Becoming an unpredictable poker player is one of the best ways to keep your opponents guessing and gain an edge at the table. In this article, we’ll cover six key steps to help you mix up your strategy, disguise your intentions, and keep your opponents off balance in every hand.
Don’t Have A Fixed Strategy
When you walk into the cardroom, do people know how you play? Can they say something like, “oh, that’s Terry. Terry is a solid player.” Or can they say, “oh that’s Veronica. She’s always putting pressure on everyone!”
You don’t want to be known for any play style. I’ve had people bitch me out for being too tight and for being too crazy. You need to take what the table is prepared to give you.
Look for the right openings and your play style will naturally change on each deal. People won’t know what to expect. That’s the key to becoming an unpredictable poker player.
Bluff Nits
Most people are not capable of bluffing. This makes them insanely predictable. You can just yawn every time they bet the river and fold. If you work some bluffs into your game, you will be much more difficult to deal with. The easiest bluffs you can include are versus nits.
If someone looks satisfied with themselves every time they fold and they stack their chips precisely, this is your target. Seek out a situation where the nit knows they’re supposed to defend, but he or she isn’t quite sure how to do that.
Did the nit call you out of the big blind? Did the nit just flat you in a multiway pot when there’s a flush draw on the board? These are situations where nits have too many hands. They’re not sure how to defend them.
Nits are always terrified that some draw is going to beat their huge hand, so they constantly raise on the flop when there are flush draws out there if they have a set or two pair. If they just flat you, they likely have one pair. Nits are horrible at calling down with one pair. Blast them. Let’s see how brave they are.
Value Bet Stations
Most of your opponents are going to be calling stations. These are people who got some time off work and they want to play some cards. They don’t want to fold for six hours straight during their day off. They want to see some flops and try to win some pots.
These players cold call too much preflop. They are constantly waffling around post-flop because they flopped something mediocre, and they have no idea what to do with it. They constantly look lost because they’re not studying their game.
Versus these players, pick a halfway decent top pair and don’t stop betting. If you don’t want the pot size to get out of control, bet 30-40% of the pot. The stations struggle to raise and turn their hands into bluffs, so they’ll likely just keep calling you.
Trap Maniacs
Most maniacs at low to middle stakes are not that creative. They love the action or the attention and get extremely bored when they’re folding.
They usually have favorite boards they like to bluff on. Some like Ace high boards because they assume you have a bunch of weak Aces that might fold by the river, and they feel they can represent the best Ace as the preflop raiser. Some maniacs see you flat on a board with flush draws and straight draws, and they assume you would have raised with sets and two pairs for protection, so they keep firing at you.
Be an unpredictable poker player. Figure out what boards they like firing on. Make a halfway decent hand and don’t let go. Sometimes they’ll hit a ridiculous two pair, but you’ll catch them bluffing a large percentage of the time.
Pay Attention To Table Dynamics
If you simply implemented the playbook we discussed above, most recreational players and mediocre regulars would have a hard time knowing what to make of you. They’d see you shut down and not bluff versus stations but go completely berserk against a nit. They’ll look at you and think “that guy is an unpredictable poker player.”Most of them will not think long enough to realize you’re tailoring your strategy to each player. They will just think you’re an emotional player who isn’t predictable at all.
This is enough to fool most players, but for extra credit, get good at understanding table dynamics.
This is best illustrated with a common example:
There are many nits who will start tilting a few hours into their session. If the last few months have been rough for them and they lose to a couple of 9-3s in a row, they’re not going to be happy. You’ll see them start playing faster and folding with more anger. This is a tell that they’re about to switch from nit to maniac. The next time their A-Ko misses, they’re going to lose it. You’re going to have to call them down light.
If your opponents don’t pick up on this shift, they will have no idea why you changed your strategy. Again, they’ll think you’re making it up as you go. They’ll not be able to predict what you’re going to do next.
Don’t Tell People Your Strategy
Do not talk strategy at the table, ever.
Whenever someone tells you their hand on the river just say a sarcastic and loud, “I believe you!” Every single time. This tends to shut down this dumb table talk pretty quickly.
If someone asks what you had tell them, “I’m not good enough to tell people my hands.”
And if someone asks you why you did something just say, “I had a feeling.”
I can’t tell you how often I sit down at a live table and some player starts talking about what poker coaches they like or strategies they like. This lets me know exactly what I can and can’t get away with. If they had never offered that information in the first place, I would be clueless! No unpredictable poker player lets that kind of information out about them.
Conclusion
By avoiding predictable patterns and tailoring your play to each opponent, you’ll become a formidable force at the table. Embracing flexibility, reading table dynamics, and keeping your strategy to yourself will ensure you stay one step ahead of your competition.
Want to read more from APT Head Pro Alex Fitzgerald? Try his article about the 7 Ways to Make Better Poker Decisions.
