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.

[EStreet20]

No offense but I think you're definitely misapplying some of the concepts Brunson discusses. He also wrote SuperSystem at a time when most people didn't have as complete an understanding of poker as he did (and as many players today do) and he ran over all of his opponents in the games he played. Now if you watch on TV he has tightened up greatly while still maintaining his aggressiveness.

If you truly play loose aggresive I think you'll get crushed. Brunson talked more about an aggressive style in SS than a loose one. He also talk about loosening up when he has position preflop, or when the pot is big postflop which are characteristics of any textbook tight aggresive poker style, not just playing a loose game in general. My advice to you is to be more selective preflop because if you are seeing two-thirds of the flops you're basically just donating money to those pots. After the flop continue to be aggressive and work on keeping your opponents guessing then but definitely use more stringent starting hand guidelines a la the starting hand charts in SSHE or HPFAP.

Good luck,
Matt

[Snoopy76]

Point taken, and I think part of the problem is my inability to explain myself.

In your opinion then, is the switching your game to a more lose or more tights imply a change in opening hand requirements?

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In your opinion then, is the switching your game to a more lose or more tights imply a change in opening hand requirements?

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I would say that is probably 95% of it.

After the flop, I don't believe it has anything to do with being "loose" or "tight" - its about being aggressive or passive - and you want to be aggressive.

Don't forget that poker is a position game. You SHOULD infrequently play loose when you're preflop from the big blind, especially in a limit game with only 1 raise and a few callers. But playing agressive without position or cards will get you a free invitation to my monthly game. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]