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Preying on the Tight Players
If a loose player gets involved in too many hands pre-flop, a tight player doesn’t play enough. That’s how you can tell the difference between your opponents at the table. This can make determining their range of hands fairly easy as tight players are often unwilling to play with anything less than a premium holding. Because tight players are opposite of loose players when it comes to their playing strategies, it only makes sense that you will need to alter your approach when playing hands against these tight players.
When you play tighter against a loose opponent, you stand to profit by playing more aggressively against tight opponents. During pre-flop play this means that you should raise more hands against tight opponents. For example, if you have an opponent in the blinds that is playing really tight, and you are in late position, you will probably want to raise every single time. If you see an opponent who likes to limp into the pot with marginal hands, like Q-10 suited or a medium pocket pair, you can often push them off their hand by offering a pre-flop raise. By the same token, if you see a tight player who doesn’t defend his big blind with anything other than a big hand, don’t be afraid to open up your game and steal the blinds by raising pre-flop. Many players like to raise with weak hands like 10-7 or 6-4 in these spots rather than mediocre hands like Q-J or 10-9, because they are easier to get away from if they are re-raised. If by chance you do call a raise from a tight player while holding a mediocre hand, be careful if you flop top pair and your tight opponent is putting in a lot of money. It’s probable that your opponent has you beat with an over-pair or a set, or even with a better kicker.
Another key to this strategy is to watch how a tight player reacts once they become involved in hand before the flop. Some tight players will open-raise the pot with a good hand, but fold to a re-raise because they are not willing to risk their chips with anything less than a premium hand. Other tight players will become ‘sticky’ once they’ve opened a pot and their stubbornness will force them to not want to lay down their hand to anything less than a huge re-raise. Only re-raise tight players who will show that they can lay down a hand that they really wanted to play.
After the flop the best way to profit against tight opponents is to bet or raise them off their hands or in other words, bluff them! While this is a very effective play against a tight and timid opponent, you need to be careful when you are facing a tight and talented player. The tight and talented player is very skilled in trapping aggressive opponents and inducing them into bluffing off their chips in bad times.
As the game gets short-handed, you will need to become a little more careful against some tight opponents. Some of those tight players will not be able to adjust to a shorter table, which means that you can continue to play aggressively against them without fear. But the talented tight player will be changing up their game as the situation changes and they are likely to loosen up their ranges, just as you are. Pay close attention to these players and exercise caution if they start to play back at you more frequently in short-handed situations.
Finally, remember that position is always your friend. If there is an all-in raise during a particular hand, make sure you are the one making it! Where a loose player will often fold because they have a weak hand, tight players are likely to fold in these spots because they fear they have an inferior hand.
Who is Updating the Money Lists?!
Recently Erik Seidel moved up to 3rd from 11th on the Poker All-Time Money List after taking down the $250,000 buy-in Super High Roller’s Event at Aussie Millions. After that happened, a debate erupted in regards to the validity of today’s current list. The #1 source for tracking the all-time money winners is Hendon Mob’s website and they’ve recently added three new lists to help better determine who really is on top.
The three new lists essentially filter out particular results based on certain criteria. One list counts only the open events, regardless of the buy-in amount. Another list excludes the events that are greater than $50,000, but counts non-open events. The third new list excludes both non-open events and any event over $50K. An open event is defined as an event that has no restrictions on entry. Events such as Poker After Dark, Women’s Events and made for TV events will fall under this category.
As most of you may know, Daniel Negreanu is in the top spot for the original All-Time Money list. On the new lists however, Negreanu tops the list that includes all events under $50,000 and the list for all open events under $50,000. On the all-time list that includes all open events regardless of buy-in, Erik Seidel has taken over the top spot with $13.53 million where Negreanu trails with a meager $13.34 million.
We understand that these lists only track the gross proceeds from tournaments and do not factor in buy-ins, bust-outs, etc. Some people feel that in order to really see who is making the most money in tournament poker, all of these particulars should be tracked. In an effort to keep attracting new players with the promise of huge payouts in tournaments, the likelihood of that happening is pretty slim. For instance, poker tournament officials probably do not want people to realize facts such as Bill Edler winning $2.7 million in 2007, a big fat zero for 2008 and has won only $42K since.
But the lists just keep on coming and we keep on reading them.
Some Great Online Poker Tips from Nigel Goldman
I’ve read quite a few books about online poker and one of my favorites is Nigel Goldman’s “Make a Million from Online Poker”. Just a short little hand guide really, but it helped me learn the basics of playing online poker in a very short amount of time. In the book Mr. Goldman list’s his top 15 tips for playing great online poker and I thought I would post them for you, the player who wants to play like a champion!
1. Only risk 10% of your bankroll in any one game.
2. Never play when drunk or tired. (Why do you think Vegas casinos serve free drinks to their punters?)
3. Insure you are always comfortable by investing in a decent size monitor and wireless technology.
4. Consider a bogus identity.
5. Create false alliances with other players.
6. Play two or more games at once; the bulk of your hands in any game will be poor, so this gives you more action and a better chance of hitting decent cards.
7. Watch out for instant action from other players – it probably indicates that they are using pre-select buttons.
8. Most online players [especially in low-stakes games] are bad players, so there is no need to play too fancy.
9. Don’t let other players bully you into playing or making decision faster than you need to. Ignore “zzzzzzz” comments in the chatbox if you are legitimately thinking through a hand.
10. Look out for value satellite competitions – many large prizes are won by online qualifiers.
11. Ensure that any credit card you have logged on with to play is up to date.
12. Enroll with an online financial service agency such as NetTeller to help you process big wins.
13. Take a break, especially after a big win or heavy loss. Don’t be shy about sitting out for a few minutes.
14. Remember, good players do most of their gambling on the flop.
15. Most of your profit will come from making the most obvious correct moves.
Building Your Bankroll, Then Managing It
The whole purpose of playing poker online is to make money. Visit any poker website or read any poker blog and you will learn that if you are unable to manage your bankroll, playing poker online will not be a profitable experience for you. And if you are not making any money, that experience is no longer a fun one either.
It’s easy to manage your bankroll if you are able to develop some discipline in following the rules of bankroll management. We are going to lay out a few simple rules and if you are able to stay within these simple guidelines, you should be able to deposit a certain amount of money and never have to deposit money again!
If you are a cash game player, your bankroll should have a minimum of twenty buy-ins, regardless of your level of play. Should you get to fifteen buy-ins or less, you should consider moving down a level until you can get back to a twenty level buy-in. One buy-in is considered 100 big blinds. For instance, at .01/.02, a buy-in is $2 (100 x .02 = $2) and that is why .01/.02 is called $2NL. So, if you deposit $50 and are determined to use good bankroll management, you should start out playing $2NL until you can work your way up to $100. When you get to $100 you can then start playing $5NL. If your play starts to spiral at the $5NL and your bankroll drops back down to $75 (15 buy-ins), then you might consider dropping down to $2NL and work it back up. Remember, the only people that don’t move down are the the players that eventually go broke.
If you are able to develop some good bankroll management skills, soon these skills will become second nature and it doesn’t have to be difficult! Managing your bankroll will only help your game as you grind from one level to the next. The above scenario may be seen by many as a minimum ‘guideline’, but experts will agree that for a micro-stakes player, it is an acceptable way to gain an edge in a competitive environment where skill, patience and luck are the name of the game.