Improving your game: how not to be predictable at the table

Those who often ask for suggestions on how to improve their poker will have noticed that a lot revolves around the same theme. Maybe it’s explained with different concepts but in the end the essence is the same: to improve the game you need above all not to be predictable. Let’s analyze the concepts

THE FIRST POKER PRECEPTS

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Remember when you wanted to try your hand at Texas Holdem? You knew the rules, the points but as far as strategy was concerned you were a little immature. Raising in position, reading the flop and so on were worlds that in theory you could understand but which, in practice, put you in great difficulty. The first teachings were “old school” style: play premium hands, be careful if there are flushes or straights, otherwise bet. All this was right and understandable but we cannot always go on like this. Playing “tight” makes you really too predictable. For better or for worse. You won’t be able to win big pots since slightly more experienced opponents will easily be able to fold overpair or top pair with a “problematic” kicker against you. On the contrary, you will often have your blinds stolen and you will lose a lot in those pots that you cannot read. An example: if by chance you have QQ and the flop is 9♥ 5♦ 3♣ it will be almost impossible for you to imagine your opponent’s set while he will be happy to bet even a lot because he knows that you will not fold. We are also predictable in the post-fop, both in terms of action and size. After your preflop raise, always go for a continuation bet. Then floating or checkraise will be profitable plays for your opponents in the long run. And again: do you always bet half a pot on the flop? Your rival knows that by calling he will have implied odds and will know whether to call or not based on the equity of his hands

IMPROVE YOUR GAME AND DON’T BE PREDICTABLE

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We often use bad luck or the fact that the opponent had to fold that hand as justification. In reality we must point the finger at our predictability. The others study and adapt. And so we must do too. Being at a table with 6 or 7 opponents is like being at dinner with as many diners. There’s the one who talks a lot, the one who prefers meat, the one who convinces everyone that that red wine is fantastic. The game is not that different: even in that case we find ourselves facing different personalities and styles. Why do we always behave the same way? If we see that there is a player “like us” (i.e. closed) we incorporate some bluffs against him or try to steal his blinds. We also vary the bet sizes: if we have a good point we don’t always have to let our rivals escape. Protection and semi-bluffs can perhaps increase the percentage of the bet compared to the pot. Above all, you need to self-analyze honestly. You don’t always have to find something on the flop to continue the action. If the first 3 community cards are 9♠ 8♣ 4♥ and a player calls our bet on the flop with QJs and maybe hits a Q♣ on the turn, it’s a “good” play. We shouldn’t brand him as poor because “he called with nothing on the flop.” That point was not “predictable” in our eyes as a closed player. It would have been “easier” to put hands like QT or QJ in the range if we also had a more “surprising” game