Starting a Session the Right Way

Some people have the advantage (and sometimes disadvantage) of playing against the same lineup again and again. Whether it's a home game with the same eight players each week or a nosebleed online game in which only a dozen or two names pop in and out, poker is a different game when you have in-depth experience with all of your opponents.

Most of us routinely play against a lot of new faces, however. Sure, you get to know some of the players, but in most small and medium online and casino games, you can expect a few new players in your game.

The goal is to get the best feel you can for how they play as quickly as possible, so that if you happen to end up in a critical hand with them early, you'll have some information to aid your decisions. Along these lines, one of my readers asked me a few questions, as follows:

How do you size up your opponents quickly?

When you are running well and in a good game, do you stick around until your eyes bleed out, or do you leave early if you feel you are not into it 100 percent?

Is there a good way to spot a good player quickly? How can you differentiate a bad player from a good player who's just switching gears?

If you notice a betting pattern in, say, a shorthanded game, how many times must a player repeat the pattern before you can nail it down as a pattern?

One of the questions is a little different than the others, so I'll answer it first. If I'm running well in a good game, I'll tend to want to play longer, but certainly not until my eyes bleed out. I don't play 50 hours a week anymore, and I don't count on my winnings to pay the rent, so now I just stop whenever I feel like it, good game or not. When I played full time, I would definitely stick it out a bit longer if the game was uncommonly good. But, quite frankly, most games in a cardroom are good, so you might as well quit if you aren't feeling great about playing. After all, when you come back tomorrow, the game's likely to be just as good.

Now, on to how I size up new players in a new game.

When I enter a game, I don't really start looking for anything specific or have an order to what I look for. I observe the first few hands fairly carefully and try to pick up any clues that I can. But I do first try to get a feel for how the table is playing (as opposed to any one individual). That is, during the first few hands, I'm looking to see if this is a crazy table where people are pushing all in blind or making huge raises. Are people generally betting the size of the pot, or are they betting relatively small amounts, instead? What is the "standard" raise size at the table? Are people making (and calling) raises to three or four big blinds or eight to 10 big blinds?

This is the most important information at first, because it will define how I approach the game. If people are making raises to 10 big blinds, getting called in a few places, and playing lots of all-in pots, I'll tend to buy in for more money (if allowed), play fairly tight preflop, and try to perform well in big pots. On the other hand, if people are calling raises to five big blinds and then folding often to continuation-bets on the flop, I'll open preflop with a lot of hands and bet the flop and turn frequently.

If people are routinely underbetting the pot, sometimes I will buy in for a lot, play loosely, and start making larger-than-average-sized bets. My plan is to take people out of their comfort zones and get them to fold to some big bluffs and call off their stacks with marginal hands. (It sounds contradictory, but it's really not. When people are reacting to you and are uncomfortable with your play, oftentimes you can both bluff more and get paid off more by manipulating the betting and paying attention to your opponents' attitudes.)

So, that's the first thing I do. I try to see how the table is playing, so that I can formulate my strategy for the session.

Then, I watch individual players to see if they do something noteworthy. Many players in $2-$5 games employ a somewhat unimaginative, weak-tight style, whereby they bluff with small money but almost always have the goods if the big money comes out. I look mainly for actions that are inconsistent with that common profile. Is one player more willing to put big bets out there? Did someone play a draw particularly strongly? When someone is thinking about a decision, does it seem like he is thinking about what hands his opponent could have, or is he mostly just thinking, "Wow, $200, that's a big bet." You can often tell the difference based on the situation, and even the look that he has on his face.

If I notice someone do something out of the ordinary, I file it away, but I may not adjust my play significantly at first, particularly if it wasn't for a whole lot of money. For instance, if I raise preflop, someone reraises me, I fold, and he shows 7-4, I'm not going to assume that he is a "big bluffer" just yet. I'll play roughly the same way against him until I see him reraising again and again.

But if I see someone call a huge all-in bet with a weak straight draw on a paired board, I will adjust immediately by perhaps buying more chips and making bigger value-bets against him.

And that's really the main difference between bad players and good players who might be changing gears. A good player might throw in a weird bluff or make a strange call for a relatively small part of his stack. But he isn't going to make a huge all-in call with a really weak draw. Don't draw conclusions about how people will play for big money based on their previous actions with small money.

The one other tip I have for small-stakes live games is that what you see is generally what you get. Don't give your opponents credit for more guile and trickery than they likely have. If you've seen them make a few agonizing folds (or even some bad ones if they show), don't assume they are just trying to induce a big bluff out of you. They probably just fold too much. Likewise, if someone is acting drunk and crazy and playing most pots, he is probably drunk and crazy and playing with weak values. Don't second-guess yourself when you have pocket aces and another huge, crazy bet comes down. Your opponent probably isn't "setting you up" for anything, and if he happened to flop two pair, he just got lucky at the right time.

Ed is a featured coach at StoxPoker.com. Also check out his online poker advice column, NotedPokerAuthority.com. He has authored four books on poker, most recently, Professional No-Limit Hold'em: Volume 1.