Stereotyping Players in Live Games

In live poker games, you only get to play about 30 hands per hour. At this rate, it can take a while to build an understanding of your opponents. Thankfully, there are some general stereotyping guidelines you can follow to get a better understanding of how your opponents will play even if you just sat down at the table. It simply takes too long to learn your opponents’ tendencies in live games. To really beat the game, you’ve got to make a few assumptions based on the player’s apparent age, race, sex, and lifestyle.

Old Guys

Older players, aka "Old Man Coffee", usually have a pretty decent understanding of hand values. A lot of them have hangups about being caught with their pants down, so they’ll be pretty reluctant to call huge bets with marginal hands. Risk-aversion is the name of the game with these players. They sit there, grind it out, and do everything possible to avoid having their head taken off. When holding a strong hand against them, you’ll just have to make small- to medium-sized value bets in hopes that they’ll call you down.

Women

Sure, there are a few exceptions to this rule, but by and large, women are pretty bad at poker. They often have a lackluster comprehension of hand values and are pretty easy to trap into calling bet after bet so long as they have at least top pair. Unlike with old guys, it’s pretty safe to fire larger bets against women. They don’t seem to put as much emphasis on “how much” was bet… only that something was bet. Use this to your advantage. If you want them to fold, just try betting something small to see if they’ll go away. If you want them to call, bet somewhat hefty.

Young Guys

Young guys can be kind of a hit or miss. The “drunken frat boys” tend to play pretty bad whereas the “quiet kid with a hoodie and an iPod” could be one of the best players in the world (thanks to hundreds of thousands of hands of online poker). But by and large, young guys usually play pretty well. When in doubt, it’s best to just stay out of their way. However, if you have a drunken frat boy at your table, don’t be afraid to milk him for all he’s worth if you have a big hand. Often they have some “macho” hangups that disallow folding. Young guys are also easy to induce into making a bluff, so don’t shy away from leading out at the flop if you hit it really well.

Asians

Asian males, for the most part, are completely erratic. A lot of deeply-rooted cultural inferiority leads to them attempting to “prove something” while at the poker table. They like to play loose, make a lot of bluffs, and gamble it up! A term used in the poker world to describe these players is “crazian”. If you run into a crazian, try to trap them by betting big and hoping they pick a poor spot to bluff all-in. The downfall of these players is their inability to admit defeat. However, with all of that being said, they’re often pretty good at poker albeit insane. There’s nothing wrong with staying out of their way and waiting for that monster hand to rob them blind and leave them shouting, “webuy!”

Hispanics

You won’t see a ton of Hispanics at the poker table, but when you do, I’ve noticed a lot of them carry a “just happy to be here” attitude. They’ll generally play very straightforward; if they have a hand, they’ll bet, if they don’t, they’ll fold. You can open up a little more against these guys. As long as you seem friendly and respectable to them, they’ll generally fold a lot to you.

Here is a quick poll from WPT that focuses on nationality more than anything!

Limits – Should you move up or down

One of the most critical aspects of poker is the knowledge of what limit to play with. When you have been playing poker for a while, it wouldn’t be difficult for you to decide when to move your limits up and when to bring them down. Knowledge of limits is a must if you’re looking to play poker the right way. When you are choosing what limit to play, there are several factors that you must consider. These include your bankroll, an assessment of your skills and general game play, and your tendency of risk-taking. For good players, evaluation of these factors comes naturally.

You can be the richest man on earth with a lot of money to burn. However, when you are playing poker for the first time, it is better to start with lower limits. Poker involves taking certain risks, but the very risks you take have to be calculated not reckless. The opponents you will be playing initially will be easy to play against. Not many poker pros play low limit games. This makes it a safe option to start with. If you think your reputation is at stake, rest assured. In online poker, people know just your screen name and nothing else. They couldn’t care less for who you are and how much you’re worth.

The most important aspect of choosing a limit is deciding whether to move it up or down. Poker experts recommend moving your limits up only when you are at ease playing a particular limit for 7 or more sessions. If you are not comfortable with a higher limit, do not go for it. Poker is a game that offers you fun and not apprehensions about losing your money. Fear has always been equated with failure and if you are afraid of playing at higher limits, continue with your original limits. Moreover, higher limits require a higher bankroll. So, you should also consider this factor before deciding to move to a higher limit. You might be able to survive a couple of sessions at the higher limit, but that does not guarantee that you would not lose money in the following sessions.

In case you have moved to a higher limit, it wouldn’t be a bad thing if you have to temporarily move to a lower limit. However, do not lower the limits when you feel the game is too easy for you and is hardly exciting. In case you have moved to limits such as $25-$50 from a limit of $10-$20, it doesn’t make sense for you to move very low to $1-$2 when you find the higher limit uncomfortable. When the limits are too low, people indulge in loose play. Choose the limits that make your game exciting and entertaining.

No Limit Hold ‘em Cash Game Basics

One of the most popular games when it comes to poker is the No-Limit Hold 'em cash game. In a tournament, when your chips run out, your day is over, you spend a lot of your time protecting and defending you stack, where in a cash game, it pays to be aggressive, and if you lose you stack…well, don’t cry, re-buy! Cash games offer a lot of excitement because you are dealing with real money in front of you in the form of chips, not just tournament standings. One might play a tournament for 8 hours and not receive any kind of reward. You may play a cash game for 3 hours and earn more money than you could have won for first place, in a third of the time. There are some centralized standard concepts one must understand when playing No-Limit Hold 'em cash games at any level.

The correlation between a cash game and a tournament is very minimal. Tournament poker often offers a very small stack size compared to the blinds, while in cash games you will often see 100 big blind or deeper stacks at the table. A good way of thinking about it is that your stack is brought back to the same size after every hand in a cash game. That being said, the ratio of your stack size to the pot size will determine the importance of winning a hand versus simply defending your money on the table. If you are losing several small pots, but cashing in on large sized ones, then you will win money in the long run.

No-Limit Hold 'em cash games are ones where not making mistakes is at least as equally important as making the proper play. Advanced players often spot the beginners and coax them into playing a big pot, then force them to make a mistake for a large portion of their chip stack. There are simply just more things to consider when playing a hand in a cash game, and you must be aware of all of them, however generally you want to open with a wider range. Position is crucial, and one of the biggest mistakes rookie players make is playing marginal hands out of position, and making a mistake once the pressure is applied.

Opening hand selection is much wider and more fluid in a cash game than in a tournament. Good cash game players employ many different strategies before the flop to be able to outplay opponents afterward. A good opening strategy is very important to become a winning cash game player. Bluffing as well as semi-bluffing are also integral pieces of cash gameplay. Now that you understand the basics, I encourage you to play, play, and play some more. These tactics are essential to every level of No-Limit Hold 'em cash games and must be used to win!