How changing gears can help your poker game
When you are driving a car with a manual gearbox, it is necessary to change gears so you will have enough power from the engine and cruise at your desired speed. You just cannot stick to a single gear since your car will be ineffective and you will have some problems along the way.
Driving your car is similar to how you play the game of poker. It is a good practice to change gears when playing poker and later your game. Varying your style of play will help you adapt to the dynamics of the game.
Changing gears means you trying to be unpredictable by deviating from your usual kind of game. Remember that your poker strategy of the start of the game might work but as you go along, it may give you some trouble.
Shifting gears during a poker game does not mean going from being a super tight player to an ultra loose one the next second. You should vary your game depending on how the poker game is going. The other players and how things are going for you may require you from playing it loose to switcing to being tight.
There are several reasons why you should change gears in poker. The other players around the table will somehow figure out your poker strategy and game style and this will mean a big advantage for them.
If you go tight-aggressive all the way, there will come a point when your opponents can push you back and take your chips away. Vary your game so you will be unpredictable. Tight aggressive is a good gear to stay on but you need to change gears in a number of situations to keep the other players guessing.
How to play it wisely: Positioning in Deep-Stacked Cash Poker
Knowing how to play when you are in position in deep stacked hold’em poker cash games is crucial if you don’t want to go home a sorry loser. Yes, position is still key like in any other round of poker but during deep stacked games, you will be faced with more occasions of fairly big bets during the turn and the river. It will be futile to make a big bet call when you are not in a good position.
Let us say you are holding an off suit A-J and is being three bet by an aggressive player pre-flop. What should you do? In case you are in a deep 100 big blind then you can consider calling it and pushing it all in when you get a pair or when you think you have a good fold equity. Put your opponent in a tough spot and check raise upon seeing the flop. The other player will be against a wall when he misses the flop or when he has marginal hands.
Let us say in another scenario you are in a 300BB. You again face a very aggressive opponent but I am pretty sure you will not be comfortable going at it when you just hit a pair. Even when you think he is not playing very well, the post flop might just push you against the edge and put your stack in a really bad shape. In a deep stacked game, an opponent can easily put pressure on you when you make a mistake with the other player having a lot of money still to check raise you when he thinks you made a donkey move.
When you are out of position, you should even have a tighter grip. On the other hand, play it really aggressive when you know you are in a good position.
Maneuverability is the name of the game when you are doing deep-stacked hold’em. And always, the player in position is highly favoured. Try floating, flat calling or three betting when you are in position. Put those players who fold too much for example. Apply pressure and you will be getting most of their money at the end of the day.
Learn to take a Bad Beat
When playing poker, getting smacked in the face with the deck happens in both ways. Some sessions, you'll hit your gutshots on the turn - and other sessions, people will run over your Aces with the 56s like they're destined. Dealing with this type of situations is one of the biggest differences between online poker and real 'gambling' like online bingo or roulette. The misconception of control in poker hurts when looked at on a hand-to-hand basis. Obviously, control is relatively attainable in the long run, but it's hard to focus on the long run when you get beat hand after hand in any given session.
Here's a prime example from Youtube of a guy who obviously feels like the deck hates him more than it hates others...
My only tip, be prepared, whenever you play poker, to get these beats - try not to tilt too badly, and you'll do just fine!
