How To Evaluate Your Poker Opponents Like A Pro.

The types of poker player playing at the table are one of the most important considerations when you decide whether to play at the table and how to play. Before you join a table in online poker rooms you should send some time and observe the table for a while to establish what types of players there are at this table. If you look around and see nothing but good players around it is probably a good idea to find another game. As Amarillo Slim famously said: "Look around the table. If you don't see a sucker, get up, because you're the sucker." Not all players have to be worse than you. For the game to be profitable it only takes one or two bad players who can make a big difference to improving your bankroll.

Player profiling is not a new idea at all and all poker books and poker schools stress the importance of being able to recognise different type of poker players and how to adapt to their style of the game. Profiling is about categorising your opponents and learning how they behave at the table. The most important characteristics are the amount of hands played and folded and the level of aggression with which the hands are played.

The amount of hands played shows you how loose or tight your opponents are Loose players are not very selective and play just about any hand that comes their way and participate in a lot of pots. Tight players on the other hand are very strict with their hands have very high starting standards and therefore participate in very few pots. The way how your opponents play their hands shows you their level of aggression. Aggressive players raise and reraise often where passive players are happy to call or fold under pressure.
Traditionally in poker players are split into four different categories such as tight-aggressive (TAG), loose-aggressive (LAG), tight-passive (TPT) and loose-passive (LPT). However such approach feels rather simplistic as you will find more often than not you can not simply define your opponents in those terms. It is also worth keeping in mind that a lot of very good poker players can and do change their playing style often to mislead the rest.
We feel the best way to profile your opponents is by using a scale from 1 to 9 to define both the level of aggression and tightness so you can be more accurate with your assessment. 1 - Extremely loose player, 2- Very loose, 3 – Loose, 4 – Somewhat loose, 5 – Average, 6 – Somewhat loose, 7 – Tight, 8 – Very Tight, 9 – The Rock. Similar definitions should be used to asses the level of aggression so 1- Extremely passive, 2 – Very passive, 3 – Passive, 4 - Somewhat passive, 5 – Average, 6 – Somewhat aggressive, 7 – Aggressive, 8 – Very Aggressive, 9 – Extremely aggressive.

Using such detailed profiling will give you a lot better idea of who you are playing against and let you adjust your game accordingly. Most types of online poker software in online poker rooms allow players to take notes and those facilities should always be used. You don’t even have to seat at the table to make notes you can observe the table for a while and get very valuable information before hand. If you use the system above your note of “36” will always remind you that your opponent A is a loose player that can be somewhat aggressive at times. You will also find that most players do not fall in the extreme four categories and tend to show the score in the middle profile numbers (4, 5 and 6).

Because the profiling is designed to combat and take advantage of the extreme playing styles using this system will give you a chance to concentrate on such players and identify them every time you join the table. Games with many players scoring low numbers (1, 2 , 3 and 4) provide you with a brilliant opportunity to win money easier so you can joint the table with great expectations. When you see a table with most of the players scoring high on the scale you will immediately know that this table is best to be avoided as it offers the least opportunity to win and exposes you to higher losses.

When you play poker in online poker rooms you can also get a good idea of how good your opponents are from checking how many tables they play at the same time. Generally speaking players who play on many tables have higher skill level than those who stick to just one. You can also get a good idea about the skill level from online poker tournaments sections in the software especially for the tournaments with higher levels of buy-in.

By: Unleashed Poker

Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com

Unleashed Poker is an online poker room licensed and regulated in Curacao. Unleashed Poker offers all its players exciting and exclusive online poker promotions and a chance to qualify online to live poker events.