"Mixing up your game"

Ste05

How do you do it to keep yourself from being readable. Does anyone have any general ideas or guidelines??

For example:

Do you play the same range of hands differently at times - bet size, position, etc.

Or do you play different hands the same way you would your normal starting hands.

I find that I just do it instinctively every now and again, but have found myself using this as an excuse for playing badly at times. i.e. I could play a hand that I know I shouldn’t really play, I could raise when I should really try and see a cheap flop or call when I should raise, or simply play a hand that a blind banana wouldn’t play, and then when I lose with it I just tell myself, "Ah well f*** it, I was just mixing up my play”.

Altheus

I sometimes let loose about 5% on my chips on a hand I'll know I'll lose. Sometimes this pushes others out, giving me a bully status, making it easier to bluff, sometimes it makes me look like I don't know how to play the game, making it easy to get callers.

That said, the act is strictly limited to about 5% of the stack near the start of the game on one big one, the rest is strictly poker.

Ste05

I like to do that too, my favourite way to play is to make people think I'm a fish then hit them hard later. The best way to do this is to make it look like I'm making terrible calls on a draw when I have a monster, then when it misses, (as I obviously play it will) go over the top, he'll put me on a bluff and make a bad call. Risky but has been effective in the past.

Altheus

One problem with this is you loose some ability to just check on hands without getting noticed, and usually will be a target of a skilled player on the board. I like playing extravangantly, and it'll get you in trouble more times than not.

roryc

I try to play every hand as it comes. I have no set way of playing any hand. When I get aces or any v.good hand, I take a lot of things into account and usually check or raise a fex times BB.

Sometimes though I will go all in pre-flop on aces or kings, into a tiny pot, cos no-one can put you on those hands. One example of this was few weeks ago in the fitz, I raised all-in 6,000 into a pot with 500 in it (2 blinds + UTG). I was holding bullets... Foldy foldy foldy round to BB who announces 'you just ran into a brick wall mate, I call' he shows kings and then happily states 'now thats what you get for trying to rob my blind with your low pair. how low are they?' to which I unhappily announced 'lower than 2's. I got a pair of aces. No wait aces are high aren't they! '

He wasn't too happy........

Now in fairness I've tried that 3 times with aces and its only worked once, so I dont think I would recommend it, but you can see how you have to mix up your play the odd time - do the unexpected. Raise with 85o, check the nuts etc.

If you get a reputation for being unpredictable nobody will want to tangle with you too much

Imposter

I find that if you're not exactly sure why you've done something yourself, then there's a better than good chance that your opponent won't be able to understand it either.

Ste05

Very good point, I do see the logic and actually have found this to hapen in the past, but not articulated in such a way,

I have to agree now that it is probably best to keep the better players avoiding me rather than asking them to play pots with me. As I try and avoid playing pots with players who are obviously not fish, only real way to make decent money off them is when you both have big hands and your's is the absolute nuts against his second nuts. Which will be very rare altogether.

Good point.

EDIT: This is responding to Altheus's point

Ste05

Imposter wrote:

I find that if you're not exactly sure why you've done something yourself, then there's a better than good chance that your opponent won't be able to understand it either.

Brilliant - lol

Hectorjelly

roryc wrote:

He wasn't too happy........

Now in fairness I've tried that 3 times with aces and its only worked once, so I dont think I would recommend it,

So you had aces against Kings and all the money went in preflop? Amazing

DapperGent

Rory totally outplayed that guy with the kings.

califano

one thing that freaks players out is flat calling with AA or KK. it engenders a storm of outrage every time. its like the 'poker god' decreed thou must raise with aces and you flagrantly disobeyed this most holy law. i almost always raise with these especially in early position of course but occasionally i just call. the chat livens up no end. it can be as effective a way of busting someone as a set. flop comes down Q high and someone will call your all in raise holding QA, how can they not!.

Mark J

i mix my my game up using the same consistent ingredients






flour, butter, eggs and castor sugar.

works wonders

Marq

rounders123 wrote:

flop comes down Q high and someone will call your all in raise holding QA, how can they not!.

by clicking the fold button.

roryc

Hectorjelly wrote:

So you had aces against Kings and all the money went in preflop? Amazing

not my point. He was so sure I had nothing I feel he would have called me with any pair higher than 8's or 9's. That fact that he actually had kings means nothing..

Mark J

as for mixing up playing styles.

i always raise 3 X BB, no matter what hand i have or what the blinds are.
AA, KK, Ak...whatever.
blinds are 30/60 : i raise 180
blinds are 150/300 : i raise 900
always 3 X BB.
that way, (i reckon), i`m hard to read.
not half my stack with AA. (i`ll push after the flop with AA then)

we`re humans. creatures of habit.
if i see a big raise, before the flop, i think it`s one of 2 things -

monster or mid-pair that doesn`t want action.

when i take a good lead on the table, people are used to me showing big hands, earlier on, that i`d raised 3 X BB.
so when my stack is comfortable, i`ll raise with suited connectors and they automatically put me on big cards.

works a treat for me anyway.

that`s an insight into my playing habits(i am human after all!)

Blitzkrieger

I hate AA and would never go all in before the flop with it. What if a king came on the flop? I've lost too much money on AA against ****ty hands. The last tournament I was in there was four players all in for one hand - all four had pocket pairs. The lowest pair won it by flopping trips.

I like 'changing speeds' when I'm playing but you need cards to do it. That same tournament I was playing pretty tight and wanted to switch to playing more aggressively on three different occaisions but kept getting crap hands. In a 9 handed game you can't bluff all the people all the time. By the time I got a good hand the opportunity was gone - if I put in a big raise everybody would know I had waited for a hand.

roryc

Blitzkrieger wrote:

I hate AA and would never go all in before the flop with it. What if a king came on the flop?

what IF a king came on the flop???

jlang

Then you'd lose to 3 Kings, or was that a rhetorical question?

smurph

Marq wrote:

by clicking the fold button.

LMFAO. Could you be more sarcastic???