Player Profile #1: The Older Gentlemen

Now this first post profiling player types might get me in trouble. Let me give a disclaimer that in no way am I condoning stereotypes or to "peg someone" immediately on what they look like. Just as a general guideline these are player types that I tend to see. I mean no offense with any of these player profiles.

The older gentlemen that I tend to see at poker tables are all usually good players. Most of the time however I'll notice that they play really tight and not as aggressive as they should be. This is just a common observation and no don't accuse me of being 'ageist'. As I've said, this is all just from personal observation and yes of course there are times where there are older gentlemen who play differently. There are certainly young men (and women) who play like this as well. My point is to watch for these traits:

1.) Look to see if they play very few hands and how often do they call preflop
2.) Do they raise or defend often?
3.) Do they play to the river when you raise?

Be careful with this profile. You could set yourself up into a big trap if you force the pot and try to bluff them at the wrong time with a lot of chips. All it takes sometimes is a moderate size bet and most of the time they'll just cave. If they call be careful. They are going on something and since they are tight they might be slow playing OR they're trying to catch cards OR seeing it down to the river. And if they raise, well you better have something.

And if you see this old man run for the hills:

One skill worth waiting for

The one thing every poker book talks about is playing PREMO hands. I've read a few books, and a majority say that if you suck at poker and you're stuck playing at a 10 person table full of sharks, you have to play with PREMO hands.

AA, AK, AQ, AJ, KK, KQ,KJ,QQ,QJ,JJ AND NOTHING ELSE! If you had no idea how to play then yes, this would be a good way to learn since most of the time if you paired the board you'd be ahead by a lot.

But getting these cards aren't very common. Most people would go nuts waiting for hands like these. But if there's one thing poker has taught me, is that careful preparation makes all the difference. You have to wait for these premium hands. Its very possible you'll play all night and not catch any cards. But you'll be happy when you do get them.

It all pays off in the end, since you can wait it out, not risk your chips, and learn who your opponents are. You might say "but they'll know you play tight" And I'll, "say so what?" You win a few hands this way or even steal a few pots they'll start respecting you and realize you ain't a fish. And with respect, you can start stealing a lot of pots. And once they catch on with that, well hey you can start playing tight again and land a whopper. Even better would be that you have everyone at the table guessing your style of play, they really have no idea what you're doing. Soon enough you'll have all the chips.

Busto!!!

One day, a long time ago, after not playing poker for almost an entire year I decided to play again. I called up a few buddies and we all agreed on playing poker. Upon arriving, to my surprise we were not playing NL holdem as I have grown to love. Instead, we were playing a home grown game called Busto. After much pleading, whining, and reasoning they were unmoved. We were playing Busto.

Busto is simple. Its basically NL holdem with a slight twist in stakes. One dollar buy in with 10 and 20 cent blinds. If you know anything about NL holdem, everyone is incredibly short stacked to begin with. My plan was more or less this: Go heavy on pots with any Ace rag or a king. There's no reason not to. If you hit it big a few times you've gotten a huge edge on your opponent since you'll be instantaneously big stacked. Now mind you this was a fine balance to figure out when to be aggressive with bad cards but it was definitely worth the experience as my strategy seemed to have worked. This game soon became a lesson in how to play big stacked against opponents with little to no money left.

The counter thought to this was that if I was stuck short stacked against someone with a lot of chips, I would just leave and go home! =) But since they were friends (and since I depended on a ride home) realistically I would've given it my best shot and quit after 10-15 dollars.

I think this is relevant to regular poker ($1-2 blinds with 300 bucks is normal) in the sense that if you're caught with 20 bucks left, you should probably buy in with more money. Or the better move would be to leave and go home.