Study Your Opponents

When you are playing in poker tournaments, do you really study your opponents? I do not mean just determining who are the loose players and who are the tight players. I mean really studying everything that your opponents do. Some players study their opponents in order to find weaknesses that they may exploit. One weakness may be a player who plays too loosely. This player may be loose-aggressive or loose-passive. If he is loose-aggressive, you want to reraise him at every opportunity. When he raises, you should reraise him with hands with which you would not even call a raise from a solid player. For example, if you have A-J in middle position, you do not want to call a raise from a solid player. However, if a loose-aggressive player raises from middle position, you should reraise him with that same A-J. You will hopefully force out all of the other players and isolate this loose-aggressive player. Consider his hand to be just another blind hand, because he will raise with just about anything.

Beware of using this same strategy against a loose-passive player. I have often found that a loose-passive player may call with just about any hand. However, when he raises, he really does have a good hand. Do not reraise a loose-passive player who has raised from early or middle position unless you really have a superior hand. You must study what hands your opponents raise with to determine this. You must also observe what types of hands they raise with from all of the different positions. Remember that just because a player is loose does not mean he raises with poor hands. You can, however, use a more aggressive strategy against a loose-passive player who limps into the pot from early position. Since this player will call with just about anything, consider his hand to be just another blind hand. If you are in late position and no one else has called, go ahead and raise him with any hand with which you would normally call. You would not want to employ this same strategy against a solid player who limps into the pot from early position.

The most important strategy is to thoroughly study the top tournament players at your table. This is important for two reasons. First, you must be very wary of these top, solid players. They are the ones who are the most dangerous. One mistake against one of them, especially in a no-limit tournament, and you will be summarily dismissed from the tournament. Second, and most importantly, you can learn a lot from these top tournament players. Watch them carefully. Observe what hands they raise with and from what positions. Observe what hands they reraise with and also what hands with which they are willing to shove in their entire stacks. This careful observation will allow you to pick up valuable information that you can use as ammunition against them and other players in future tournaments. I have learned many valuable and useful strategies and techniques by observing these top players, some of which I have never read about in any book or magazine. Good luck at your next tournament.