changing gears

They say good poker players change gears in order to not be too predictable. How should one go about doing this. For example, today I played like a maniac for about 20 minutes just to throw my opponents off. It failed miserably (3-6 game). I figured the advantage of doing this is that when I finally DO have a strong hand and raise, people won't believe me and they'll call or even reraise. The disadvantage is they won't respect your raises and they may outdraw you.


Any thoughts?

In the low limit games in which I play, it is undesirable to shift gears very much. Other players generally do not pay much attention to what I (or anyone else) am doing. They just play their own cards.


That is not to say you shouldn't vary your play a little when you are in a pot with a player you know to be perceptive, but these players are relatively rare.


Shifting gears does nothing against players who just won't notice how you are playing in the first place. The best thing to do is pinpoint how THEY play and adjust your calling/raising frequency based on that assessment.


For instance, if they bet nothing all the time, string them along by calling with mediocre or even fairly good hands. If they call with nothing often, bet your mediocre hands. And if they are strong players (VERY rare at these limits), get the hell outta their way unless you have a good hand.


But at low limit games, just try to play a "solid" game of poker and don't try (many) fancy plays.

I agree with RiverJohn that in low limit games there's no need to change gears. The 3-6 games that I play in are loose and aggressive, and at this point (after seeing a ridiculous number of miracle draws made on the river), I'd be happy if people would just respect my obvious demonstrations of strength and just fold rather than draw out on me. In fact, unless I have a truly monster flop (nut flush, house, or quads), I'll bet and raise my strong hands, and I'll get multi-way action almost everytime. I think the thing is, these people know that I have them beat when I'm betting, but they don't care. They want to stay in and catch their miracle cards.


In contrast, I was watching a high-limit table today as I was waiting for my game, and I was surprised to see how tight the table was. In the twenty minutes or so that I was standing there, I didn't see one hand played to the river. In my games, the vast majority of hands see a showdown.

The above posters are correct. Changing gears is something you only need to do against other good players. Anyway focus on things like how to play in loose games when worrying about low limit strategy. Also remember that when you do something for like 20 minutes in a poker game, it may fail even when it's the right thing to do, just like the wrong thing to do might be succesfull for a while- the long run is REALLY long so don't asses anything based on short run results.

Changing gears only makes sense against opponents who have realized things about the way you play and have made proper adjustments concerning it. For example if your opponents recognize that you only raise with very strong hands when you are first in from early position and are all folding too much then you may want to either work in a weaker hand or perhaps limp with a very big pair.


However, in most games at the lower limits your opponents are just not this sophisticated. Many of them are completely unaware of the other players and are only concerned with their particular hands. Against opponents like these changing gears should just cost you money.

Changing gears in the low limits is not really necessary, as the intended effect of changing gears will be lost on the clueless who pay absolutely no attention to your style. I don't change gears when playing at a table full of magoos. Instead, I simply play very straight-forward poker. I raise with my big hands, fold my cheesy ones, and call with my so-so ones. Against certain players, specifically those players who know my play and pay attention, I might occasionally change gears, just to throw them off track. However, regardless of the presence of players who might actually be paying attention, I still pretty much play straightforward poker the majority of the time. That's because at the low limits, where I usually play, there are almost always several calling stations in the pot, so changing gears has little effect anyway, as you must still have the best hand to win most of the time. Also remember that the "advertising value" of changing gears is limited to those who:


A) are paying attention in the first place

B) will notice your advertisement, and revise their opinion of your play

C) have made correct adjustments against you already


Add up all these things and you don't really have many players whom changing gears will have much effect upon, so don't do it very often.


Dave in Cali

What is meant by changing gears is varying play, not playing like a mainiac. More like betting out w/top pair instead of check-raising, fastplaying the nuts, etc... It would be optimal, I would imagine, to randomize a lot of your plays using game theory (not that it is possible to accurately do this but it is a good starting point). You sometimes may raise with J-10s so other players can't put you on big cards, but don't start raising and reraising with 3-4s. The -EV from this play is greater than the possible future gain in most cases. Don't always bet the river when you miss, etc... There are a lot of plays that are very similar in EV and it is almost irrelevant which one you choose. Even if one is a small but clear favorite, you should use the other occasionally. These are the ones you should be concentrating on.


While I agree that varying your play is somewhat useless at LL, if you ever plan on moving you can get some good practice. If your varied plays are losing you a lot of money, then you are choosing the wrong things to change, but if you are winning about the same amount while varying your play, then you know you are not giving up too much EV, and know what it reasonable to do when you are in a game with alert players.