*Newbie Player* - A few things i've been thinking about

Hey guys,

First time seriously posting here.

Quick Background: Never really got into live poker, played occasionally. 3 months ago a friend got me interested in online poker. Deposited 20$ at Poker Stars, lost it all. Did a little research on improving my game, deposited 20$, lost it again.

Quit for a while, deposited 30$ into Full Tilt, really followed a strict bankroll management. Hovered between 10-20$ for a while, honestly stayed afloat due to the periodic 3$ account bonus deposits. Something clicked recently, up to 60$ playing MTT's (I really feel this style is my preference).

throughout playing recently I've picked up on some potential tells/strategies that I feel like sharing. Anyways I'm a complete newbie so feel free to give some critique below

I've seen people do this a few times, never tried it myself but I am interested in maybe rotating into my game: The Small Bet Re-raise. Villian makes a bet that seems unusually weak, I bet assuming that he's ready to buckle and surprisingly get a re-raise back. Got two things out of this:

A. I feel like this is a great alternate form of check raising, something to spice up your traps.

B. I now can notice this trap being set up and don't fall into it, merely calling his bet. Since this strategy only really works with high pots and low stakes (i.e... 700 pot with min bet being 60) you start to pick up on these fishy bets.

2. Another flaw in peoples game that I have been starting to exploit is what I call the Reverse Tilt. I know you all know what tilting is already but it will help prove my point....

Tilt - Player gets on an unlucky streak or gets a bad beat and cracks and becomes overly loose aggressive.

Reverse Tilt - Player gets on lucky streak or wins a huge hand and the adrenaline rush makes them go very tight for a hand or two

*Note*: I play microlimits, so I am not sure how well this will work at higher levels. Better Players go on tilt less so it would only make sense that they would go on "reverse tilt" less.


Example: Villian wins big pot and is to my left. Next hand, I am on the button. Small blind limps in and Villian checks. Regardless of the cards flopped I make a 2/3 pot bet. Villian will fold noticeably more than usual.


Will post more things that i've stumbled upon, little to high now and want to play some poker. I feel like this forum is harder to post on than ones about other topics, as I log on, read something interesting, and want to jump right in a game.

Critique Away.

I'm not sure what you want us to critique, but welcome to the forum!

FYI, your "reverse tilt" is really just tilt. Tilt is any time that you are playing differently from your best play. This is not necessarily caused by losing although it often is. One could even be on tilt from his chicken sandwich having mayonnaise when he ordered one without it as long as his play was affected negatively. You just don't hear about those situations as often

Agreed with James on it still being just tilt, but your theory is interesting, but I think that it happens for another reason. Usually when someone just wins a big pot, they will almost always limp in the next hand, because they just acquired a bunch of new chips that they can play with, so one measly BB won't hurt their stack. So if you play aggressively towards them, they might just fold, because they were just calling with crap. This is with online poker.

Now with live poker, it is kind of the opposite. If there is an opponent at the table that just won a big pot and is still in the process of stacking the chips, and takes the time to really look at their cards and put in some of their new chips, they probably have a good hand. Many people will fold most mediocre/marginal hands while in the process of stacking chips, just to get it over and done with. Kind of something to keep in the back of your head for the next time you're playing live.

You have to know your opponents. They could be building a pot or just putting a post oak bet out there to test the waters. Sometimes there are players-I find this true in mini and micro stakes-that they have a great hand but are scared of a flush or straight and have no confidence in their skills so they bet small. It's like anything else in poker-there are many factors.