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Mix Up Your Poker Strategy |
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Changing your style of play as the number of opponents at the table dwindles is absolutely critical.
When playing a poker tournament as a relative newcomer to the game, the tournament novice will often make the mistake of sticking to this simple “strategic” style of play after the flop, and throughout the tournament: check/fold with a bad hand (e.g. no pair), raise with a good hand. It may sound ridiculous, but I’ve seen it happen so often that it no longer surprises me. For the more experienced player, this type of repetitive action is extremely transparent and a blessing at the poker table. Luckily, for those of you who may fall victim to this sort of playing style, a simple retooling of your game is all that is necessary to effectively challenge your opponents at the table.
First off, why not mix up your game a little? Instead of always raising when you get a monster hand like A-A, K-K, or A-K, why not slow play those hands every so often? Variation in your game will take you a long way at the poker table. You’d be surprised how easy it is to spot when you fail to mix up your style of play. Watch for other players to commit this mistake and you’ll see for yourself.
Also, don’t be afraid to follow through on a pre-flop raise by raising after the flop, even if you haven’t made a pair. By following through with another raise, you convey strength and it will be difficult for an opponent to call once they see you are so confident with your hand (unless, of course, they too have a strong hand – so trust your intuition before raising any pot!). Don’t be discouraged if you get one or two calls after your raise on the first three community cards. If you still sense weakness in your opponent, wait for the turn card and make another raise. Most players will be likely to fold at this point. Of course, if there are still multiple people in a hand after you have raised pre-flop, you should be a little more cautious before raising after the turn and river cards. Pay attention to the actions of the other players in the hand and go from there.
Now, let’s go back to those monster hands again. Let’s imagine you are dealt every poker player’s favourite starting hand, A-A. Superb! If you choose to slow play the hand by merely calling the big blind, other players will be very hard-pressed to put you on such a strong hand after the flop. Now, let’s extend the example further: imagine the flop has come Ac-9d-4h, (called a “rainbow” flop, because there are three different suits on the table). This is a dream flop if you are holding aces. So what is your move? The classic rookie mistake is to overplay your hand, and come out betting too strong – going all-in, for example, before anyone else has acted. If you do this, your opponents will be reluctant to call and will likely fold. You may take in a few extra chips but no one has paid you off for your great starting hand. However, if you instead choose to check after the flop, you will allow your opponent the chance to put more of his chips in the pot. Then, you may choose to call your opponent’s raise, and attempt to extract more chips from him on the turn and possibly on the river, or you may choose to go over the top and re-raise him. As a rule of thumb, choose whatever action will lead to the biggest possible gains with the least possible risk. Simple advice, but it’s often difficult to heed in pressure situations. |
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