Observing Style of Poker Play

A key to winning Texas holdem poker is your ability to size up your opponents. Whether you’re playing in a casino, at a buddy’s house, or online, you must constantly observe the other players at the table – even when you’re not involved in a hand.

Analyzing your opponents' style of poker play will allow you to gain insight into what cards your competitors may hold. This will allow you to make better decisions, win more pots and lose fewer chips.

And don’t forget that your opponents will also be observing you! Poker Wingman Pro helps confuse your opponents by adjusting your Style of Play. You can switch easily from Tight to Loose to keep your opponents guessing – and losing.

• Watch and Learn
• Style of Play
  • Loose/Passive
  • Loose/Aggressive
  • Tight/Passive
  • Tight/Aggressive
• Take Notes

Watch and Learn

Every player makes a first impression with their screen name and avatar. This can be a valuable tell - if you take it with a grain of salt. Players choose screen names carefully to project a certain image, to either pump up or downplay their online poker strategy. Players will also fake their gender with a screen name. So don’t feel badly about knocking “GrandmaRose” out of the tourney – “she” could actually be a 24 year old guy named Fred.

The best way to size up your opponents is to observe hands that are shown down to the river, and watch what your opponents will typically bet and call with. This can be valuable later in a game when you have to decide your best course of action and style of poker play, especially when you are involved in a similar hand. If you know that an opponent tends to bluff in a certain situation, you can be a little more confident calling them next time around. This can make a difference in earnings - instead of folding, you can use this knowledge to call your opponent and win a large pot. Poker Wingman always shows you the odds of your opponents making a hand – valuable info when you’re down to the wire.

Always be aware of everyone's chip count. Know who has more chips than you and play more carefully against them - a mistake could knock you out. It's usually better to play pots with players who have fewer chips than you do.

And lastly, remember to monitor the chat. Chat is one of the biggest online tells – a serious player won’t be rambling on about last night’s UFC fight.

Style of Poker Play

When trying to quantify a game and its players, it is useful to think about them in terms of style of pokerplay. The standard descriptors used for this purpose are Tight or Loose, and Passive or Aggressive.

Tight or Loose describes how many hands a player will typically play, and how they will continue to play throughout the rest of the hand. A Tight player will tend to play fewer hands than average and will generally be conservative in their decisions. A Loose player will tend to play more hands than average and be very liberal in their decisions.

Passive or Aggressive describes the nature of a player's actions when they are involved in a hand. A Passive player does not tend to bet very often, preferring to check and call instead. An Aggressive player usually chooses to bet and raise instead of checking or calling and prefers to take the lead in most situations.

Use Poker Wingman Pro to vary your Style of Play from tight to loose and keep your play unpredictable – and your opponents guessing.

Loose/Passive Players

Loose/Passive players are the perfect and most profitable opponent. They tend to play too many poor hands and go too far with them. When they do have good hands, they do not play aggressively enough and allow players to get the proper odds to make their draws.

Loose/Aggressive Players

Loose/Aggressive games can also be very profitable but they involve a lot more risk. Although Loose/Aggressive players play too many hands and call too many bets, they also bet and raise a lot, which makes it more difficult and expensive for you to make draws or see showdowns. This style of poker play increases the cost of each hand and will often cause other players to fold more hands and tighten up, as the action is too intense and risky. If you have the stomach for loose/aggressive games, keep in mind that you’ll need a robust bankroll because the normal swings and variation will be much larger than in most other games.

Tight/Passive Players

Tight/Passive players are very predictable and can be profitable – if you have patience. When a Tight player enters a hand, you can be assured that they have a strong starting hand as they do not tend to play weak hands. This style of poker play makes it easy to decide to fold and get out of their way if you don’t have a premium hand.

Also, a Tight/Passive player does not tend to bet or raise strongly enough when they do have a good hand. This will allow you to play draws profitably against them. The downside to playing with Tight/Passive players, versus playing with Loose players, is that they play fewer and better quality hands. As such, they are much more apt to fold if they do not hit their hand, unlike a Loose player who will not fold often enough. A Tight/Passive player or game will not be as profitable as a Loose/Passive player or game and should not be your first choice.

Tight/Aggressive Players

Tight/Aggressive are highly skilled players that only play premium hands and bet and raise extremely aggressively. This type of game, or playing against this style of poker play, should be avoided as you will be forced to play tight/aggressive yourself, and then hope for a streak of hot cards. In short, this is the type of player you should try to become but always avoid playing against.

Take Notes

Many of the poker rooms have a Notes poker tool that allows you to keep notes on other players. You can pull up the notes on their poker style of play when you come across them again, and remember that (despite his screen name) JonnyVegas is actually loose/passive.

Notes are a useful way to stay focused on the game – it’s easy to get distracted by checking email or downloading music and missing the valuable info that you could get by observing your opponents.

One final thing about observing opponents - your opponents may be observing you! It is important to remember that just like your opponents, you are also prone to repetitive behavior - and this information can be stored and used to the advantage of others. This is why it is important to mix up your poker style of play from time to time, so as to avoid giving your opponents too much insight into your game.

Use Poker Wingman Pro to vary your style of poker play from tight to loose and keep your play unpredictable – and your opponents guessing.

Now you're armed with the poker tips on how to observe your opponents. Next, learn how to incorporate Table Position into your online poker strategy. Learn About Table Position