loafes
Legend
Silver Level
I've been playing poker for roughly 1.5 years and although that isn't a lot, it is enough to have picked up a few things about the game and observe some minor changes in the overall quality of the typical player pools as well as changes to the prominent styles. It's pretty apparent that poker is a lot tougher than it used to be and no doubt will continue to be tougher. Not that I think poker is going to be unprofitable any time soon, especially at the micros, it's just that these days you can come across players even as low as 5NL that seem to actually be capable of reading a hand or thinking!
All that aside though, what I really want to bring up in this thread is a trend, it seems that a lot of talk about poker will bring fourth terms like LAG and TAG style. The thing is I've been wondering about this. Is it really so black and white as to say that the way to win is to play TAG/LAG? It seems to me that playing good winning poker is not so much about playing a specific style or specific range (bar some particular situations) but instead it seems like it's much more dynamic than that. My belief is that winning poker is more about adjusting to dynamics and playing out situations basically finding the right spots and profiting from them or making them profitable.
I just feel that the game is so dynamic, so often changing that banding about such black and white phrases as TAG is effecting the way that people play. I mean no two days are exactly the same and with poker being so dynamic in nature it seems like a winning play needs to always be ready to adjust to these subtle differences and go with the flow so to speak. I'm not sure what I would even consider myself these days. I seem to cross between playing tight some of the time and loose others, at times I might 3 bet any two cards when a specific player opens and others I will fold otherwise decent strength hands. It not only goes one way, I also suspect that categorizing other players into broad categories isn't helpful since no players will play exactly the same every session. Instead I think identifying how someone is playing in any given situation and then using any weakness you identify in order to profit is a much better way to play.
Just my thoughts. What are some of yours?
All that aside though, what I really want to bring up in this thread is a trend, it seems that a lot of talk about poker will bring fourth terms like LAG and TAG style. The thing is I've been wondering about this. Is it really so black and white as to say that the way to win is to play TAG/LAG? It seems to me that playing good winning poker is not so much about playing a specific style or specific range (bar some particular situations) but instead it seems like it's much more dynamic than that. My belief is that winning poker is more about adjusting to dynamics and playing out situations basically finding the right spots and profiting from them or making them profitable.
I just feel that the game is so dynamic, so often changing that banding about such black and white phrases as TAG is effecting the way that people play. I mean no two days are exactly the same and with poker being so dynamic in nature it seems like a winning play needs to always be ready to adjust to these subtle differences and go with the flow so to speak. I'm not sure what I would even consider myself these days. I seem to cross between playing tight some of the time and loose others, at times I might 3 bet any two cards when a specific player opens and others I will fold otherwise decent strength hands. It not only goes one way, I also suspect that categorizing other players into broad categories isn't helpful since no players will play exactly the same every session. Instead I think identifying how someone is playing in any given situation and then using any weakness you identify in order to profit is a much better way to play.
Just my thoughts. What are some of yours?