Changing Your Playing Style?

Is it smart to try and change? I tried a different style last month, instead of playing just the cards i played my opp. and the cards, I did about average in those trnys. This month I decided to go back to my old ways of playing, only the 3rd and ive been to about 2 final tables. Even though i like my old way of playing i want to try and go back to the way i was last month. Any suggestions on what to do?

Play your style and the oppenents... ajust your style per the people at the table.. tight table allows you to loosen up a bit.. loose table.. you go tight..

I switch up styles here and there just to throw someone who may have seen me off. There are so many ways to change it up in on line poker. You can bet, call, and raise very fast every time or slow it down and use some clock every time. Some times the check/raise is a good one. Some times I'll just over bet for a little while and then go to a really tight game. I played as tight as a virgin's honnypot last night at the PFC. Then when my pocket Qs came I cut loose and ended up going out on a Very Bad Beat.Changing your style from one game to another or in the middle of a game is a good idea and there are so many ways to do so. You just have to pick and choose when and where you want to make the adjustment. Wish you the best of luck in jumping back to your old style, but throw in some of the new when you think of it.

I agree with both Dennis and twizzy here. Also i'll mention you have got your style down if youve made two final tables in the last 3 days. Now since you have gotten a feel for playing your opponents, use it at opportune moments, like if youve got GREAT cards and the flop comes three suited clubs, well you have to gauge your opponents hand and how they play it, even though niether of those Kings is a club; just two players in a hand, it is not likely that he already has the flush yet, or even a card of that suite in his hand that he would be willing to stake his stacks on IF you make him put YOU on the flush by pushing. So I know for myself it is nerve racking when you make a good play at the wrong time, but when the number of chips out there is worth stealing, just try to mix up your game and see how players react to your decisions. Putting your opponent in a bad position, and making them make tuff decisions can only increase your odds of coming out on top. Much luck on your future endeavors, and hope to see you around the forum. GL at the tables.

I think it is crucial to change-up your play, even mid-game. If you only play one way all the time, then your opponents will soon get a read on you and take advantage of it for all it's worth. Some tactics/styles may not work at some tables, but will on others; some might not work at all, but variety in my humble opinion is a MUST.

I read it as AA talking about switching strategy, not just "mixing it up". If it's the matter of trying to adopt to a new strategy altogether, then my advice would depend heavily on where you're at now and where you want to try to go. If you're playing tight/passive currently and want to be more aggressive, there are ways to work on that, and if you want to play tighter, there are ways for that.

Or if you want to just switch styles to learn from it, that can be done too, but I'm not so sure I'd recommend it. For instance, let's say you play tight/passive at the moment, but you're willing to pay the price of higher risk by trying out a loose/aggressive style for awhile: I wouldn't necessarily recommend that, even if you might learn a thing or two.

See, you probably play the way you do for a reason, and unless you've trimmed yourself to be tight/aggressive, that reason is that your current style fits whatever motives you have for playing. Radically switching styles may not only cost you money, but may be so counterintuitive to you that you won't learn from it anyway - because you just don't have it in you to be loose/aggressive, and so you only pick up the "bad" parts of the play, and miss out on the upsides.

Anyway, if you clarify what kind of change you're thinking about, I'm sure there are many here who can give you tips and pointers on how to best go about it.

Cheers,
FP

AA
It is not only smart to change your style it is inevitable, as you play more and gain more experience your game will evolve.

It would seem that you are finding now that you are starting to notice things that you may not have when you first started to play and you are trying different ways to use this previously unnoticed information (I am assuming that you are relatively new to poker. Forgive me if I’m wrong).

Perhaps instead of just completely changing your style, tinkering with your game by adding bits here and changing other things there is the way to go.
I mean the game you win with at .05\10c is not going to be the same winning game at $5 \ $10 as you are up against players with experience built up over many thousands of hands, the same experience as you are now starting to gain.

As for suggestions well don’t just change your game for changes sake let your game evolve by playing, reading and studying and you will notice that in twelve months time that will not recognise the style you are playing now.

One more thing, forget about using one months results vs another months results, I have had losing months where I honestly believe that I have played some of my best poker and winning months where I could of let my mother play and still would have shown a healthy profit. A true test of players results probably can’t be made until the day after he stops playing or dies, which ever comes first.

Good luck, great question, keep asking them,
Rocka.

rocka13 said:

One more thing, forget about using one months results vs another months results, I have had losing months where I honestly believe that I have played some of my best poker and winning months where I could of let my mother play and still would have shown a healthy profit.

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Excellent point.

Thanks for the tips, not really trying to give my style a total makeover, but I was just trying to like change some parts. Ive been playing for about 2 years now, so im not really new but im not all that well experienced either. I still have problems on reading my opp. unless they make it that obvious, knowing when they're bluffing, reading the cards. Simple stuff like that but valuable stuff.

Okay, let's see:

Would you describe yourself as "tight" (you play only very strong starting hands) or "loose" (you like to see the flop with many hands, and decide where to go from there)? On a scale of 1-10 or so.

Also, would you describe yourself as "aggressive" (will bet hard with hands that believe have a good chance of being the best) or "passive" (would rather not risk being beat and prefer calling to cut your losses). Again, on a scale from 1-10.

If your object is to increase your overall winnings, the easiest way to start is usually to work on your starting hand requirements and tighten up a bit, if you're not tight enough already.

Going from loose to tight is harder than it sounds, because you (especially after playing for two years) have a lot of experience in flopping sets with low pairs or full houses with 85o, etc, and you can easily fool yourself into believing that some cards are still worth playing, despite every advice going against it.

But it depends on where you stand and where you want to go. If you can supply us with some numbers on your relative tightness/aggression, we can work from there.

I think the post was about AA. If that is the case, there are only two ways to play them, aggressive or fold. You can try and be cute and just call and pray someone raises behind you so you can reraise. I just hope you have a good read on the table and know someone will raise or you are waiting for trouble.

If you are talking about general poker style, then I like to change gears constantly. I don't like to play the same hand twice the same way. I actually got someone who was talking out loud at the table saying that I know you did not trip up on the flop of JJ6 since you bet it out, you should slow play that. I had the hardest time not laughing because I actually did trip up and he had not clue and paid me off dearly. The hardest players to read are the one where you have no clue what they are playing and what they are betting with, top pair, set, low pair, draws, etc.

Im a tight player, dont play too many hands unless I have a good feeling about it, for the most part, it depends on my position at the table and how the others betted. so I would say im a tight player and give it an 8

when i have a hand i'd say i was aggressive, I will usually bet the pot at the max and i would say atleast a 7 1/2