“Do they know something I don’t know?”

Write that question on a sticky note right now, and then listen to the podcast episode #498 as you follow along below:

We just returned from a month-long trip to Japan, and I got a ton of practice asking and answering “Do they know something I don’t know?”

This question helped me get around, learn new things, and made our trip in Japan a bit more fun and less stressful.

Driving in Japan

After our first week taking trains in Tokyo, we rented a car for 3 weeks. It’s a bit intimidating, driving on the left hand side of the street. However, I made a conscious decision as soon as I hopped behind that wheel to simply do what the other drivers on the road are doing.

So, when I first pulled into traffic, I just followed the other cars. Here’s the thing: I know what I know about driving in the United States on the right hand side of the road, but it’s a whole other ball game driving on the left hand side in Japan.

I was paying attention to how Japanese drivers were using their blinkers, how they turned left and right, how they merged through traffic and where they stopped at each intersection.

When I was coming up to an intersection and making a right turn, I slowed down and watched the cars ahead of me. I paid particular attention to those turning right, and I followed right along with them. When you’re used to driving on the right hand side, when you make a right turn, you can sometimes go too far to the right and end up on the wrong side of the road.

Also, when visiting a new temple or a new castle, I would follow the crowd. Maybe I thought I knew the right way, but if 10+ people are heading in another direction, that’s probably the way to go. And, more often than not, it was. They definitely knew something about the area I did not.

Visiting Okayama Castle

Follow Those Bikers!

One time, we were driving between Airbnb’s, and there was a group of bikers ahead of us. They turned off to the left at an unassuming spot, and I asked myself, “Oh, do they know something I don’t know?” I didn’t heed my gut feeling and kept driving. As we passed them, I saw they were heading to an awesome lookout over the bay.

I wish I had had the presence of mine to just follow them for a quick adventure because the view looked awesome. We could have had some cool pictures and just finding something fun and unexpected is one of the reasons we went to Japan. What a missed opportunity that was 🙁

Learn Something New From Winning Players

On the poker tables, I want you to try to learn from winners.

You’ve already made a sticky note with the question, “Does he know something I don’t know?”

Use it through your next few play sessions as you focus on the winning players at the table. You can often spot them by the plays they’re making, their timing, their bet/raise sizing their HUD statistics. There are loads of winning player indicators.

When you see something that seems weird to you, but might be “strategery” at work, ask yourself, “Does he know something I don’t know?” Things like:

• He cbet 1/4 pot on the flop then a 150% pot barrel on the turn.
• He keeps 3betting the player in seat 3.
• In two hands, he’s he’s checked the flop then made a delayed cbet on the turn and followed it with a river barrel. He won the pot both times without seeing showdown with this play.

Winning players could clue you in to actual strategies that you can use for yourself, but you need to pay attention to spot them.

Maybe Only 15%

We’ve all learned what we’ve learned and we know what we know, but we don’t know everything about poker.

For myself, I probably know about 15% of what poker has to offer. That’s why I’m constantly striving to learn more. I probably know 15% of cash games strategies and 15% tournament strategies. I probably only know 3% of PLO and maybe just 1% about the game of Razz.

So, I only know what I know, but I also know I can pick up on profitable strategies by watching winning players. Winners may or may not be studying as much as I am, but there’s a very good chance they’re studying things that I am not studying. They probably watch other coaches and content creators, so they’re exposed to strategies I haven’t been exposed to… yet.

Looking for winning plays is a great exercise to get those gears turning in your mind, but you have more to do once you spot a potential winning play.

Figure It Out

Next you have to figure out for yourself why it works. Whip out Flopzilla Pro for this. Put him and his opponent on ranges. Think about his bet sizes and what they mean for his range (use your hand reading skills).  What message is he sending with the sizes he chooses and the plays he makes? What does his image tell his opponents? How is he getting away with all those value bets and the bluffs?

If you can’t figure out what he’s doing and why it’s working, then resort to doing some Google or YouTube searches for strategy content:

• “Turn overbet strategies”
• “Who to target for bluff 3bets”
• “Delayed cbet strategies”

Review his showdown hands to see the logic he used for his decisions through the hand. If you play on Ignition Poker, download the hole cards revealed hands 24 hours later and analyze every decision he made knowing what he held.

Once you’ve figured out why his plays work, practice them for yourself.