Adjusting to those around you part 3

Once you start to get a good profile of each player at the table, you can start to move onto advanced situational analysis. These skills are most useful when everyone at the table is relatively short stacked (i.e. at the end of a multi-table tournament) and a single pre flop mistake could jeopardise your chances of the win; although they are just as relative in more deep stacked cash games, especially if your are going to be out of position for the hand.

Basic poker strategy dictates that your main priority is trying to steal those vital blinds from the tighter players at the table; or to encourage action on your big hands from the looser players at the table. By identifying these player types and looking at their tendencies you can start to pick up on the best spots to raise.

Imagine you have identified a tight passive player in the big blinds when you’re in the cut off. There is a problem however; as there is a skilled loose aggressive player in the small blind who has not only noticed the tight tendencies of the tight player in the big blind, but has also picked up on your constant efforts to steal it. This player will start re-raising you extremely liberally, and ironically you will actually have to tighten up when the weak player is in the big blind, just to try and trap the loose player.

The same also works in reverse to an extent. Raising from strong positions or into strong players with weak holdings is often extremely effective, as it gives the illusion of strength. It has often been said by the new generation of hyper aggressive online players that “under the gun is the new button” – and this phrase illustrates how hard it is to not respect the plays that tend to need very strong holdings in an environment where one mistake will probably be your last. Its funny how quickly the whole situation turns on its head, with you raising junk from positions where you should be strong, and waiting for monsters in positions you should be raising light.

Here we see the importance of not just identifying a key weak player; but in getting a decent overview of the whole table. Although many cash games are constructed around one rich fish, a player I’m so focused on that I would happily trade all the knowledge I have about other players for just a few key tells on; in mtts this is just not the case, with a good general overview of each players playing style critical if you are to succeed in identifying the spots necessary to attack the blinds efficiently.

The key point to remember about putting all your reads together is that your adjustments will have to fluid and in constant flux. Identify the weak player, steal their blinds until people start re-stealing, and then adjust to them accordingly. By thinking not only about the individual players, but how they interact together, you will be well on your way to the highest level of poker thinking.

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