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.

First you need to understand what a tight poker table is. Tight players are those who only play a few hands before the flop. When they play what they have they will usually raise since you can count that they have strong cards. They also rarely easily give up when they play what they have since they have waited for a while for a good hand.

Tight players still have different styles of play but it is safe to assume that when they play their cards, it is often based on solid values. Remember that you need some good cards on your hand if you want to call the raise of a tight player. Another safe assumption will be that they will bet out on different flops or hold back when they get a scare card.

Strategy

When playing against tight players you need to remember that you should know the risk when calling a raise from someone you read as a tight player but be willing to push for a raise yourself. Tight players will most likely re-raise you and push you off when they got monster cards but they also have a tendency to fold when they feel your strength.

It will be easier to read tight over loose players but it does not follow that you will rake in more chips when you play against them.

You also have to consider your position when playing at kind of tight tables. You need to look at how you are positioned from the dealer button and from the pre-flop raiser. Late position somehow gives you an advantage of stealing blinds against your opponents.

Also remember that sitting on the immediate left of a preflop raiser can give you some problems. Early position raises can make you vulnerable to the strong plays of the other opponents who have yet to make a move and since you are playing a tight table, your opponents will most like play it strong for their starting hands when they got good cards.

For example, a lot of people select hands poorly.  Like playing too many hands – even if they are bad ones instead of folding; if you are on a losing streak, take it and run with it … quit for a while.

You always want to make sure that while you are staying with your head in the game that you are not going to get stuck in a rut, unable to get out.  That happens to, too many players and they end up losing quite a bit of money, which is not what poker should be all about.

To make this strategy work, you NEED to have the experience Gavin Smith has, and I wouldn’t advice it for any novice player.

Still, very good video, I enjoyed it. Thanks Gavin!

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