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1. First, you've got to identify opponents who habitually use deception, since these are the ones that bother you and interfere with your prospects of making profit from weaker foes. It''s easy to identify them.
They slow play hands that at surprising times. At other times, they bet and keep betting. They raise often and sometimes unexpectedly. They bluff often, along with all those other annoying and aggressive maneuvers. In short, it's hard for you to determine what they're doing at any moment.
But, even though they're hard to figure out, they're not really playing a profitable game of poker. They suffer from what we call “Fancy Play Syndrome” – the habit of trying to find the most creative play instead of the most profitable, more obvious one. (We'll probably delve into that more in a future column).
All you know about Jack and Jill is they're tricky and, on balance, way too aggressive for your taste. Identifying these deceptive players is easy. What to do about them is what might not be obvious, but all I''m asking you to do first is identify them by their traits.
2. Now that you've identified these aggressive-and-deceptive opponents, here''s the simple part of the secret. Whenever you're faced with this type of opponent, you should bet into them less often and call their bets more often. You should also raise them less often.
The governing logic is that you can make marginal “value bets” against opponents who are timid and who are intimidated by you. Remember, all this super-aggressive betting and raising, when used at the right times, means you're targeting a few extra dollars of profit. You're pushing things to the limit. But all this backfires when your opponents are aggressive and unpredictable. Those are the opponents that you don't what to value bet into and that you don't want to make marginal raises against.
Sure, sometimes you might make a forceful raise just to encourage an opponent to back off and “play nice.” But this doesn't work often with players like Jack and Jill. It''s especially unlikely to work if they have superior position, meaning they are seated close to your left, acting after you most of the time.
And if they're seated to your left, you should do a lot of checking and calling. That will drive them nuts and completely dismantle their aggressive-and-deceptive tactics.
Checking and calling is especially good if they bluff a lot. Repeat: On each betting round, just check and call. That way, you'll get maximum value from their bluff attempts. Betting with marginal hands isn't good (even though this would be long-range profitable against timid opponents), because they'll maximize their profit by raising too often when they do have you beat. Additionally, by betting, you give them less opportunity to lose money by making their mistake of bluffing too often.
3. Another part of the secret is that trying to get even with Jack and Jill is interfering with your strategy against the weaker players, which is where your profit lies. Even if you could fight back to an even footing against J and J by using their own tactics, you will have diminished your profit by neglecting to concentrate on extracting money from the weak, timid opponents. So, let them have the stage. Let them try to destroy you with their too-forceful tactics. Realize that it''s impossible for them to succeed unless you let them.
The Goddess Asks
Do women have an advantage over men at the poker table?
