Playing too tight? I know why.

R

Rational Madman

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If you find that you are playing like a chicken and that people are walking circles around you with their big bluffs forcing you to fold, then the one time you want to prove that you "got balls" they got four of a kind to your full-house which results in you playing even tighter then I need to explain a vital skill in poker to you which is not present in a game like Chess or Connect-4; the willingness to be wrong.

The reason why you don't want to fold that fullhouse to the huge bet but find you keep folding to constant bluffs is that the real sharks on the table have sensed an unwillingness to be wrong in both your personality and your playstyle (it needs to be present in both for them to really get under your skin). Your unwillingness to be wrong is why you won't lay down a good hand regardless of bet size of the opponent and why you refuse to reraise with bad hands no matter how loose they've been playing thus far.

Is there a solution? There is but it's not as simple as just being willing to be wrong because you will end up playing too loose if you go to that extreme. You need to learn to play a mixed style that fundamentally tight-aggressive but not entirely so. You need to make people realize that you will engage their big bets but also randomly fold to even small bets if you read them as having an actual strong hand, meaning they cannot predict you and constantly are going to be leaking reads to you since they are trying to 'tame you' into one playstyle where they then can take advantage.

You should stop 'needing to know' and start to care about 'half-knowing' and making 'educated guesses'. This is the key to going from amateur to pro but this is not how you go from raw beginner to mediocre, that's just knowing card odds and playstyles.
 
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johnny2shoes

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very insightfull, i was going to ;)ask at what level do u think what u said helps or works at , micro,mid or high online or live,then i read your last paragraph..also its just a bit like sittting down at a game and waiting till you feel comfy then start plauing a little.. for me i like to start with winning a half decsent wph handbe it a value bet or a good bluff catch then thats a doorway to play with their heads...u got any more thoughts would like to hear,, ok cool dude,,,;)
 
R

Rational Madman

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very insightfull, i was going to ;)ask at what level do u think what u said helps or works at , micro,mid or high online or live,then i read your last paragraph..also its just a bit like sittting down at a game and waiting till you feel comfy then start plauing a little.. for me i like to start with winning a half decsent wph handbe it a value bet or a good bluff catch then thats a doorway to play with their heads...u got any more thoughts would like to hear,, ok cool dude,,,;)
This is also an important aspect of poker; even if you lose on your close call or bluff-raise, you then have lenience in that you now can play a lot tighter and get paid off.

Poker is, in my opinion, about transforming like a chameleon but always at your core being tight aggressive.
 
TheNutz4You

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I agree you must mix up strats to keep the players guessing. fall into a rythem and they can exploit you for your tendencies
 
terryk

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If you find that you are playing like a chicken and that people are walking circles around you with their big bluffs forcing you to fold, then the one time you want to prove that you "got balls" they got four of a kind to your full-house which results in you playing even tighter then I need to explain a vital skill in poker to you which is not present in a game like Chess or Connect-4; the willingness to be wrong.

The reason why you don't want to fold that fullhouse to the huge bet but find you keep folding to constant bluffs is that the real sharks on the table have sensed an unwillingness to be wrong in both your personality and your playstyle (it needs to be present in both for them to really get under your skin). Your unwillingness to be wrong is why you won't lay down a good hand regardless of bet size of the opponent and why you refuse to reraise with bad hands no matter how loose they've been playing thus far.

Is there a solution? There is but it's not as simple as just being willing to be wrong because you will end up playing too loose if you go to that extreme. You need to learn to play a mixed style that fundamentally tight-aggressive but not entirely so. You need to make people realize that you will engage their big bets but also randomly fold to even small bets if you read them as having an actual strong hand, meaning they cannot predict you and constantly are going to be leaking reads to you since they are trying to 'tame you' into one playstyle where they then can take advantage.

You should stop 'needing to know' and start to care about 'half-knowing' and making 'educated guesses'. This is the key to going from amateur to pro but this is not how you go from raw beginner to mediocre, that's just knowing card odds and playstyles.
Your best post so far,,,,by far;) Nicely done.
 
froggeedogs

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this was always my downfall when playing. good read and good advice. I know my game has changed tremendously since I started playing on line this time.
 
Amanda A

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I agree, very good advice. If you are never wrong, never lose a hand, you are playing way too tight. I don't like losing hand either. I have to remind myself it's ok once in a while. :)
 
MattRyder

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You should stop 'needing to know' and start to care about 'half-knowing' and making 'educated guesses'.
All very well put. When playing online i will sometimes jam and then leave the room to get a coffee or whatever. When I come back I'm either still in the game or I'm not.
 
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Hey, man!
Thx for a nicely put thoughts, however there are still some opponents who barely read my game and those bad beats, ehhh, don't know what to do with them, the board is K79 fish raises I re-raise with pocket JJ he goes all in, I know that he doesn't have K, I go as well and he shows me QQ:confused:
 
fialhosm

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This explanation helped me a lot to see my wrong way of playing and seek to improve it.
Thank you very much for this post very well placed in our forum.
 
ayahuasca

ayahuasca

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You should stop 'needing to know' and start to care about 'half-knowing' and making 'educated guesses'.
This!!
Thank you for this post, you definitely seized the point!
 
CarlosLemarDixon

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I really enjoyed reading this. Poker is a sport with many complexities and that's why I love it. I'm now wondering; Is their a difference between "Strategy" and "Play style?
I't would be great to get a good answer to that question or someone can point me in the right direction.
Thanks.
 
theRaven68

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balanced offense and defense, mix of tight and lose and knowing when to fold
 
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This is good for table image too not just winning more hands... last night, for example, I was on the button and called a sizeable 3-bet with 76 suited. The villain had QQ and decided to shove after the flop which was 7h, Kc, 6h... I took down the pot and got a "lol" in chat from the villain as if I'd done something wrong or stupid. The reality is, I hand't. I was in position, had a decent enough stack and took the villain's action on their over-play. While I didn't win the tournament, it was crucial in the game because the others knew that I was capable of "playing anything" to win. I ended up lasting quite a while before getting chewed up by the blinds. Overall it was a good experience.

Anyway, nice post. Keep it up! And good luck at the tables!
 
Warrior1961

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Hi everyone.
Humbly given my rookie status, I think the best thing at the beginning of any game, be it cash, sit and go or mtt, is to play tight, getting involved in not too many hands. The time will come to play looser or with longball strategy on mtt (my wife and I are starting to try it on freerolls).
Greetings.
 
barbados

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If you are afraid to make mistakes in poker, then you will be afraid to admit your own mistakes in everyday life. And you will stop developing as a person. This is an axiom, in the language of geometry.
 
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