You might notice that rather than starting out with a discussion of starting hand requirements or how to bet, I am beginning with a chapter titled “Playing the Player.”
Why am I doing this?
Because without an understanding of how your opponent's play, you won't be able figure out when is the right time to play a particular hand or how much to bet against a certain player. Being able to figure out how to “play the player” is what will make the difference between being great and just being average.
Many people believe that being able to read other players and to have the guts to make plays against them is something that can't be learned... it's instinctual. While it may be difficult for someone with naturally passive tendencies to turn that around, it's much like any other learned behavior. It can be changed through repetition. In this chapter, I will lay out some concepts and provide you with some tools that will help you understand the mindset of your opponents. I will show you how you can learn to think like them and give you various ideas on how to best take advantages of their weaknesses while avoiding their strengths.
There are five main parts to this chapter. The first part is table dynamics, which is in essence figuring out the makeup of your entire table and determining a course of action.
What do I mean by this?
Let's say you sit down at a table and after the first five hands you notice that it's been raise/fold every hand. What is your best course of action here? What if you are at a table where everyone is limping in and/or calling raises? What if the table is full of loose aggressive players? Table dynamics will help you figure out what exactly is going on and what your best strategy is to be successful.
The second part is player observation. This might seem simple to you on the surface but there is more to it than meets the eye. I'll discuss with you what you should be looking for and how you can make sense of the information you collect. Using this information, you'll then move onto the third part, player classification. In this section, you'll learn how to figure out what type of players you are up against. Are you facing a maniac or a loose aggressive player? Is the guy calling your bets just a weak, passive player or are they a calling station?
It's not just enough to be able to classify a player. You must know how to best play against that type of player as well. In order to help you do this, we will spend time getting into the mind of your opponent.
How do we do this?
Well, by acting like them of course. We'll do some exercises that will have you playing like a maniac, a rock, a LAG, and a calling station that will help you better understand the mindsets of these types of players. Who knows you might even find your inner maniac and like it.
The last part of this section will take everything you learned in the first parts and show you some ideas on how to adjust your play based upon what you know about your opponents and how they play. Hopefully, when you're done with this chapter, you'll be able to move onto the rest of the book with a clearer understanding of why you'll play certain hands against certain players and avoid them against others.
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