Changing Gears?

[Mikey]

Alot has been brought to my attention about changing gears but I can't quite understand it. How do you change gears?

Assume Preflop.
This is the only way I see myself changing gears. I get dealt garbage, and fold, fold, fold, fold, fold.....I catch a good hand and raise, then I fold, fold, fold, then I catch a great run of preflop cards and raise, raise, raise, limp, fold, raise, limp, raise, raise, fold, fold, fold, fold.

Is this what changing gears is all about because I honestly cannot sit at a table and try to make a move on someone and hope that this gear change will work with 94o when I am catching bad cards?

I'm assuming that this meant by changing gears. What other descriptions are giving in detail about changing gears?

Is changing gears something that you can or can't control?

[brad]

its a secret

[Herb N.]

Sit down at a game play solid estiblish a solid table image.At this time get a feel of the table.At this time define who at the table is playing too many hands,who will lay a hand down if they miss the flop. After mayby 1/2hr.your ready to attack the game.you CAN play 5/3 against a player that will fold after the flop.you can raise a player who is playing too many hande with A/10s if you can get him heads up.Now i'm certinly not saying to do this all the time if the game is less then 10/20,or its getting alot of callers you simply must have the best hand to win the pot.But lets say your in a [average ]10/20 game you have a solid image you win a hand with A/Q,two hands later you win another and showdown K/K,the next hand your in M.P.its folded to you,and you look at say 5/3s raise it up!lets also say a solid player behind you calls,the flop comes A48,BET,if if you lose the hand say something like my pocket jacks lost again,If you win at your first oppertunity do it again!and again,until caught,then tighted it up until your image is again solid.If you have to wait and only play premium cards I believe you will have a hard time being a long term winning player especially in tough tight games.I believe some great advice for the break even players is the essay written by Abdow check the two plus two directory.P.S.I know my spelling stinks.

[Herb N.]

The correct title is [was]Hold Em Preflop Stratgy According to Abdul.I just checked the directory and it looks like its no longer listed.I read it once[11 pages],but realy havent had time to realy study it.I feel most players [me included]can learn alot from it No offense to all the other great poker books,but this Essay may be the best ever written.

[bernie]

of course it's something you can control. but many do it when they shouldnt...

another responder had some great ideas....you gauge it depending on how the table is reacting to you. if theyre calling down, you cant really change, and shouldnt..your getting action. but if they start to tighten up, it's time to steal a little and work on running over the table....

many times it will key after youve shown down a couple great hands...but you can do it at times if youve been folding for awhile....

sometimes ill do it, throw a marginal pre raise, to see how they react if ive been folding a bit. you cant really say how they see you JUST because youve been folding...ive seen some posts say, 'ive been folding for awhile so i have a tight image..' how do they know? they havent tested their image, theyve just folded. gaining information is also about how the table sees you, not how you 'think' they see you. their 'reactions' to your action will confirm it. then go from there. and youll see the spots to switch gears...

ill refer you to 2 articles on d. negreanus site...'fullcontactpoker.com'

party day, and nutbar....it should give you some ideas...matt lessinger also had a great article on switching gears against weak tighties...id look for it, it was earlier this year, but i cant remember which mag it was in...

not only is switching gears a great tactical move, it's also fun /forums/images/icons/grin.gif

well worth exploring...

good luck..

b

[Ulysses]

Alot has been brought to my attention about changing gears but I can't quite understand it. How do you change gears?

Well, this depends on whether you have an automatic or manual transmission. If you have an automatic, most of it is taken care of for you automatically by the car - most situations you just put it in "Drive" and go. With a manual (or "stick-shift") transmission, you will have to depress the clutch and change between all the gears yourself. Complicating the issue further are cars like the Boxster that are clutch-less manuals - you change the gears manually, but the clutch is taken care of by the car.

Is changing gears something that you can or can't control?

Again, the level of control you have is dictated by the type of transmission you have. You can always control it to some degree, but if you want the greatest control, I'd suggest a manual transmission with stick-shift and clutch.

Good luck

[brad]

look at roy cooke.

his latest article hes got A7s or someting UTG. he plays it. do u play that normally. i doubt it. but if you change gears then maybe you u play it.

off the top of my head i think cooke's articles are full of how he changes gears. (cause i mean come on, most of the time im sure hes tighter than most players)

also have u ever played J2s on the button when a lot of people limp?

[Herb N.]

No I play bad cards but not that bad.I'd rather play 4/5o than J/2s.Don't be to quick to knock R.C. he's been around a long time.He must be doing something rite.rite?

[rockoon]

There is no reason to assume he does anything right :-)

--

Changing gears simply means adjusting to the table and your image.

[brad]

its not good or bad its loose aggressive.

btw in a time game if everybody limps to you on the button and you fold a suited face card i really think youre making a mistake. or maybe youre just not in the right gear /forums/images/icons/smile.gif

[brad]

also compare/contrast with playing A7s UTG. heh

[MRBAA]

Roy Cooke has got to be a decent mid-limit he player. He claims to have made a living at it for 15 years before writing his column. For the last 8 years since starting the column, he's been a well known player in 20-40 and 30-60 games at the Mirage and then Bellagio. Hard to believe he's been losing all that time....

[brad]

well i never said he was a bad player. but a lot of his columns are about hands he plays right on the edge. not weak tight but loose aggressive. wasnt that what you were asking about? also im sure most of the time he plays tighter than you would think im not saying he plays loose all the time.

so it looks like every once in a while he changes gears, yeah?

[Herb N.]

Brad isnt the way he proubly plays[tighter than you would think]pushing positive edges,and every once and a while raising,or playing a marginal hand for positive value a sign of an expert? watching an expert change gears is a thing of beauty,and your correct most experts play much tighter than thier image appears.

[rockoon]

>> isnt the way he proubly plays[tighter than you would think]pushing positive edges,and every once and a while raising,or playing a marginal hand for positive value a sign of an expert?

The debate is if some of his plays are positive value or are just made to seem positive value after the fact.

[cero_z]

Because you're asking this question, I assume that you're not yet playing in games where changing gears is important. I absolutely do not intend that remark to be condescending--listen: changing gears is about manipulating your opponents, and it is not nearly as important in typical games below 10-20 as it is at or above that limit. IMO, 10-20 is where players start to regularly show some sophistication, but of course it will vary from region to region. In low-limit games, players are mostly so bad and loose that it's not important to try to figure out what they're thinking, as long as you show down a decent hand most of the time. Their collective looseness prevents you from trying fancy bluffs, as you will always be called. Thus, a straightforward, tight, conservative approach will definitely get the money. This works because no one's paying enough attention to punish you for your conservative play.
But, in more sophisticated games, they are. This is when it's helpful to confuse them with occasional loose play, in order to ensure action with your good hands and make them hesitant to get tricky with you.
It's this more complex level of play that makes poker such an interesting, challenging game for me. But, you have to put in your time at the low limits, in order to learn the skills you need to compete at 15-30 and up.
Your approach is excellent: you should not take a fling with J2s until you feel comfortable doing so, probably when you're regularly the best player in your game. Stick with your sure-footed style, and that confidence will come.

[limon]

to beat limit you have to choose a soft game and play your "A" game 100% of the time.

[bernie]

you forgot the part about using a 52 card deck...i mean, if youre going to state the obvious...

part of an 'A' game is switching gears...mainly to get action, or run over the table at certain times depending on how theyre reacting when youre in the pot...sure it works better in a n/l or p/l game...but it is also very useful in limit games...

an 'A' game consists of more than just playing the nuts...it's about collecting more on winning hands than your opponents would, and vice versa....

changing gears is part of that....even on a limit table..

even fish get wise to the 'nut' player in the hand...i know, because ive been there...and it sucks when on a gravy table you cant get any action on your good hands...

b

[wacamasta]

Good luck trying to find a soft 10/20 and up game