Stereotypes and poker - Part 4 of a 116 part series on "Better Know a Poker Player"*

Part of my multi-part series of "Better Know a Player"- the 116 part series on racism and stereotyping those around you*, I continue with 3 new stereotypes: the Indian guy, the European foreigner and the white trash guy.  Enjoy it, or ignore it as blatant racism.  You choose!

The Indian player (the guy from the Asian subcontinent, not the wah wah wah / feather type)

For whatever reason, I've been seeing an influx of Indian poker players burst onto the poker scene.  Perhaps I was blind to it before, but it seems that poker has grabbed hold of the Indian culture.  These players, much like your run-of-the-mill white guy, are hard to fit into a box.  They're modest gamblers, sometimes downright degenerate, but for the most part, intelligent, much like their young, Asian internet- kid counterparts from the same area of the world.  I can't really describe a pattern here, because there is such tremendous variability.

The verdict: Let your own eyes and their actions determine how to proceed.  Frequent raises could signify a string of good hands, or tendency to gamble.  Beware and take mental note.

The foreigner; European

Downright awful.  These guys will pay you off and will be happy about it.  They've seen poker on TV and sometimes can play it in their originating country.  The expression "In the land of the blind, the one eyed man is King," comes to mind when describing these players.  In other words, you have a continent filled with fish  and no King to take their money or school them.  Bad play begets bad play and they bring it to America with them.  Oh to be playing cash games throughout Europe...  Easy peasy.
It should be noted that there are a few Gus Hansen- type Euro foreigners out there.  They are total aggro with no valid story.  In effect, they're simply spew machines.  Variance will be high with these guys and they're a challenge, but stick to your guns and trust your reads - they're usually weak.

The verdict: Bread-and-butter for the guys described first.  Although "the blind squirrel will catch a nut" every once in awhile, value value value on these guys.  They have little idea of their own immediate hand strength, much less their relative hand strength.  In other words, they have no problem calling down JJ when there's an A and a K on the board and action dictates otherwise.  They're usually so unaware of their own immediate hand strength that they'll limp all hands except AA - so watch out for their weirdly played flopped sets or whatever when PF action had dictated otherwise.

The white trash guy

These guys are downright awful.  I don't know if they have busses from the mountains that ship these ATMs in, or what, but a table full of hicks has me a salivatin'!  Gonna get me some redneck!  Darvin Moon aside (just kidding; include Darvin in this here group, yah see), these guys are much like the Europeans described above, but much more abundant 'round these here parts!  They'll make such apparently stupid calls that will leave you wondering what they were trying to achieve by calling.  Perhaps its their inbred mental capacity, but I simply don't think they're well suited to play a game like this.  Fortunately, that doesn't stop them from congregatin' in gaggles.  They come to the table with a buddy, get drinks, turn into drunk guy and drop their hard-earned $2-600 in the drop of a hat.  I always wonder how they afford it, but don't look a gift horse in the mouth... amirite?

The verdict: Bread-and-butter.  Need I say more to rip apart the former lower / slower Confederates?

To be continued...

* Credit to Steven Colbert and the Colbert Report's 434 part series, "Better Know a District" series.  If you haven't seen any of the episodes, click over to his website and watch.  It's very clever - Eleanor Holmes Norton is my favorite interview.