Most people pay little attention to how another person stacks their poker chips, as they think it bares little to no significance on how they play. Wrong. Here’s why…
Chip Stacking
Neat, tidy chip-stack
These players are generally tight players. (Refer to my beginner’s guide to poker strategy for elaboration) They’re at FullTiltPoker to gamble, but not to lose their money. A player like this will usually fold if the odds are against them. This tell tells us two things:
- We should scarcely enter a pot against this player with a mediocre or marginal poker hand.
- This one is more important to us. A lot of players will actually stack their winnings separately for them to keep track of. Why does this help us? Well, when betting, we can bet more than this persons winnings and – given their nature – they’ll probably fold unless they’ve got a rock-solid hand. (Something you should probably deduce before trying to bet them out!)
Messy, scattered chip-stack.
This lets us know that the player is loose. They’re at FullTiltPoker.com to gamble, ready to splash some chips around and you can use this to your advantage. If a player is really this uncaring (sometimes you’ll find players in between) and their stack is all over the place, they’re literally a calling station. Just watch out for suckouts!
I just won a big pot.
I couldn’t really think of a fitting heading for this one… But anyway, this refers to when players have just won a big pot and still haven’t had time to stack their poker chips yet. More often than not, they’ll see their hole cards before stacking them and then splash some chips into the pot with a marginal hand – something you should be wary of. More so than that, if a player starts betting into a pot after they’ve just won one, then you should also know that in most cases they’re not bluffing. To the contrary, they’ll probably have quick a solid hand.
As we all know, falling in love in real life always has a chance of ending in heart break; although it might be amazing at the start, things could turn sour faster than you think.
The same principles can apply in poker. I’ve seen far too many player fall in love with their hole cards, then be completely oblivious to what their opponents could be holding. Metaphorically speaking, this is the same as being oblivious to a partner that could be cheating on you.
You just don’t do it.
Recently, I was playing poker at Full Tilt Poker against an opponent who did exactly the thing that I am trying to warn you against. Now this opponent was no amateur, they were quite an experienced poker player and perhaps shouldn’t have made the mistake that they did, but this just goes to show that anyone can fall in love with their cards.
This opponent was lucky enough to be dealt what we all hope for: Aces in the hole. He was on big blind, and when most players limped in, he raised. I was on the button with 10 jack of hearts, called his raise, as did one other player before me. Up until this point, my opponent has played his hand flawlessly, he raised to narrow the field of players that could beat him as well as stopping players with weaker cards seeing the flop cheaply.
So now there are three players in the pot and we see the flop, eight of clubs, nine of hearts and ace of hearts. BANG just like seeing the woman of his dreams my opponent was in love, he had flopped his set of aces. But – as you can see – I had flopped a flush draw and also an open ended strait draw.
Straight away, he bet into the pot and the other player folded. With so many outs, it made the odds a no-brainer to call. The turn was a lousy 3 of spades, no help to me. Not to worry though, as I still had 15 outs left in the deck. Immediately he bet again, not enough to make the odds too long for me to call though, it seems as though he was trying to keep me in the pot to extract as much money from me as possible. I call, and on the river falls the five of hearts.
Completely oblivious to the third heart that had just fallen, he bet into me with no fear and I immediately raised him to not give him anytime to think. Without too much thought process, he pushes all in. I call, knowing I have him dominated. With much authority and pride, he shows me his pretty set of aces. I calmly show him my flush and the look on his face – I will never forget, it was as if he had just caught his partner in the act of cheating. He got up from his seat and walked off without saying a word.
In hindsight, he will know he made a mistake, but in the heat of the moment and the love for the “monster” he had just been dealt, his eyes were wide shut and didn’t even consider what I could be holding. He isn’t the first player to make this mistake on Full Tilt, and certainly won’t be the last. We have all made this mistake and when we look back on it we say “DAMN, how did I not know that he had made a straight”. A quick re-assessment of our hand and what our opponents could be calling with can save you a lot of money in the long run.
Just like a relationship that’s gone sour, its best to release your hand when its obvious that you have been outrun, no matter how much love you had for the cards when they were first dealt!
We can break poker players into a few different types:
*Loose Aggressive
*Loose Passive/Non-Aggressive
*Tight Aggressive
*Tight Passive/Non-Aggressive
I’ll elaborate:
Loose Aggressive
Bullies. Poker Bullies. These players are unpredictable, erratic, and probably your worst nightmare when you’re playing poker based solely on odds. These poker players will raise ridiculously, over-bet and bluff way too often. They ride their luck; when that runs out, so does their chip-stack.
You’re free to call these players with more marginal drawing hands.
Loose Passive
Too much money, not enough brains. They’re your free bank roll, or your massive suck-out for the night. Most of the time, these players aren’t too much of a hassle – just don’t get too antsy when they bad-beat you a few times.
Make the most of your moderate to solid poker hands to take them out.
Tight Aggressive
Most seasoned players would probably fall somewhere between this category and the loose aggressive category. Now, there’s no way to always win money when playing poker, but being tight aggressive would have to be the most logical. These players’ decisions are not based on a ‘gut-feeling’ but rather odds; if the odds aren’t favoring them, they’ll fold.
Enter a pot with such a poker player cautiously. You will, more than likely, need more than just a marginal hand.
Tight Passive
Tight asses. Yes, that is exactly what a tight passive poker player is. They gamble, yet cling to every penny like it’s their last. They’ll typically under-bet or possibly not even bet at all – instead they’ll just call.
A player like this rarely bluffs. If they’re calling you (or worse, raising you), call with nothing shy of a winning hand.
It is important for poker players on any site, including BodogLife.com to realize that they shouldn’t try to just ‘fit’ one of these types. Mixing up your game is an important part of poker strategy. Just don’t over-do it.
