Signs I think a player is good

[CataracKid]

My opinion of what makes a player a good player has changed in the last year so I thought I'd attempt to start a discussion about it. I play mostly 6 handed or less, with some 10 handed mixed in. I generally play online.

Signs I think a player is good:

1) Tightness: Its the first sign that someone is edjucated about starting hands. Because I play so much shorthanded, I think that playing too tight is a problem for some players.... particularly the ones that don't use the image they have created with their tight play. I play some shorthanded players who have little chance of winning at all due to this single problem. So what used to be a key to winning 10 handed hold em is now the reason they have no chance of winning shorthanded (often this only applies to 4 handed or less). Ironic methinks.

2) Aggressiveness: You just can't be successful in poker without being selectively aggressive. This is even more true shorthanded.

3) Some decisions take longer than others. I'm not talking about the 10 tablers who might have just happened upon that table being up when its his turn to act. I'm talking about the people that are playing the table...and are THINKING.

Sounds like such a small thing. But how many players do you play that think every limit poker decision is an automatic one? Or how many players have the auto-raise button clicked before the action has gotten to them? I play against them constantly. Which means for 2 hours they often have not considered what my hand was even once.

A thinking player considers pot size. A thinking player considers odds. A thinking player considers what I may hold. Which leads to my next sign a player is good:

4) He avoids hands against me. I think with correct semibluffing strategy and the occasional bluff, I mix up my play enough to where I am not fun to play. I'm tight enough to where you have to think I usually have a good hand. Hell, I even pulled off 2 out of 3 river check-raise river bluffs last week, a new weapon in my arsenal that I will probably use once in 1,000 hands. But my instinct just told me it would work, and it did a couple of times.

5) He plays the same hands differently. By this I mean the player is not the guy 6 handed who will open raise any ace from any position. If the blinds are tight, fine; do it. If the whole table is tight, fine, do it. But many 3-6 players 6 handed raise any ace from any position and this is a mistake. So sometimes it is correct to raise A7o utg, and most of the time it is not.

6) He doesn't auto-continue bet his hands. Regardless of the flops. This makes a player horribly predictable and easy to extract extra bets from, particularly in small pots where he's going to be making big mathematical errors based on pot odds. Again this is mostly a shorthanded phenomenon.

7) He doesn't raise draws against a super aggressive player but he might chase without immediate odds because of implied odds.

He adjusts. This is the single biggest sign of a player who can play. You have to really watch a table to pick up on it. But even at 3-6, I play some players who adjust nicely to situations and to players.

9) He folds his blinds. Sounds odd; but 30% of the players I play defend their blind 100% of the time.

Great first post CataracKid. I agree the online game has changed ENORMOUSLY in the last two years.

If you "play by the book" you are going to see a lot of bad beats and get very frusterated. Not saying you need to play like a maniac, but you should be playing the players and game differently each time you sit down.

[gumbajohnny]

I love the guys that play by the book.
I still say the game is 50% luck.

[Amar]

I think another sign of a decent player (maybe not good, but somewhat advanced) is few all-ins in tournaments. Nothing shows me a guy can play then a guy check raising to 800 instead of 1500. It shows a guy is thinking about what he is doing and trying to make me think about his decision. CataracKid, I have to agree with you about the check raise bluff. I recently added it to my arsenal and its unbelievably effective. I do it much more often though (1 in 50 or so).

Amar

[BDMK]

two key points i loved in the initial post of this thread:

-selectively agressive (as opposed to all the myriad *clueless aggressive* wannabe iveys, hansens and negreanus who alas IMHO represent up to 99% of all online players nowadays)

-adjusting to present circumstances (it should go without saying but again...see above lol)

[Armenianpokerclub]

Gonna bump this thread because I feel its neccesarry for us affiliates to know about how to win at online poker now a days.



1. Cac was right, tightness is the first thing anyone looks at to find out if a player has general knowledge or not.

2. My expertise is in full ring 10 handed Fixed limit holdem from low stakes ( 1-2 to high stakes 100-200 ) I have player over 2 million hands in the past 3 years and pretty much have every level of this game mastered.

This game use to be so easy I was making 50k a month without even thinking about any decisions and playing automatic ABC poker. True I was missing some value by not thinking about decisions, but I was playing 12-20 tables at once so what I was missing in slight value I was gaining in sheer volume of play.

Changes -

Now these games are barely beatable, heck last night I was playing 9 tables on stars and the highest table flops seen percentage was at 21%. In the partypoker days there was never any tables below 25% flops seen percentage and now they are so hard to find.

7 pros on every table - Now you will always find at least 4-7 pros on every full ring table you play on. I played on a table of 8 pros at 1 dollar 2 dollar limit at stars about 3 weeks ago and was so discusted I withdrew all my money from stars.

How to adjust.

You have to play less tables now, more than ever before. You cannot get away with playing too many tables.

You must think about every decision and not miss any value on any street

You must get even tighter from early positions and more aggressive in stealing positions.

Take more and more notes on the pros you will see on every talbe, get to know them better than they know themselves. Pick up their tendensies their betting patterns betting timing.

Game selection. DO not play in any games where the avg pot amount is less than 10X the big blind amount. These tables are only beatable by the best of the best.

Money management.

Now more than ever it is more important to take advantage of all bonus offers to the maximum and all rakeback offers to the maximum. Without these offers I dont believe you can make any money in online poker below the 10-20 level. But with these bonuses and rakeback revenue you can make 5k a month for even the lowest level of players, as long as you can put in the time and multi-table well.

[Brandon]

You were making 50k a month on $1 - $2 limit?

[Graham]

Interesting thread. Lately I have been really working on my game and have been doing a lot better online. I try to mix my game up constantly so that I am never predictable (ie. one hand check the nuts, then next raise it). I find that constantly varying your play, utilizing bankroll management, playing your position, and knowing your competition are the most important factors to do well at online poker. Also, being able to fold monster hands at critical times will save you a lot of $$$ also.

[Brandon]

Says DFL

[xpertadvice4u]

Originally Posted by CataracKid

I think that playing too tight is a problem for some players.... particularly the ones that don't use the image they have created with their tight play. I play some shorthanded players who have little chance of winning at all due to this single problem.

Could you elaborate on how they are supposed to use their tight image during shorthanded play?

If you are truly Tight, then you do not play many hands at all.

So, do you mean they should use their tight image to play more hands than they would normally play?

But won't a sharp player like yourself pick up on quickly on that in a short-handed game?

Hard for me to tell the difference between using your image as tight to covertly loosen up, versus just loosening up???

Is it your point that tight players who do not loosen up cannot win in head to head or shorthanded?

Not sure how using the image really works for more than a hand or two.
Just takes one hand where you see that the guy raised on 27 offsuit to conclude his image is not reliable any more.