Creating a personal style

[ChipLeader]

According to every book I read and everything i hear, there are three styles of play. Conservative, Aggressive, and Super Aggressive. Obviously there are variations of each, such as conservative preflop but aggressive on the flop, aggressive preflop but passive on missed flops, etc.

Depending on your style you make different plays in the SAME situation based on how opponents percieve you. This means that there are bad, acceptable, good, and best plays- but they are not always the same. Still, if two players are playing the same style and in the same situation there will always be this range of plays (poor-great).

With this in mind, it seems as if the game becomes almost systematic. Against an overly tight player with XX-XX calling range preflop and X flop standards to continue past the flop, when he is in position X and it is heads up, there will always be horrible play, acceptable plays, and solid plays which will change based on how you think he sees you.

WHile the system is very complicated, the books and advice we get are used to show you how to analyze all the factors in a hand and make the right play by knowing how to react. It would be almost impossible to learn the game based on every possible situation, but if you learn to play one situation well you should be able to play similair ones well. Thus, the more hands and situations you see the more likely you will be to adjust and play similair situations properly in the future. This is how the game is learned and played.

This brings me to my main question. I learned to play by reading and experience. I have read many players' books and strategies and have used the one that suits me best. I therefore follow a certain path to get to the same end as all others- winning. We use math, reads, and wits to get here and in the end you either made a poor play, a good one, or a great one. My style is very similair to Doyle's because i like the additional action i get by adding suited connector and 1 or 2 gap suited connector type hands to my preflop standards. However, i do not like the constant tough decisions you encounter when youre playing a ton of hands like Farha, nor the lack of thought when playing remarkably tight like Helmuth. Ive chosen a style that suits me- notice the wording. Ive chosen one, i have not created one.

WHere in the scheme of things are you left to create your own style? Super Conservative players are compared to Helmuth and Cloutier, Conservative players are more likened to Harrington. Aggressive is Doyle, Forrest, etc. Super aggressive is Ivey, Negrenaeu (i butchered the spelling im sure), Gus Hansen, etc.

Does "unique" still exist and can it be successful? I cant for the life of me remember hearing someone say "he plays a very unique style- unlike any im used to.", unless the player is unique because he is clueless and losing.

I hope this isnt too much psycho-babble for you all. I would like to be a succesful MTT player and am doing everything i can to become one. However, no one ever becomes great by following and i know i can never be anything more than a solid player by just playing according to rules of good play.

[Wacken]

When someone sais you play by a unique style never seen before, that probably means you play like [censored] [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

You need not to follow 1 person exactly and thoughtlessly, just think about how to play in certain situations for yourself and that should make it possible to become great.

Of course the way you will end up playing will not be unique, it will always look like someone elses style because there simply are so many players who have risen to fame before you.

I think the best mindset here is not to worry about this whole issue and just try to make your game the best you can.

[Sakuraba]

[ QUOTE ]
However, no one ever becomes great by following and i know i can never be anything more than a solid player by just playing according to rules of good play.

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't think this statement is at all true when you are playing a game with a specific set of rules. (It may be true in other fields like business or politics where you can change the rules.)

For example, Tim Duncan is arguably the best player in the NBA today. I doubt he has done anything differently than the great players before him. He just works hard to develop his considerable talent.

[Wacken]

Or take chess players.

That is the one thing that i always disliked about chess, they are all copy cats who can remember a hell of a lot of situations.

For every chess situation it is always refered to the same situations in a game maybe dozens of years ago etc. All the pro players know about what happened back then. (Not to say they don't have intelligence to calculate options ahead of course, i just don't like the fact that a large portion of it is from memorizing playes from other long past players)

[Dan Mezick]

In my view appropriate style (for your personality) and good results go hand in hand. You absolutely have to work on your own style of play.

Regarding style, there is:

1. Studying and knowing poker theory and playing styles

2. Understanding the need to adjust and knowing how to adjust to all kinds of situations

3. Actually executing on adjusting

Learning what to do and actually doing it are two entirely separate tasks.

Being able to execute on making adjustments is essential. If you have studied everything but still insist on playing a static style and don't think you need to adjust to every table you play, you'll never really know what the style issue is all about.

If you show up ready to adjust, you are ready to understand what the style issue is all about.

For example if you play textbook tight-aggressive and the table texture is optimal for loose-passive play with a few adjustments to your typical pre-flop starting hand requirements, and you either a) dont perceive this or b) perceive it, but just can't execute on playing loose-passive with a few adjustments, then you might not ever really learn how to use style as a weapon.

[ChipLeader]

Great responses so far guys, much better than the oens im getting in the MTT section.

Id like to hear from anyone else who has something to say that hasnt been covered.

[Dan Mezick]

I recall I wrote on this style topic some time ago-- here are the essays.

Poker Style and Tourney Stamina

Poker Style and Overall Poker System