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Being predicable and developing patterns in your play will get you busted faster than Paris Hilton after a night out partying in L.A. In poker it is absolutely necessary to disguise your hand so that opponents are unable to accurately interpret your actions.
There are two general schools of thought with regard to the playing of various hands. You can either play the same hands differently or play different hands the same. Players who subscribe to the method of playing the same hands differently sometimes raise with premium cards and sometimes simply call. Their opponents don’t know what they have because they vary their play.
Players who employ the strategy of playing different hands the same always raise with premium cards, but sometimes also raise with other types of hands like suited connectors. Their opponents don’t know what they have because they always take the same action.
The most important tells in poker are not shaky hands, darting eyes, or twisting Oreos. They are betting patterns, plain and simple. The way opponents previously played and how they are currently betting their hand allow you to narrow down their range of possible cards.
The problem with people trying to vary their play is that it’s difficult not to form patterns. If a person is trying to play the same hands differently, he might decide to raise with premium hands 80% of the time and just call with them 20% of the time. The difficulty with this method is that it’s very hard for people to do things randomly. Your mind is not like a computer, unless perhaps your name is Chris Ferguson or Bill Chen, and will eventually fall into patterns. People have a tendency to do specific things in certain situations and will typically never even notice that they are establishing these patterns.
One of the keys to playing winning poker is to avoid giving away too much information. The most crucial information can essentially be handed to your opponents if you develop certain betting patterns. The best way to avoid having these types of tells is to simply play different hands the same way. When you play all of your hands the same way, it becomes increasingly important to have a solid consistent betting foundation. There are many advantages to being the aggressor, so when you are first into a pot, come in for a raise. If you don’t have a hand that you’re comfortable raising with, then just fold. In order to know how much to bet, you must determine the standard table pre-flop raise. This is an amount at your table that will result in only one or two callers. Get a feel for the amount that your table is respecting. The acceptable pre-flop raise will vary greatly from table to table, so it’s important to pay attention.
When formulating a betting strategy, it’s critical that it accounts for callers – because that will prevent your opponents from getting good pot odds. A common mistake with pre-flop betting is not accounting for limpers. Once you establish what your standard opening raise will be, add one big blind to that amount for each limper. Let’s say that the blinds are 10-20 and you’ve recognized that the standard opening raise at your table is 80. If there are two limpers, you should raise it to a total of 120. That would be the standard raise for that table plus one big blind for each pre-flop caller (80 + 20 + 20 = 120).
It is also essential to keep your reraise amounts consistent. When raising or reraising an opponent, make the amount three times his total current bet. For example, if a player makes a bet of 100 and you want to raise, make it a total of 300. However, if there have been any calls of the player’s bet, then those calls must be taken into account. Raise three times the total bet, plus one bet for each caller. So if a player makes a bet of 100 and gets one caller, you would raise to a total of 400. That would be three times their bet plus one bet for the caller ([100 x 3] + 100 = 400).
Using a standardized betting system is not sexy. It’s not going to impress the chicks and it probably won’t get Vince Van Patten to ordain you with some witty but annoying nickname. What it will do, though, is allow you to seamlessly play different hands the same way. Remember, it’s important to be able to read betting patterns, but it’s more important to prevent being read.
Nick Brancato is a top Internet poker pro, instructor for WPT Boot Camp and a private coach. To learn more visit www.wptbootcamp.com or contact him at NickBrancato@gmail.com.
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