Pokerwiner.com → Within poker principles

You can sometimes follow this same poker strategy with fairly good hands (or even very good hands) such as top pair with a good kicker. Here you might say you are mainly inducing your opponent not to fold. Compared to those times when you choose this tactic with something like middle pair, you would not be faced with as difficult a decision if he were to raise.

Your main concern here is that he not fold, that he keep putting bets in the pot with a hand far interior to yours. In other words, you have a hand which you would normally like to bet for value. But here, against an unusually aggressive opponent, you will often do better to focus on making sure he doesn’t fold, and that he puts in a bet on every round. (This play works better when your top pair is high so he is not apt to have overcards. See Holdem Poker for Advanced Players: 21st Century Edition for more discussion ). Remember, however, that we are talking about fairly skilled opponents. Therefore, you cannot get away with following only this strategy all the time. You must vary your play enough that your opponents cannot easily be sure what you are up to.

Sometimes you check and call with top pair, sometimes you bet it, sometimes you check-raise. The decision is based on situational variables (or sometimes even pure randomness ). My point here is simply that as you begin to play in these tougher games, using the check-call approach a little more often can ease the transition, because it is rather easy to apply without making serious errors. The same cannot be said of an approach which pushes the envelope of aggression. I would recommend that a player who is just moving up, but who lacks sufficient confidence in his skills vis-à-vis those of his new opponents, use this check-call approach against aggressive poker players somewhat more than is optimal, until he has mapped out more complete strategies based on increased familiarity with these opponents. Even for the expert, it remains an important element in this repertoire.

2.Counter and take advantage of their awareness and thinking.

As you move up in limits, a key characteristic which will separate your new opponents from those you faced in the lower limits is that they will be thinking more effectively. Specifically, more of your opponents will be thinking about what hand you have, and how to play against you. You thus have the opportunity to take advantage of what they’re thinking about your play. Indeed, as you deal with more and more tough opponents you must take advantage of it if you are to beat the game for more than a minimal amount. There is one type of opponent, common at these limits, who is especially vulnerable to the player who can deduce what he’s thinking and take advantage of it.

This player focuses much of his energy on characterizing players’ styles and reading poker hands. That is one of his main strengths, but he does so in a very rigid way. Once he has decided how you play, you have to show him something radically different to make him change his mind. Similarly, once he puts you on a hands, he is so confident in his read that he has trouble revising it. This description could of course apply to players who otherwise vary their play in many different ways. Here’s an informal observation to help you identify players with this trait. I would note that it seems many of these good, but rigid readers are too loose and fairly aggressive preflop.

Their play after the flop tends to be relatively skillful, but is often a bit over aggressive, with an excessively high bluffing frequency. I think these often are self taught players who have a good feel for the game, but whose main weakness is simply that of playing a little too loose-aggressively.

There seems to be some correlation between these traits and the “rigid reading ” trait. Still, bear in mind that this describes only one type of opponent who may have the trait under discussion. Certainly you will encounter this rigid reading and typing tendency in other kinds of players. (For an example of a hand played against such a player see the essay, “Countering a Good Reader ”). So how can you take advantage of this player’s thinking? Simply, you play your hand a little more deceptively. Make him think you have something other than your actual hand. Here’s a simple example. (*Note that this play is fairly well known and works against many other kinds of players too ). Say you open for a raise on the button with:

The big blind, who happens to fit the description of the aggressive, rigid reader, reraises you. Rather than raise again, which could be the right play against some unthinking players in a low limit “no holdem” game, for example, you should consider just calling. By just calling you avoid giving your hand away to a player who would understand and adapt to the meaning of another bet. You are then often in a position to extract on later streets more than what you gave up preflop. I should also point out that some of these rigid readers will tend to assume that a tight player plays ve

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Conjecture on the Limits of Tell Detectability
Quick Indicators / Afterthought