Switching gears: Questions on how to down shift.....

[Snoopy76]

I consider myself a very loose player. My first book was Super System, and like many readers a loose style is the style of play I became most accustomed to and am most comfortable with.

I understand the need to change your playing style from loose to tight during the course of a session, but I am having trouble seeing the payoffs going from a loose style to a tight style. I’m curious to know if I am properly utilizing the method of switching gears.

I usually play short handed $.50-$1 no limit online and full ring $1-$2 NL at the casinos. I’m usually loose aggressive right out of the gate. I quickly pick off pots and build my stack a bit to take shots at the bigger pots later. When players at the table start to catch up to me and begin pushing back at me I will tighten up a bit and wait for the better hands. Text book Bruson poker, obviously.

Here is my question. When a person is playing a tight game and the image sticks, it’s easier to change gears immediately and start picking up pots. A person with a tight image will have a good chance to change gears from one hand to the next and pick off some pots. However, a person who has been playing real loose will need to wait for the cards to start playing pots in a tighter game. If I’m involved with a third of the pots and people start to catch on, one of two things can happen….1.) I tighten up, get lucky and pull off some big hands right away and over the next few hands start breaking people who play back at me or 2.) I wait for those big hands and am noticeably uninvolved in pots for a while waiting for the good cards to come (and watch in vain as they don’t). The former situation would be a blessing, but does the second scenario defeat the purpose of switching from loose to tight…aren’t other players going to catch on to what you are doing?

Maybe I am just not understanding exactly how much tighter or how much loser I should be playing….when you switch to a tight game are you just waiting for your aggressive image to blow over before you speed up again?

Any help is appreciated…..thanks in advance.