This is something I think I have adapted as second nature, and I’m not sure if many people think about it, or even think it’s useful – but I wanted to write about it anyways.

I recommend playing an aggressive game, which generally that means raising and reraising as the blinds get bigger and worth taking to instill some fear into your opponent that you are a maniac, and are capable of things that he can’t imagine. When players are intimidated by you for any reason (your chip stack, your constant willingness to play big pots, your apparently lack of fear) it makes it very tough to play against. How are you going to kill someone who isn’t afraid to die?

Players often talk about their opponents in terms like LAG or TAG or passive or a donkey. I tend to think in a different way, because I need to find out things about my opponents personality. I need to find out about his poker mindset, and you can do this – even throughout the short time of a SNG.

I want to know, that if I reraise him before the flop, is he capable of folding right there? I want to find out how long it takes him to call/fold/reraise me. I want to know what kind of cards he is going to be folding, and you can usually tell this from the amount of time he takes to make an action.

Example – We are 5 handed, and Player A on the button raises 3x to 600. He had 3500 to start the hand, so now he has 2900. I have 5000 in the BB (big stack) and our two other opponents have 2000, and 3000 respectively. I reraise him all in with (does it really matter?) and he INSTA calls me with A8h. He wins the hand, and I am down to 1500 – still very much alive.

I firgured out that this player is not capable of being able to handle a reraise, even for all his chips. He didn’t even have to think, it was sooted, and he has an ace – worth all of his chips. To me, this means he is not capable of things, and I would basically look to “trap” this partciularly type of opponent.

Now let’s say he INSTA folds – this tells me he was simply making a button raise (which is a good play, for sure) but he raised with nothing because he folded so fast. This tells me that this opponent is probably better than average, because he is actually raising not based on his cards, but on his position.

Now let’s say that he takes a longgggg time, and finally calls with AKo. Well, to me this tells me that this player is pretty fearful to throw all of his chips in the middle, even with a strong hand as AKo late. He really didn’t WANT to call all in, he probably wanted to see a flop. Now if this player BEATS me in this hand, and I have 1500 left – you better believe I am targetting him. Not because I am mad that he won the hand, far from it. But the amount of time he took to call me showed me that he is pretty weak. He doesn’t really like to go all in without a premium hand – I mean, look how long it took him to call with AK?!

Most of the information you can find out about your opponent’s capabilities can be achieved by forcing them to react to you – but sometimes, you can find out stuff about your opponent by calling them.

Example – Same exact situation as the first hand, but this time I just call in the big blind. I check and he bets the flop, I call (the cards don’t matter). I check the turn and he pretty much insta checks. I bet the river, he waits and folds.

This shows me that he is capable of firing one bullet at the flop, and will pretty much give up a hand to any kind of resistance by me.

Now let’s say he bets the flop and I call and check the turn to him. He goes all in – to me, that is a strong play. Unless I have a very strong hand, I can’t really call him. He is protecting against any kind of draw that I conceievably COULD be on and if he has a good hand or a bad hand, to me – it’s still an overall winning play.

Now, one of the things you can do to also test out someone, is to make a small bet on their raised flop. Say he raises 3x, you call. You min bet the flop, and it seems like he is just automatically raising you – well, to test him out here… how about reraising him back? Or just calling? You can certainly find out his capabilities if you check or bet the turn here.

The point is, although sometimes finding out people capabilities can cost you chips – I find it worthwhile to develop a better understanding of the players I am facing on a day to day basis. I want to know the characteristics of a certain style, and find out what that styles capabilities are. If I know Player X will automatically reraise me if I’ve bet out on his raised flop, I’ll bet out with my set. Same goes if I know Player Y is most likely to min raise with a flush draw, I may consider playing my hand differently against him

Whether you are playing this game strictly for money, or a combination of learning and getting better – it can’t hurt to divulge deeper into the mindset’s of certain opponents, and really thinking about just what that opponent is capable of.

-Gidders