Joined: Mar '08
Location: United Kingdom
Age: 44 (M)
Posts: 6714
As I spent the morning revising my game and watching some catching vids I decided to help some of you guys out for FREE!! Now im not going deep here, im trying to give out some simple info that goes a long way in becoming a good poker player.
Practice makes perfect, patients makes players.
opponents range - You should at all time be trying to put the villians on a range, and never on 2 cards, we will start with the widest possable range for that player in that position and then narrow it down as much as possable, this will be done according to that villians play.
Villians play - each player at the table needs a little mark, as we move around its easy to forget people, most play can be simpified to LAP, LAG, TAP, TAG, im fairly sure you know what they are so shall not explain. As requested by Dozn01 - Tight Aggressive (TAG) - They play few hands with tight ranges, but when they do they play them in a aggresive manner.(The Sharks) Tight Passive (TAP) - They play few hands with tight ranges, but when they do they play them passively. (The Rocks) Loose Passive (LAP) - They play lots of hands with a loose range and give up eaisely (The Fish) Loose Aggressive (LAG) - They play lots of hands with loose range and in a agrresive manner (the Manic)
You will find most players actually are inbetween or a mix of styles, such as TAG pre-flop yet play TAP post flop.
Discipline - without it we are undoubtably heading in the wrong direction, making the wrong moves and turning +Ev hands in to -Ev. We can not let our emotions make dessions for us. Our choices should depend on if the pot is good or not or if your hand will win or not. This allows you to make the best decision and not leave it to luck, Making the best decision will take time, you need to study the game, the player, yourself and when you put the time in to doing this you will be able to extract maxamin profit.
Play the Player - I know some here hate that, offten reply with the "what if" synario...But poker as said above is not a game of luck, if we leave it to the cards we all end up break even, Its a game of skill, you need to learn how to "out play" the villian, and be doing so when you belive to be behind, put pressure on them, take the upper hand and seaze every possable pot you can.
Pay attention - See what is happening around you, spot the tells, make the notes, expliot them, try understanding the villians behavior, is he tilting, on a hot run, got a bit big foor his boots or thinks you are a ll a walk over etc etc, and mix your game up so they cant get a grasp on what your doing.
Joined: Jan '10
Location: Germany
Age: 32 (M)
Posts: 1379
well it are the sytles your opponent plays. L and T is for loose and tight. Tight is if he picks his card carefully and doesn´t join many potts. Loose is quite the opposite. It means he joins the pot really often like with any suited connectors or something. And then there is also a difference in them beeing passiv (which means they mostly call) oder aggressive (which means they wanna bet bet bet or raise)
Joined: Jan '10
Location: United States
Age: 56 (M)
Posts: 205
Awesome once again bigfoot,ive printed this out for further evaluation and as always im taken back by your intensity with which you do a post.This information is a must have by everyone, thank you so much
Joined: Mar '11
Location: United States
Age: 42 (M)
Posts: 178
Posted by B1gfoot: As I spent the morning revising my game and watching some catching vids I decided to help some of you guys out for FREE!! Now im not going deep here, im trying to give out some simple info that goes a long way in becoming a good poker player.
Practice makes perfect, patients makes players.
opponents range - You should at all time be trying to put the villians on a range, and never on 2 cards, we will start with the widest possable range for that player in that position and then narrow it down as much as possable, this will be done according to that villians play.
Villians play - each player at the table needs a little mark, as we move around its easy to forget people, most play can be simpified to LAP, LAG, TAP, TAG, im fairly sure you know what they are so shall not explain. As requested by Dozn01 - Tight Aggressive (TAG) - They play few hands with tight ranges, but when they do they play them in a aggresive manner.(The Sharks) Tight Passive (TAP) - They play few hands with tight ranges, but when they do they play them passively. (The Rocks) Loose Passive (LAP) - They play lots of hands with a loose range and give up eaisely (The Fish) Loose Aggressive (LAG) - They play lots of hands with loose range and in a agrresive manner (the Manic)
You will find most players actually are inbetween or a mix of styles, such as TAG pre-flop yet play TAP post flop.
Discipline - without it we are undoubtably heading in the wrong direction, making the wrong moves and turning +Ev hands in to -Ev. We can not let our emotions make dessions for us. Our choices should depend on if the pot is good or not or if your hand will win or not. This allows you to make the best decision and not leave it to luck, Making the best decision will take time, you need to study the game, the player, yourself and when you put the time in to doing this you will be able to extract maxamin profit.
Play the Player - I know some here hate that, offten reply with the "what if" synario...But poker as said above is not a game of luck, if we leave it to the cards we all end up break even, Its a game of skill, you need to learn how to "out play" the villian, and be doing so when you belive to be behind, put pressure on them, take the upper hand and seaze every possable pot you can.
Pay attention - See what is happening around you, spot the tells, make the notes, expliot them, try understanding the villians behavior, is he tilting, on a hot run, got a bit big foor his boots or thinks you are a ll a walk over etc etc, and mix your game up so they cant get a grasp on what your doing.
Remember, If you don't know what your "edge" is then you don't have one!
Gl at the felt.
Awesome post!!
I think observation is key. alot of people cry about donks (lags) for example...well i love them...They are easy to extract money from and they do all the betting for you. And for tighter players you can play lag against them, if they call you know they have the goods. But observation is most important. Knowing who your oppenent is, what kinds of hands they play, what they will fold to, or call with are all essential in the game.
Joined: Jan '11
Location: United States
Age: 42 (M)
Posts: 852
Really,really good Post B1g! I always try to put my opponent on a "range" of hands, and there have been a more than a few times where it was as if my opponent was playing with his cards face up.
Joined: Jan '11
Location: United States
Age: 60 (M)
Posts: 3361
Very informitive to me and appreciated! Love to read anything that pertains to improving one's knowledge and learning needs. And doz, thank's for asking B1 to explain the acrynyms for us beginners. This info will be printed out and added to the poker folder I keep near. Again Great Post and Thanks. Good Luck to All!
