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.

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.

Most poker tournaments have limits and if you are constantly playing ahead of your limit, you are going to lose a lot of money.  You always want to make sure that you are playing with an amount of money that you are comfortable with and not a penny more.

These tips and tricks were designed to assist you with winning – poker is not easy but it is definitely something that you can do!

The reason for this is because poker is a game about strategy and that takes a lot of concentration.  That is why drinking before you play poker is not the greatest idea, as that can definitely lower your concentration and your focus.

Focusing on the game is certainly something that you need to do in order to win – more tips and tricks in the next blog!

When you are just starting out – I can promise that you are going to make a heck of a lot of mistakes in poker.  Honestly, I do not think that anyone who just starts out does not make some of these common mistakes.  We are going to outline just a few of them, for all you beginners out there – make sure that you read this so you don’t repeat these particular mistakes.

First and foremost, most beginners play way too many hands.  It happens because most people as soon as they sit down, they want to play.  To be quite frank, that is not always what is going to happen, so make sure you understand that.  Next, you always play above your bankroll.  What that means is that most beginners actually play more money than they have.

These two mistakes can not only be costly but they are not going to make you a better poker player.  Keep that in mind.

One of the first terms that you need to learn is ‘board cards’, now these are not cards that are bored, they are the cards in the middle of the table that are shared by everyone.  Another term that you should be familiar with is ‘blinds’, this is the forced bets that take the place of an ante.  The person to the left of the dealer is the one that must pay the small blind and the person after him must pay the big blind.

A longhand in the game of poker is a game with seven or more people and in the next blog,

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!

Click here to view the embedded video.