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Roy Cooke

Roy Cooke is a high stakes Poker Player/Real Estate broker living in Las Vegas. He has been the Senior Columnist for Card Player magazine for over 25 years. Through this blog you will learn valuable poker tips and information. Let's play good!

Adjusting As You Go

 

Many reasonably knowledgeable players play poorly because they are too predictable. It’s not that their strategy is invalid; it’s that their opponents know their tactics and have successfully adjusted.

To play poker well, you must recognize the correct base strategy for your current situation, not allow your opponent’s to read you effectively and know when to adjust due to situational changes, such as when your opponent’s have picked up on your strategy. You should vary your play not only because the texture of the game has changed, but also to keep your opponents’ in doubt. Determining those strategies requires both knowledge and concentration.

Additionally, you have to know when to adjust your strategies. Sometimes the game changes, someone goes on tilt, players come and go; sometimes it’s just that your opponents have figured your strategy. Whatever the reason, a different line of play is needed.

It’s important to continuously follow the action, always think about how your opponents are thinking and develop lines of play based on their thoughts. Keep in mind that your opponents’ thinking changes over the course of the game. Also, keep in mind that many players never modify. They’re predictable, easy to read, and to counter. It’s not where you want to be.

So, think about what strategies will work best against this set of opponents when you first sit down. Think about how they think. Are they aggressive or scared? Patient or not? Understand position? Love suited cards? Call 3-bets with wired pairs? The questions are almost endless. Closely observe any changes to the game’s texture, your opponents’ emotional state or their rational thought process. Think about how any plays you have shown might affect how they will play you in the future. Then contemplate how you can effectively adjust to those changes.

If you continuously make those adjustments accurately, you’ll be one step ahead of your competition and render yourself unpredictable without having to make any –EV plays to throw you opponents off. It’s much better to randomize your play without cost than to utilize losing strategies to achieve the same effect.
Yes, this is short and sweet, and the details are incredibly demanding. But many players seem to overlook the big picture.

Don’t let yourself become too predictable. Do continuously pay attention and adjust your strategies to the current situation. Learn different styles of play so that you can successfully adapt to any game changes. Complacency is not the way to winning at poker.
And if you do all this effectively, poker will become both more profitable and more interesting.

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Immediate Indicators

Poker players often tell me “I had no idea how he plays. I’d only been there for a few hands. ” That’s a really bad answer. Players often give indications to their style, mentality, and experience level before they even play a hand.

When you first walk up to the poker table, you should be observing your future opponents. What are the stack sizes? How do they stack their chips? Usually the neater they stack, the more conservative the player. With what experience level do they hold their cards and handle their chips? That’s indicative of how experienced they are at poker. Are they focused and paying attention? If so, we know they are serious and trying to play their best. Are they talkative? Is their talk sociable or boisterous? Sociable player’s tend to play more ABC, boisterous tend to play more aggressively. How do any new players react to posting the BB? Did they wait for the blinds, post behind, or post immediately because they looking to get into action ASAP?

Obviously, the more information you acquire on an opponent, the better your decisions will be. How they think, what hands they play and how they strategize their play of hands is the most important component. But that takes time at the table with them to make those determinations. There are immediate indicators such as those stated above can give you a quicker, though more basic, line on their play. Think about them, observe them, and use them!

And you won’t be so much in the blind when you first sit down!

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Creating Your Image

What does our opponent think you’re thinking? That thought, mostly generated by your actions at the poker table, hugely determines how your opponent is going to read you, and more importantly, play you.

You need to be aware of what image you’re projecting at the poker table. Generally speaking, your opponents will have stronger impressions from recent events or unusual incidents. What have you projected in your last couple of hours at the poker table? What memorable hands have you previously played with this particular opponent? Have you played a lot of hands, maybe even some questionable ones? Are your current opponents aware of this? If so, your opponent’s are likely to think you are playing a wide range of hands? Having a loose image is beneficial when you are trying to win your opponent’s chips by getting them to call in more situations where they should fold. It’s challenging to get calls when your image is tight.

Conversely, if you haven’t picked up a hand in a while and the few you’ve showed down have been strong holdings, you’re opponents are likely to think you’re playing a tight, narrow range of hands. Having a tight image is helpful when you’re strategizing to win your opponents money by making them fold more often when they should call, more commonly known as bluffing. Your bluffs will have more value when you have a tight image, less value with a loose image.

Creating an image conducive to the strategy you’re looking to implement strengthens your strategy. You can often do this by making a few “deception” plays early in a session when your opponent’s first impressions will be lasting. This can be by playing loosely for a few hands, or showing a tight fold. Throwing in a few choice words, like “I’m just here for fun, not to play for a living” or “You must have this easily beat” when showing a tight fold will draw additional attention to the image you’re trying to create.
You also create your image with your non-poker actions. Players who are attentive and quiet tend to be viewed tighter than players who are interactive, talkative and friendly. If you’re looking for action, get rid of the headset and baseball cap.

When you first sit down at a table think about how you wish to be perceived. Are you going to bluff your way to victory or are you looking to make hands and get them paid off. Whichever your choice, establish the corresponding image. By manipulating your image, you’ll increase the odds of success for your correlating plays.

And always be aware of your image. Sometimes it’s the cards you’ve been dealt that sets your image. But whether you’ve fashioned the image yourself or it was crafted by other circumstances, think about your image is and how that will affect your opponents.

And adjust your play of marginal situations based on that image! Then when they’ve caught on, change it up!

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Time and Life Management for Poker!

Time management is a business concept, but poker is a business for those who take it seriously. Many players manage their time by simply playing until they’re tired, then going to bed and repeating that sequence day in and day out. Generally speaking, they lead unhappy lives. A poker life offers much to those who manage it well. But manage it poorly, and your life will be wretched.

To play poker at a high level takes a lot time and effort. You need to find the time to work on your game so that you’re constantly improving. And, unless you’re playing high-limits at select times, grinding out significant money will take long hours. And then there’s the rest of your life, if poker is the only element in your life, it’s probably going to be an unhappy one!
Pros, semi-pros and recreational players all need to adapt their life to poker and vice-versa. The high stress and the emotional swings of winning and losing all take a toll. It takes substantial understanding from friends and family to keep those relationships happy. Conversely, it takes understanding from the poker player to avoid getting overly wrapped up in poker and ignoring the needs of their important relationships!

If you’re a recreational player, you need to create times when you can play and not ignore the other needs in your life, like work and relationships. Set aside times when the games are best that still coordinate with life’s other important aspects. Don’t diverge from that schedule, even when losing, unless it doesn’t impede with life. Keeping your life stable will help your poker world stability, and you’ll play better too.

If you’re playing for a living, it’s a different equation. You need to be in the poker room when the getting is good. Games tend to be better on weekends and late at night, often conflicting with your family and friends schedules. If you can sacrifice the extra money to prioritize your family, it’s probably a good tradeoff. Many pros have families, and their consideration has to have huge influence on your poker decisions. Having an understanding spouse/significant other is huge. Have this conversation with your family, explain the benefits for all. Make the effort to offset your family’s sacrifices with other events, and not just financially.

If you don’t have many other commitments, schedule your playing time to when the games best fit your skill and style and also fit your personal effectiveness schedule. If you aren’t sharp at certain times, such as, if you’re a better morning person, play the mornings. Many pros sit and burn themselves out in marginal games because they have little else to do or are trying to offset “bad runs.” Don’t! Utilize your time and energy efficiently, play when times are good. Take breaks, live and enhance life when your time has less value. Schedule your life around weekends, nights, specialty times and tournaments. You‘ll play better poker when you’re well rested and refreshed. And you’ll have a happier life!

If you’re going to play a lot of poker, you need to structure your life to make it a happy one. It takes discipline and planning. Many deeply into poker let poker consume them. And that consummation devastates their life. They destroy their relationships, and their happiness gets attached to how they are running in poker. Poker is full of long-term, cynical, and unhappy participants who have little else in their life!

When you’ve destroyed the relationships with those who care about you and your happiness in life is dictated by the turn of a card, you’re going to have a lot of unhappiness in your life.

Don’t allow yourself to fall into that trap!

“The Cooke-Berman Team”
Realty ONE Group
Roy and Misty Cooke with Bea Berman
Broker/Salespersons
702-376-1515 Roy and Misty
702-271-2577 Bea
http://www.RoyCooke.com
“We appreciate your referrals”

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Growing Your Game

Are you constantly working on your poker game, both at and away from the table? If you’re not those that are, are going to get you!
The learning process for poker is a never-ending one. You need to make the commitment to take the actions required to learn the game. There is plenty of material by talented players to provide you all the information you need to play well.
Acquire a poker library and study it!
Learning from others experiences will prevent you from making the costly mistakes that they made.
That said, there are many additional aspects that you can only pick up on at the table. Things like player tendencies, exploitive strategies to their lines of play, their emotional reactions to events, etc.
In order to do that effectively you need to keep your mind on the game. It’s the only way to play your “A” game. Think through what has transpired. How did your opponents’ think to make the plays they made? How can you exploit their thoughts? What plays take advantage of your newfound knowledge?
Assess your own game.
 What are your weaknesses? What areas do you need to develop? Discipline? Emotional control? Play Knowledge? Additionally, continuously assess how you’re playing. Are you focused? Are you emotionally affected? Are you mentally tired?
Grow your game a little bit every day you play. Over time, you’ll grow into a much better player.
And when you play well, the chips will follow!
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Follow Your Instincts

“Ya got me” my opponent stated as he slid the chips in to call my river bet. And he was right; he wanted to “see it”. And it’s amazing how often those looking to “see it are right, they are beat. A lot  of poker decisions come down to instincts. And if you want to play well, you better hone those instincts.
 
 I constantly see players ignore their own instincts and make plays counter to them to their own detriment. I’m not saying you should never include your propensity to be in error into your poker decisions, but you need to both develop and trust your reads, particularly if the price is close. Those “see it “calls add up over time. So, have faith in yourself and act on your reads. I’ll bet your game will improve… 
 
Do you have the psychological strength to act on your reads? What other psychological inhibitions do you bring to the poker table with you?
 
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Playing with Fish-Vary Your Play

Fish are weak, unknowledgeable opponents that require a different strategy than knowledgeable opponents.
They’re the source of most of your profit, so you must locate them, get in their game and preferably put them on your right. Many players fear getting into games with great players, but they are approaching the “game selection” calculation from the wrong perspective. Assuming you play reasonably well, the good players will take little in edge from you, but a fish will likely over-compensate for any edge loss in a big way by providing a large edge in numerous situations.
 
Once you have him in your game, you need to size up his tendencies. Is he a passive fish, an aggressive fish, is he intimidated by the game and folding too much, or is he an uncertain soul that is paying everybody off? Once you determine his tendencies, determine what counter-strategies to apply. Do you want to bluff more, bet more, bet larger, etc? Think about how each fish’s weaknesses can be exploited.
Because your edge is larger when fish are in the pot, you can widen your range against the fish. That said, don’t overcompensate and become a fish yourself. Keep in mind the other players in the pot and those yet to act. You don’t want to put yourself in significant negative equity situations to our other opponents.
Most importantly, don’t tap the aquarium, it scares the fish. I constantly see players belittle poor play. It’s no way to treat your customers!! It’s both bad for business and classless manners, also.
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The Gap Concept, How it Plays and How to Use It

 
Conventional wisdom states that you need a better hand to call a raise than to raise yourself. It’s called the “Gap Theory”. The theory is that to profitably call the raise, your hand must play well against the range of hands which your opponent may hold. And many of the hands you’d raise with don’t perform well against a standard raising range.
 
Additionally, calling creates an assumption of risk from players yet to act, further weakening your holding. So,all else being equal, it’s generally true that you must have a better hand to call a raise with than you would raise with yourself.
 
For example, a tight player raises upfront, indicating a strong range and you hold KJ in the cutoff, a fold is in order. But had it passed to you, you would have an easy raise.
 
But your holding isn’t the only edge you can hold over an opponent. Your ability to play your hand, the strength of your opponent’s range, the texture of players yet to  act and position are also very important factors. You must incorporate all those elements into your decision.
 
So, while it often does take a stronger hand to call a raise than raise with yourself, consider all elements of the situation. Is there a way to increase your equity? Are there features of your opponent’s play that you can exploit? Are you considering all the risks?
 
Don’t just play by set guidelines; make sure you think through all the possibilities.
And make your best decision.
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Implied Odds/Reverse Odds

Implied Odds/Reverse Implied Odds
 
The term is often used, but many don’t understand its meaning. Implied odds are the positive expectation you can get from a hand’s future action.
 
If you hold a small wired pair, you can pre-flop without getting the current pot odds of approximately 7-1 odds of flopping a set because you know that if you flop a set, you are likely to have additional positive equity bets on future streets, making your call profitable. How short of a price you can effectively take depends upon your ability to acquire future positive equity action to make up for the current shortfall.
 
Reverse implied odds is the reverse. They generally occur when you hold a mediocre hand that has greater propensity to acquire negative equity rather than positive equity in the future. Examples of reverse implied odds might be when your hand has little chance of improving, an you read your opponent to be liable to have a hand that’s more likely to extract equity from you than the converse. You might be already beat, not be able to obtain action when your hand is good, drawing to a loser, against an opponent who will extract action when his hand is good though not when he is beat, etc.
 
When you hold a drawing hand with implied odds, you benefit from your potential future action. When your holdings overall edge is more likely to be disadvantaged by future action, you’re in a reverse odds situation.
 
So don’t quantify your hand by the odds that is currently good. Quantify it by the blended average of what you should win/lose should you play your hand forward. Obviously, there are unknowns as you can never be sure what your opponent will do. But by repeatedly doing these calculations, even when you’re not in a pot, you’ll get a good feel for the approximate odds.
An when the odds aren’t right, don’t continue.
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