Poker: The Barracuda, the Middle of the Food Chain

 

 

 

Poker, become a winner:
The Barracuda is an intermediate stage in the profile of a poker player, centred in the middle of the food chain. It is the profile of a winning player, who manages to follow and, especially, to win hands at online poker. Leave the Fish pond in order to enter the territory of the Barracudas!

Type of player- Barracuda:
The following level after Fish is the Barracuda. As a Barracuda you are located higher on the poker food chain than the Fish, and the sea is full of little Fish that you will easily be able to munch. You are not the most menacing of Fish, but you have enough experience to follow the less amateur players.

The Barracuda is capable of winning a lot of money at poker. The Barracuda can play with confidence, the top 40 hands in poker (as compared to the Fish who should only play the top 25).

The (s) after the certain hands is to signify that the cards are the same colour. Within the following groups, the cards are classified in order of favourite:

Group 1: Ace-Ace, King-King, Queen-Queen, Jack-Jack, Ace-King(s), 10-10, Ace-Queens(s), Ace-Jack (s), King-Queens(s), Ace-King, 9-9, King-10(s), Queen-Jack(s), Ace-10(s), Ace-Queen.

Group 2: Ace-9(s), King-Queen, Queen-10, Jack-10(s), 8-8, King-9(S), 10-9(s), Ace-8(s), Queen-9(s), Jack-9(s), Ace-Jack, Ace-5(s), 7-7, Ace-7(s), King-Jack, Ace-4(s).

Group 3: Ace-3(s), Ace-6(s), Queen-Jack, 6-6, King-8(s), 10-8(s), Ace-2(s), J-8(s).

We are now in the terrain of average matched connectors. King-Queen(s), Queen-Jack(s), Jack-10(s), 10-9(s), as Ace-Queen, and Ace-Jack will behave effectively in rounds where the bets are still small.

Concerning the choice of table that you should join, make a note of which names are talking in the chat room, especially if they seem to be there just for laughs rather than for winning. Observe as to whether the majority of players are staying in the game to see the flop. Do not forget that choosing the right table is the primary advantage of being a Barracuda.

If the other players seem to be finding it really easy to establish the way you are playing, you will be at a distinct disadvantage. Playing the best cards is not sufficient enough to prove you are a Barracuda player. To raise with Ace-Ace and King-King is not enough to come out as the winner of a cash-game on the internet.

In addition to understanding which starting hands to select, the Barracuda needs to learn some subtle betting strategies that are difficult for the other players to pick up on. When you are at the level of Barracuda, you need to learn how to play more aggressively. As you are going to learn, the timing of the aggressive play is vital. Being aggressive when there is an important number of players is not a winning strategy, unless the players are playing very tightly. It does not matter how proficient you are at playing aggressively, if you are surrounded by sharks, you will get munched.

As a Fish, you need to focus on the top 16 hands at the start, but you will need to extend your selection in two ways to be a Barracuda.

Firstly, you need to be more aggressive before the flop with a larger variety of possible starting hands.

Secondly, you need to mix up the different betting techniques you employ. As you will discover, the best type of player is the one who plays "tightly and aggressively". He is characterised by the way that he perceives the play, rather than focusing on a particular strategy. In poker perception is everything! You need to make sure that your opponents perceive you as a player that is difficult to read, and who is totally unknowable. When you bet using an aggressive strategy, it is very important that your opponents take you seriously if you are going to be in with chance of winning the pot. You need to impose on others the belief that your are an aggressive and tight player, in order to gain respect.

Given that in poker players come and go from the table on a regular basis, it is very difficult to impose this image all the time. It is a little like a scene at the theatre, you have to amplify your movements in order that they can more easily be perceived, than you would otherwise have to if you were face to face. It is easier to be aggressive on line than it is in real life; therefore you have to push the bets even harder than you would playing in a casino or amongst friends. The reason is obvious; it is a lot easier to push a button than it is to move a huge pile of chips.

Playing slowly is also a technique of which you should take advantage. This consists of drawing the attention of weaker players, who are anxious of contributing to the pot, onto you. Even if you already know how much you are going to bet, slow down. Let the meter turn because this will bring the attention on to you. If you slow down before laying the bet, you will give the impression of indecision. By contrast, if you wager heavily, this will give the impression that you know what you are doing, and this will cause the other players some doubts. Use the different speeds depending on your aim; you may want weak players to think you are indecisive and thus influence them into wagering more money, and vice versa.

An iron will is a key to success when you are rising through the levels on the poker food chain. One aspect of having an iron will is to ignore the comments that people make regarding the speed of your play.

Mr Slow Play:
One day I found myself in a tournament, where another player on the table let the meter run until that very last second every time they wagered. In the beginning I thought the other player was occupied with other things. Maybe they were playing more than one table, or they were in trouble. Very soon the other players began to get annoyed at this players behaviour. Insults began to reign in the chat room. One player proposed a method of collective action that would force the player to leave the game. Thus, the aggression started form all the players towards Mr Slow Play, who did not stumble until a player went all-in against Mr. Slow Play, at which point he woke up and won the pot. Thereafter the whole table passed by like this and Mr Slow Play ended up winning the tournament with his rhythmic techniques. The more the other players complained about his behaviour, the more aggressively they played, the more he took advantage.

In fact, because he used all the time available it made him quite impossible to read. He was consistent and he drew a lot of attention. At the point that he won a pot, everyone was up to speed with his technique. In a sense, he took control of the table by dictating the rhythm of play.

The lesson to learn here is that controlling the table is normally necessary to win at online poker. It is the manner in which you do this that counts, you have to impose your presence, make others fear you, and you have to be unreadable.

 

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