College Football- Mad Plays
Have you ever been astounded, amazed and simply flabbergasted by some of the outrageous plays that can turn around a game? These mad plays are what keep college sports fans constantly glued to the screen or field of play and coming back for more. In major league sports, these plays are hardly ever used but in college it is what keeps the game interesting.
Just like in college sports poker players also use a number of strategies and trick plays to take their opponents off their game; see if you can spot some of the similarities between the two below.
The Deceiver
Some of the most inventive deceptive plays are found in college football like the flea flicker, the Statue of Liberty and even the fake field goal. All these plays are meant to do one thing and one thing only: deceive the opponent. By playing a conservative game or making traditional plays most of the time, it allows a team the option for an all-out deception play once in a while. While they do not work all the time, when they do it is a play that many remember for years to come. One such play was the David Colt fake field goal of the LSU Tigers against the South Carolina gamecocks in the 2007 championship game, on third down where placeholder Flynn lobbed the ball blind over his shoulder and into Colt’s hands, where he ran for 15 yards untouched for a touchdown.
One of the most often used poker strategies for deceiving opponents is the slow play. Deception in poker is just as important as it is in other competitive sports. If you played predictably every hand, your opponents will know your playing style and be able to beat you by adjusting their own play. By using deception, such as the slow play, you can quickly knock your opponent off their game and keep them guessing. A slow play is playing a hand and showing weakness, such as limping in, min betting or calling. Generally your actual hand is either very strong or has a high potential to become a strong hand, thereby deceiving your opponents and having a chance at a big pot when you make your move later in the hand.
Physical Prowess
In all manner of college sports there are physical prowess plays that simply amaze any that watch. From the college football player that can out run their opponents and leap over the pile to make a play, to college basketball players that can force a dunk through a crowd. In any of these situations it is the player’s pure physical prowess and domination over their opponent that shows their amazing skill and ultimately leads to a win.
Of course in poker this is often referred to as simply having cajones. If your opponent four bets a pot and you know they are bluffing and call their bets to a showdown and win; you have the mental fortitude to play this game, similar to the physical prowess of athletic sports. Alternately this could also include you being the bluffer and four betting your opponent to make them fold the better hand.
Data Cruncher
With the advent of the computer age using statistics, watching play footage and generally crunching numbers, this provided many college sports teams with an advantage. Schools that consistently focus on the data, analytics, and watching play footage on their opponents are often able to take advantage of weaknesses in their opponent’s games.
This is just as true in the online poker world where learning how to keep track of your opponents’ chip stacks, their betting history at your table, and what hands they have played provides a much more complete picture and enables better decisions for skillful play. Knowing hand rankings and their potential and your opponent’s playing range can help you understand whether they are playing loose, tight, passive or aggressive.
There are many more similarities between college sports as a physical activity and strategy or skill games such as poker than you may think.
