Poker is a game of decisions. Winning players make good decisions, losing players make bad decisions. It’s as simple as that. The good players however, know if they make the same decisions over and over again, their opponents will be able to easily analyse the style of poker they play, making it much easier to read your plays and generally stop losing money to you. Becoming stale in poker is a sure fire way to reduce profit, so mixing it up is vital.
When you sit down to a poker table, you will constantly be watching your opponents to try and gain any advantage you can over them. They will be doing the exact same thing to you, so you need to make it as difficult as possible for them.
Changing gears depends entirely on your table image. You need to mix it up so your current image is completely changed, which should hopefully win you some big pots during the process. We will go through some situations where you need to change your style.
Bluffing too much
If you have been caught bluffing a few times in a short period of time, it is time to change your style. This is almost a blessing in disguise, as if lady luck is with you and you hit some cards, you can win some large pots due to your image. You should tighten up and stop bluffing; patience is fundamental in poker and now is the time to use it. Wait for a big hand and just play it exactly the way you played the hands in which you bluffed. Your opponents will believe you are still bluffing and haven’t learnt your lesson which they will be more then happy to teach you once more. This will create a big pot for you and more than likely win back more chips then you lost from bluffing.
After this, they will then be unsure of your plays, making the same play again in the next few hands will cause them to be wary of you, meaning you can continue to bluff a few pots and get away with it quite easily.
Betting the same amount
Betting patterns are the biggest tell for an online poker player, so becoming stale with your betting sizes will be hugely detrimental to your session. If you have been betting the same amounts for a while, the table will have caught on and you will probably find yourself making next to nothing. You need to mix up your betting, try making an unusually large bet to throw off your opponents.
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