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Server Time: 11/21/2008 1:12:01 AM PACIFIC |
 Varying your play, Paul Stine, 12. Mar 2003 14:53 | ||
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| What is your definition of "varying your play"? In the past, I have believed that "varying your play" meant that you have a defined set of starting hands and based on the board cards or people in the hand you changed whether you raised, bet or called in similiar situations. (I.e. sometime limp with aces or sometimes slow play a flopped set, etc.) This is what I call the S&M definition. In his book, "Killer Poker" John Vorhaus suggests that you conduct every hand that you play strongly, but wisely and that "varying your play" should mean that you sometimes play hands (card holdings) that you normally would not, but play them strongly. Call it the JV definition. I liken JV's definition to TJ Cloutier's advise that in pot and no-limit every opening raise you make should be the size of the pot, regardless of what cards you hold. That is, if you open the pot holding AA, you raise the size of the pot. If you open the pot with 72o, you raise the size of the pot, etc. I am interested in what you all think about this. Paul Stine College Station, TX | ||
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| Re: Varying your play, Tad Perry, 13. Mar 2003 04:47 | ||
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| on 12. Mar 2003 14:53 Paul Stine wrote: > What is your definition of "varying your play"? > > In the past, I have believed that "varying your play" meant that you have a > defined set of starting hands and based on the board cards or people in the hand > you changed whether you raised, bet or called in similiar situations. (I.e. > sometime limp with aces or sometimes slow play a flopped set, etc.) This is what > I call the S&M definition. > > In his book, "Killer Poker" John Vorhaus suggests that you conduct every hand > that you play strongly, but wisely and that "varying your play" should mean that > you sometimes play hands (card holdings) that you normally would not, but play > them strongly. Call it the JV definition. > > I liken JV's definition to TJ Cloutier's advise that in pot and no-limit every > opening raise you make should be the size of the pot, regardless of what cards > you hold. That is, if you open the pot holding AA, you raise the size of the > pot. If you open the pot with 72o, you raise the size of the pot, etc. > > I am interested in what you all think about this. I've studied this one fairly in depth, and I can tell you that the S&M definition is better, but that the JV definition should not be excluded. Basically, to me, varying your play really means that you find the highest EV decision (in isolation) and make it your main tendency. You then have to vary from this main tendency and do other things at a lower frequency so that EVERY hand type and EVERY draw and EVERY made hand can conceivably look like ANY other hand type or ANY other draw or ANY other made hand. This makes you virtually unreadable and keeps the door constantly open for an opponent to note the main tendency, bite the hook, and get nailed badly on a bad read. Instead of "optimal bluffing frequency" I often consider that "varying" itself is a form of bluffing (clearly you're misrepresenting your hand to anyone who also knows the best EV play for various common situations) and so this implies that one should therefore consider "optimal varying frequency". tvp | ||
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| Re: Varying your play, stdioh, 13. Mar 2003 07:35 | ||
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| on 12. Mar 2003 14:53 Paul Stine wrote: > What is your definition of "varying your play"? > > In the past, I have believed that "varying your play" meant that you have a > defined set of starting hands and based on the board cards or people in the hand > you changed whether you raised, bet or called in similiar situations. (I.e. > sometime limp with aces or sometimes slow play a flopped set, etc.) This is what > I call the S&M definition. > > In his book, "Killer Poker" John Vorhaus suggests that you conduct every hand > that you play strongly, but wisely and that "varying your play" should mean that > you sometimes play hands (card holdings) that you normally would not, but play > them strongly. Call it the JV definition. > > I liken JV's definition to TJ Cloutier's advise that in pot and no-limit every > opening raise you make should be the size of the pot, regardless of what cards > you hold. That is, if you open the pot holding AA, you raise the size of the > pot. If you open the pot with 72o, you raise the size of the pot, etc. > > I am interested in what you all think about this. > > Paul Stine > College Station, TX I find it very effective to sometimes do slightly negative EV things in order to improve my table image. When people at the table lose the right amount of respect for you, your winnning hands will sneak some extra bets. I might, for instance, be playing A5s and not hit my flush, but have a board giving me a gutshot and the possibility that my ace is live. Normally, this is a bizzatch that I would chuck without batting an eye, but if things feel right I'll play it out and try to make my draw. "I can't believe you F'ing played that crap." is music to my ears when I hit, and when I don't a scary board can sometimes lead to a successful bluff because I had to be calling with something. In short, my idea of varying play is doing slightly -EV things (or less +EV things) once in a while in order to obfuscate your play, keeping your oppontents guessing at your cards whilst also adjusting your table image favourably. | ||
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| Re: Varying your play, TOM WAGGONER, 13. Mar 2003 20:44 | ||
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| I think varying your play is an important concept when playing with tough customers. It is well worth throwing away a couple of bets, if it is going to get you payed off more in the long run. | ||
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