Disguising Hands Pre-flop Through Consistent Changes

By the size of a bet, either too high or to low; How many times have you seen players give away the strength of their hands pre-flop? Countless times right? I'm sure if I/you were completely honest it would be more times than any of us are willing to admit, particularly when pertaining to our own play.

Disguising the strength of ones hand is important. Not only does it give potential to get maximum value from a particularly strong hand. It also gives us the potential to win pots on either a continuation-bet, semi-bluff, or bluff that otherwise wouldn’t look as strong without a pre-flop raise. This is due to, that the opposing player can't put you on any given hand if it was disguised well pre-flop. Admittedly there are many successful ways to disguise ones hands pre-flop, many of them equally successful. I will be focusing on one of the several strategies I mix into my bag of tricks from time to time. Originally I picked up a couple years back from the Full Tilt Academy which I will have the link for in my references below.

The basic theory on this is to bet, not necessarily on your pre-flop hand strength (EV), but more so on your position. Where the “disguise” comes in is thru consistency always betting the same
amount from same position. For example lets say 2x the BB from early position ,3x the blind from middle position, and 4x from late position. (This is the formula I like when applying it to NLHE
full ring cash games, and can be tweaked to fit your purpose, perhaps a little less on tourneys I would recommend.) Obviously a players pre-flop hand strength (EV) is a factor in this, as well it should be.
For the most part for hand selection should be more or less the same hands you would play normally even if you have not applied this technique before. ie.For a TAG player, only premium hands from early position such as ,AA, KK,or AK suited for an example, (you have to decide as an individual player what you would consider a premium hand.) From middle position premium hands and a little lower but still good hands such as medium to strong pairs and high suited connectors. In late position such as one off the button, or button. Here is an opportunity to be a little more creative with your hand selection as your position gives you the power and creativity to do so. I wont go to much into depth about hand selection since this isn't a blog on that. My point here is using this one technique of disguising your hand pre-flop by consistently betting the same amounts (increasing as you get in better position in relation to the button) from same spots while at the table. It will keep other players from putting you on an exact hand pre-flop quite often.

Let me note that the above is just one of many ways of disguising your hand pre-flop. Personally I recommend changing up your play not only pre-flop but through out the stages of playing not only during hand play...but also as games progress in blinds such as in MTT play.

This is the link to the site that inspired me to work this into my game as one of many ways of disguising your hand pre-flop a couple of years ago. Today I went back and found the link to post here as my references after I wrote this. I recommend watching it if either if the concept interests you , or you have no clue what I am trying to say. Hope it works for you as it has for me when applied.

References: Full Tilt Poker/Preflop play by Chris Ferguson
http://academy.fulltiltpoker.com/les.../pre-flop-play


sCATpoker school lesson 29 if you buy this second reference I got a bridge to sell ya. Although I have one un-official graduate.

as i started to read your post, fergusons lesson on preflop play came to mind...only to get to the bottom to find you and i were on the same page...i began applying that lesson 2 years ago both online and in my live games in niagara falls...its a solid strategy to use when first to enter the pot in a cash game...i apply a similar stategy for MTTs(only play about one a week) with a few variances and fewer BBs...31/2in late position for cash games, 3bbs in late position for mtts....your post is worded very well, and i would suggest to anyone to add this strategy to their game...it has been a very solid asset to mine and i apply it to my sessions and mtts more often than not


cheers and gl
wooter

Thank you , I appreciate the positive feedback...and the confirmation that it has worked well for others...