Texas Hold'em:
Am I A Rock?
As poker has become more
popular both online and off there has also been an increase in the amount of
poker literature produced on how to improve ones game. A few days ago I
realized that most, if not all the books and info that I've read over the
years have talked mostly about discipline and being tighter then your
opponents. There is lots of info in the advanced books about keeping away
from going on tilt and letting your emotions govern your play. You are
always striving for the perfect game (which is also really mechanical). The
assumption is that if you hold out for good cards and then play them, you
can't lose. This site up till today was no different then the other books
I've read. I've listed here tables, stats and other tips on how to stay
away from losing strategies and long shots. Well that is all great but it
leads one to believe that poker is a game against numbers instead of a game
against other people.
In my opinion the average
players knowledge of hold'em has been rising each year. For some reason
that doesn't change the way they play much but it is does make it so that
they can spot someone who is just waiting for their good cards. They have
the ability to dodge your bullets much easier. I think what it comes down
to is that they are playing to have fun, but they still would prefer not
losing to you so they will get out of your way more often then you would
like. And that is the problem when are viewed as a rock at the table, you
get no value for the hands you win.
If you don't know, a rock is
someone who plays very conservatively and very tightly (plays only the best
of cards). The opposite is the fish, someone who doesn't know how to play
at all and is in every hand taking up the worst odds to try to beat you.
Now what I'm trying to get at here isn't that you should stop playing good
cards and waiting for prime opportunities. Instead I'm trying to warn you
against letting your table image be perceived as too tight. What will
happen when you are seen as a rock is that you will wait an hour for your
good cards only to either win a small pot or lose a big pot by getting bad
beated by someone. Basically the poor players will only play against you
when they think they can win and then if you show too much strength they
will just get out of your way. Some of the poker writers talk about this
for the upper limits. The worst thing you can do is play in a way that bad
players all of a sudden are making correct moves against you.
So what am I getting at here
then? Well I think that you need to learn some skills that a middle or
upper limit player has to use in his arsenal to have winning days and that
is called "getting value" for your hands. This means that you get a good
return for your strong hands. You get paid off when you flop top set or a
flush since people don't really know if you have it or not and they make the
wrong moves against you. This is such an important feature of poker that
I'm really surprised not many people include it in their books. The worst
thing that can happen when you play is that you finally flop something great
and no one calls since they fear you.
I started thinking about this
concept for lower limit poker after recently playing, and getting busted, a
couple weeks ago. I was playing with my friend who has played poker for
about as long as I have but I've played more in that time period at higher
limits. Over the past two years, I've been playing lots of online poker
while he remained at the brick and mortar clubs. I noticed a big difference
in our styles now. He is what is now coined an "anti-fish" and I think I
have digressed back into a "rock". The competition at the table couldn't
have been any easier. I'm not use to playing with people that bad and that
made me even more upset when they ended up taking three racks from me. On
the other hand my buddy had a decent day taking from the table about what I
lost. Now it would be easy to look at his play and say he got lucky since
quite a bit of what he did would go against what the books would advise.
Probably about three times throughout the night he would do a blind raise
preflop. What that means is he would raise the pot without looking at this
cards yet. Then he would also get caught bluffing a few times. You should
see the glee in peoples faces when they would beat him with bottom pair. And
let me tell you, his strategy couldn't have worked any better. People could
not believe when he would show down a decent hand to win a pot. All they
could remember is how he played 95 offsuit and had bad beated them. Their
perspective of him was so inflexible they couldn't help but believe he was
an idiot and didn't know what he was doing. While I on the other hand had
everyones respect and pity as time after time I was bad beated by a crappy
hand and then when I won I would only win a few chips. It always makes you
happy when you get bad beated three times in a row and then finally flop top
set and then no one calls you.
So why is it that my med
school buddy now not only has developed a better strategy for beating that
size game but has more fun playing too? It's all because he moved away from
thinking that numbers and stats win in poker and remembered that this is a
game of player versus player. He has learned that getting value for your
winning hands is the most important part of making money at poker. I think
the reason I have lost this edge over the years is because I have played so
much online poker. And I mean a lot of online poker. For a while
there I would be routinely putting in 10-15 hours days (and loving it). But
what I think happened to my game is that I would just get into this
mechanical state where my response was so engrained that there was never any
variation. Granted the games were not low limit and my play was still
profitable but I still lost this technique to occasionally mix up my game to
get more value on my winning hands. I'm not sure but this may be something
you need more in higher limit games and live games then in lower limit games
online.
So what now? Am I going to
stop playing live games like that? No way. It is way too much fun to stack
chips and win pots to ever stop. I just need to adjust my play a lot to
accommodate these new low limit players. My strategy is to put in a few
moves like my buddy does so that they view me as an idiot as well instead of
a good player. The books recommend bluffing every now and then and often
semi-bluffing in upper limit games but they don't suggest this for lower
limits. I disagree now and I think that you do need to add some bluffing
and weird play to your game. I think there is a direct correlation between
how bad your hand is too and how much of a moron they remember you as. You
should have heard this guy to my left complaining to me all night (and to
everyone new sitting next to him) about how my buddy played a 95 offsuit and
beat his hand. LOL I don't want to end by giving you a number that says how
often you should play in a stupid way, that would defeat the whole purpose
of this article. I want to just introduce you to the concept of getting
value for your good hands because in the end it isn't you against the odds,
it is you against your opponents.
Some ways to be seen as a
moron (and reap the benefits of good value):
-
Blind Raising - from
under the gun (the person right after the blinds), put in two bets before
you see your cards. The dealer will annouce this to the table and you'll
be instantly seen as a gambler. Good players will see you did this under
the gun, in the worst possible position on the table, and assume you know
very little about the game.
Congrats, you are a gambler!
-
Bluff - get caught
trying to bluff. Nothing makes a player happier when they call only on
the chance that you may be bluffing and they catch you. That sticks in
their mind like nothing else. You want them to always try to "keep you
honest".
Congrats, you are a bluffer!
-
Bad Cards - beat
someone with a whacky hand just once and the whole table will remember it
since the guy who you nailed will keep complaining. Crack his pocket aces
with 78 offsuit or K2 and he'll be crying not only on that hand but all
the hands later when he pays you off when you have a real hand.
Congrats, you have weak starting hands!
-
Long Shot Draws -
beat someone by catching a gutshot straight, a set on the turn, or a
backdoor flush just once and they will assume you always chase.
Congrats, you are now a chaser!
-
Drink - buy a beer
and drink it. Remember, the books say never drink while you play!
Congrats, you are now an alcoholic!
Congratulations you are now
labeled as an idiot! Now get ready to stack some serious chips because no
one has respect for your play anymore and that's exactly what you want for
taking their money!
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