Poker Strategy – Being Unpredictable

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I can’t emphasise enough how important it is to remain unpredictable and I can also tell you that if you become more reliant on a heads up display to guide you from low to medium stakes than on observation, note taking and understanding game-flow, then you will almost certainly hit a brick wall in your progression as an online poker player. Don’t get me wrong, HUDs are a very useful tool but don’t take it to the level where your HUD is playing the game for you. If you do then you are nothing more than a badly programmed poker bot. The higher the level you play at the more important the more traditional poker attributes such as instinct and trickery become.

For example, in a $2-$4 6 max online environment depending on the kind of opponents and table conditions you are up against you could potentially play anywhere between 12% and 38% of your hands profitably over large samples, raising or re-raising with around 80 to 90 percent of those hands that you decide to play. So, with that in mind, how can anyone define your range using a heads up display? The numbers would simply be misleading, saying that you are something like a 22/19 “TAG” (tight aggressive). What will someone think of those numbers the next time you re raise him from the button with Five-Seven suited and you get to show it down? He’ll probably think they’re useless won’t be sure what to do next. Perfect!

What most players seem to be trying to do lately is solidify their online image regardless if table conditions, getting too caught up in their VPIP and PFR numbers. (i.e. the total number of hands they play, and how often they raise) . “Oh dear I have a VPIP of 15% UTG, I’ll have to start folding King- Jack and Ace-Ten”. Come on now. Start thinking outside the box please. Sometimes it will be right to raise with those hands and sometimes it will be right to raise with a lot worse or fold better.

Sometimes it will be right for you to re-raise with six-seven suited and sometimes it will be right to fold Ace-Queen to a single raise. Sometimes you should slow play your set and sometimes you should play it fast. Playing tight aggressive is not the Holy Grail and there are no absolutes when it comes to poker strategy. The right answer is usually “It depends”

Be unpredictable, Approach every table differently, and learn to make adjustments to your game quickly. Be a reactionary poker player. That is the only way forward.

Get the full article on how to play poker.