Mixing up your playing style

January 7, 2009

I often hear the comment “how could you play that hand like that” at a poker table, mostly from other players who think somebody played a bad hand.

But the thing is that the players who make this sort of statement are the type who play without creative thinking, and only play “by the book”. If you limit yourself to a strategy that you have picked up somewhere, then you will never be amongst the greatest.

Dont get me wrong, reading poker books, and poker tips articles etc. is a good thing, just dont let it limit your playing style. You need to find a playing style that works for you, but you also need to adjust your playing style depending on who you are playing against.

The other day i was playing a live tournament at the local club, and I was in great shape, playing my best poker and controlling the table.
The only guy at the table who was able to give me any resistance was a guy named Paul.
He´s a very nice guy, and known as a loose player.
Many in the club see him as a terrible player, but he finished in the top 5 ranking of best players last year, so that speaks for itself.
The thing is that hes willing to take chances, and get involved in a lot of hands and you never know what he´s up to.
I´m also playing a lot of hands and mixing up my play to confuse my opponents, and after running real hot and taking down alot of pots without showdown, im looking at a real quality hand as i have picked up the pocket rockets in the small blind.
I´m sitting with 28.000 in chips and paul has 23.000 and he´s on the button.
Blinds are 400-200 and a terrible tight player makes it 1200.
Paul calls the 1200 and i flip in a 5000 chip.
The tight player folds, and Paul then pushes hes stack.
Of course it takes less then a second for me to call with my aces and jump up with excitement.
He curses and flips over q-j offsuit which makes me even more excited, until the flop is dealt and shows 8-9-10.
The turn brings a 10 giving me some hope, but i don´t make a house on the river.
Most people around the table were stunned that he made this move, and thought it was terrible.
However i admire a player who has the guts to make a move with all hes chips.
You have to take into consideration that I have been playing very aggressive, stealing a lot of pots, and there was a very good chance that I was making a move here to steal the pot preflop.
I needed to hold a very good hand to call his big all in, and in many cases i wouldn’t have had a good enough hand to call.
It was a crucial pot that would have given me the chiplead, but instead I was left with 5000 and was all in next hand with pocket eights against 9-10 and got rivered.
Things change quickly, but if you are not willing to take chances and capable of mixing up your game, then you will never become a winning poker player.

Mixing up your playing style

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