the favor of betting that hand, and then betting it again, into your top pair holding. To beat her, then, either put pressure on her to drive her off her bad hands, or lay back and let her bet into you with her fair hands when you’ve got something strong.

LOCATION STATION: A Location Station loves position. Worships it, in fact. Preflop, you’ll find her surrendering her blinds and folding under the gun, because she hates to play hands out of position. On the other hand, her raising requirements are very liberal when she has the button or the cutoff seat. To compete effectively against this player, consider her early position bets to represent strong hands, and her late position bets to represent pure cheese. Attack her blinds liberally, since she hates to defend, and defend your own blinds more often than you would against, say, a Tighty Tighterson. Since the Location Station believes that position trumps card strength, she’ll frequently get out ahead of her hands with late position bets – bets she’ll often feel constrained to reinforce with continuation bets on the flop. If you call along from the blind and hit your hand, you can check-raise her continuation bets and either take down the pot right there or get her on the hook for more chips on later streets.

DR. OVERBITE: Ah, the good Doctor, how she loves to overbet the pot. Not just overbet, but overbet big. This move tends to work quite well – until it catastrophically fails. Dr. Overbite will open-raise for something like eight or 10 times the big blind, knowing that her foes aren’t getting the right price to call or defend their blinds. Most of the time she wins without a fight – but when someone else has a hand, she gets killed! The way to beat Dr. Overbite is to get inside her head. Since she knows that her grandstand overbets generally force folds, she’s very respectful of reraises, and very suspicious of flat calls. You can bluff her successfully just by using these moves sufficiently infrequently that she credits you with a real hand. Fortunately, the size of her overbet is so large that you can afford to surrender lots of blinds, mix it up with her only rarely, and still come out way ahead. Of course, you can also trap her with your hidden big hands, but that’s just gravy: Most of your profit comes from the fact that she way over-invests preflop, and then surrenders in the face of real or apparent strength.

BENBUCKS: BenBucks is the toughest foe you’ll face. He’s aggressive, creative, and unafraid. He loves to play in big pots, and loves to use big bets to put other players’ feet to the fire. He doesn’t play his cards so much as his opponents. He reads patterns, and constantly adapts and adjusts. Strong, smart and attentive, he’s an altogether dangerous foe – really the only one you have to watch out for shorthanded. But do watch out! Once a BenBucks has you in his sights, he’s a difficult opponent to outthink and outplay. His one Achilles heel is his tendency to overestimate both his skill and the strength of his hands. He’s so used to having his way at the table that he leaves himself open to occasional traps. Trapping, therefore, is your best defense against a BenBucks. Limit your aggressiveness and just let him bet into you when you have the best of it. Sometimes, the best thing to do against BenBucks is just get out of his way. Go find some Wallies and Tighties to pick on and leave Ben to his business. There’s no shame in leaving a game when you’re outclassed, and if you’re up against a BenBucks and you’re not one, too, that’s likely to be what you are

Well, there you have it, a quick overview of the types of foes you’ll face in shorthanded play. To defeat them, simply combine your analytical skills with their revealed weaknesses to build an appropriate strategy, viz:

• TIGHTY TIGHTERSON – Use his timidity against him. Pummel him with raises, but if you’re beat… retreat.

• CALLY WALLY – A loose caller is not necessarily a loose bettor. When Cally bets, consider getting out of his way. Otherwise, value bet him to death!

• SERIAL DATER – Don’t be scared off by preflop aggression. You can often take the pot away on the flop – whether you hit it or not.

• LOCATION STATION – Much as she loves position, she won’t throw away bets recklessly. She’s a loose raiser in position, but if she calls, assume she has something she likes.

• DR. OVERBITE – Lie in wait. The more successful her overbets are, the more liberally she’ll use them. Win pots by trapping with good hands or resteal bluffing with bad ones.

• BENBUCKS – Find other targets. Remember, “Don’t challenge strong players, challenge weak ones. That’s what they’re there for.”

One final caveat: There’s a real danger in seeking to categorize your foes too firmly. Try to put everything into pigeonholes, all you’ll end up with is a bunch of squished pigeons. It’s quite possible, for example, to find someone who’s a Cally Wally preflop, but a Tighty Tighterson from the flop forward. Also, of course, people will shift their game according to their mood, stack size, level of tilt, or phases of the moon. So analyze and categorize your foes in order to play against them most effectively, but don’t let your analysis blind you to what’s real. That’s worse than no analysis at all.